Today we’d like to introduce you to Alfredo Muro.
Hi Alfredo, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Lima, Peru, and grew up in a very artistic and musical family, with singers with beautiful voices and where I learned that “silence” was a way of listening and showing your respect and love for music. At the age of 9, I woke up with an unstoppable passion for the guitar. In 1971, together with my sister Connie Bieberach, we won the popular TV program, “Trampolin to Fame” and at the age of 13, I began to work professionally, and shortly after I achieved the highest award in an interscholastic group among more than 100 schools.
Later, I continued my music and guitar studies with three of the great masters of Peruvian guitar: Pepe Torres, Carlos Hayre, and Octavio Ticona assimilating from them the rich and varied harmony of Peruvian folklore. These experiences were complemented with studies in the United States with international teachers: Manuel Lopez Ramos (Argentina), Frank Costa (Chile), Joan Doan (USA), and Alfredo Escande (Uruguay). Likewise, I studied Harmony and Counterpoint with the distinguished Mexican Master Jose Suarez. My guitar has been the international passport that led me to perform on four continents.
Alfredo Muro has had the honor of representing his native Peru and the United States in various international guitar festivals in Chile, Argentina, Peru, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, as well as in Mexico, Canada, Italy, Germany, Austria, Norway, and four consecutive tours to Taiwan. While on a tour of Europe, Alfredo Muro led his group Oro del Peru, appearing at a Special Audience for Pope John Paul II, in Vatican City. Alfredo Muro has performed in concert on many stages in the United States. Having had the privilege of showing his art, at the Millennium Series in Washington DC, at the prestigious Kennedy Center, as well as at the renowned Smithsonian Museum, and various presentations at the OAS Salon of the Americas.
In March 2005, Alfredo Muro was chosen to receive the Jack Rosenberg, Musician of the Month, by the Oregon Jazz Society in its JazzScene magazine. The Centinela newspaper in Portland, Oregon, declares Mr. Muro “Hispanic of the Month.” Likewise, the Oregon Hispanic Yellow Pages Directory named and declared him “Pride of The Hispanic community.”
Recently, he has been awarded the Eureka trophy for Quality and Artistic Excellence and received a Diploma of Honor in Humanistic Ethics by the Latin American Association of Writers and Artists in Peru.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Music has always been a very difficult profession. Imagine how geniuses of classical music such as Bach, Beethoven among others faced many obstacles, and even more were not recognized in life. In our contemporary society, this has changed somewhat, especially in universities where you can obtain a degree in music and open an opportunity in the academic field, but it does not guarantee a career of success and excellence as a concert performer.
One of the biggest conflicts that I was able to realize was that of an unfair bifurcation and discrimination between classical music and popular music. I love both fields, basically because I believe in the excellence of the quality of music and I am an open opponent of false academic elitisms. I am a fervent believer in quality and excellence in music above certain “musical layers and labels”.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a concert guitarist, arranger, composer, and classical guitar teacher. I specialize in the rich variety of Latin American music. With a special passion for Brazilian music. I think that for a musician guitarist it is very important to be able to transcend with the public, make your instrument an extension of yourself and thus reach the heart of each of the people in an auditorium.
As the great Paco de Lucia used to say: Technique must always be at the service of feeling because only with technical communication is impossible. “Creativity must be felt, only technique can be learned.” The musician who does not put his soul in when he plays is useless. It will be called a musician because it makes notes, but it is not an artist. I am proud to be able to bring the culture of my country and Latin America to become more appreciated and known.
If something can make me distinguish, it is not in comparison with other colleagues, but rather the power to achieve a stylistic identity surrounded by beauty and passion. Let us always remember that imitating is the principle of knowledge and human creation, but forging and defending your own artistic identity.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
To be honest, I don’t believe in good or bad luck. Paraphrasing the great Spanish philosopher and thinker Jose Ortega y Gasset: “I am me and my circumstance.” I firmly believe in the capacity for work added to natural talent as well as I believe in determination and discipline. In music, 80% is work (perspiration), 20% is talent (inspiration)!
Contact Info:
- Email: oyeguitarra@gmail.com
- Website: www.alfredomuro.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alfredo.muro.9/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/alfredomuro
Image Credits:
Rosemarie Schild-Muro
