Latino musician Hernan Romero shares his music style, learning, adaption, new channels of musical collaboration and distribution.

It’s a Saturday evening at my house and I’ve invited guitar virtuoso, Hernan Romero as well as some other friends over for cocktails and appetizers.

Romero has just returned from a 15 day tour through Latin America and then Eastern Europe. It’s a perfect evening to relax, chat about music, interview this talented musician and hopefully get a taste of his musical style since I’ve requested a favor from him to bring his guitar over and he has graciously agreed!

Romero’s musical style is not easy to define. It has ethnic elements of flamenco, Middle Eastern, Latin, and Mediterranean mixed together with jazz, contemporary, and classical music as well. It’s not a style that can be placed into a specific genre. It is passionate and moving and takes the listener on a beautiful and unpredictable journey.

To watch him play the guitar is just magical—the way he combines all these flavors and feelings so effortlessly is what makes his music so tasty and unique. 

Romero shares some great stories about his journey through the musical landscape of his youth versus today’s challenges and new opportunities

Romero is Argentinian born to musician parents. His father, a producer and his mother, Latin Grammy and Lifetime Achievement winner, Estela Raval both greatly influenced his interest in music.

Learning at the young age of 9 how to play guitar, it came naturally to him and his parents pushed for him to be formally educated if he wanted to truly pursue music as a career. At the age of 17 he wanted to play with his mother’s band. 

His mother gave him the chance to audition just like she would have done for any open spot in her band—no special favors granted. He successfully made the cut and thinks he may have actually had it harder than any random person coming in for the audition. He then moved to New York in 1986 at the age of 19 and continued formal education at Manhattan School of Music for audio engineering.  

Romero’s progression lead to a gig playing guitar with Stevie Nicks for awhile and then later found himself acquiring a much more instrumental type of style playing with some of the world’s best guitarists like John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola. He quickly made a name for himself and his album “Un Segundo Una Vida” was a Grammy award winner in 2001.

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