Meet JOSE LUIS DE LA PAZ | Guitarist, Composer and Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with JOSE LUIS DE LA PAZ and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi JOSE LUIS, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
What was your thought process behind starting your own business?

My father gave me a guitar to play when I was just over 4 months old. Since then my life has always been somehow related to the guitar. Nowadays and for quite some time now, I could not consider unlinking my life from the guitar. She is my companion, my friend and she is the voice from which I can express my vision of life, of people, and of the world.

In Spain (where I come from) most of the arts are sponsored by government agencies such as those of a city, county, autonomous community, or national ministry. This, coupled with an established custom of not charging or charging very little for concert tickets, makes it very difficult to be an independent artist.

When I came to the US, I saw the possibility of producing and creating my own networks. During this process, I encountered the support of the County (Miami Dade Cultural Affairs), the Spanish Cultural Center, and the production companies Tigertail, Ballet La Rosa, Bailes Ferrer, and Fundarte, to name a few. With this team, including my ex-wife Niurca Márquez and the musicians with whom I was working, a network of artists was created, almost without forcing anything, which gave me (and gave us) the idea of shaping the direction of my company and trying to go beyond making productions, also seeking the development of networks that allow “associated” artists to interact with each other and open more spaces and to grow as a collective and as individual artists. From these ideas, ‘De la Esencia y el Tiempo’, ‘Ensemble’, ‘Resonancias’, ‘Toda Ciencia Transcendiendo’, ‘Avalon’, ‘Tapiz’ or ‘Flamenco Abstractions’ and several collaborations with Ballet La Rosa and Fundarte were born. At this point, we are already more than 15 artists who interact with each other and generate different productions, continually collaborating with each other and expanding this network every day.

To achieve the success of Jose Luis de la Paz, as a company, I have always tried to maintain a mark of quality and service in all areas in which my work can move. From concert productions, music commissions to small collaborations as an accompanist, everything must have this mark of quality and good service. In addition, and no less important, Jose Luis de la Paz’s ability to diversify allows me to leave the comfort zones of the parameters of flamenco and join other disciplines and musical styles and take a musician to a different level. Converting Flamenco, which is my home base, into something that contributes to others and to my own work at once, while not limiting me in my work is one of the keys to the development of my company.

In summary, collaboration + quality + service + versatility would be the keys to success in my case.

One more thought:

I have never stopped feeling the need to continue playing my guitar and to compose music, to interrelate with other musicians, to search for new sounds and new textures that will communicate what’s on my mind and what my heart feels. And all this comes from an internal need that makes me continue, because that is And all this comes from an internal need that makes me continue, because that is beyond me, even living in a time when the arts seem to have no meaning in society., even living in a time when the arts seem to have no meaning in society.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
As a spaniard the first thing I may show to guest people is Coral Gables (where my dear poet Juan Ramon Jimenez – Nobel Prized) lived during his years as teacher in the UM (University of Miami). We could stop at Books&Books in Aragon Street to have a coffe, reading the Sonetos de Coral Gables and perhaps listening a live music by Maestro Federico Britos (violin). Among Coral Gables, we should visit Vizcaya Gardens, of course…. a little walking time.

Because Miami is a multicultural city, we have to visit Wynwood and walk around Galleries and Art Spaces.

To taste the cuban flavors you should visit Versailles Restaurant and Bakery. Coffe is amazing and you have to try pastelitos de guava, perhaps for breakfast.

Other spaces, open spaces to have a good time are places like Lincoln Road and the Miami Beach areas. Walking spaces and some indulgences are allowed in this part of the visit.

Restaurants for a good food are hundreds in Miami. I could recommend the Little Lisbon (Portuguese), Fifi’s on the Beach (fish restaurant), japanese restaurant like NAOE, Meats N’Bone for a good Steak and Xixon or Equus for a good Spain Flavors.

If we want a good Flamenco Space, we have Cava Flamenco Tablao and Restaurant in 8th Street where weekends have Flamenco Shows and a very traditional house made food buffet.
The other space for Flamenco is Madrid Tapas y Vinos.

The night could be calm with music at Gniappe or more cuban style in Cuba Ocho or Ball & Chain with live music and dance. And of course, Hoy como Ayer, the Cuban Music Temple.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This people and Organization have being a big support for me in the last 10 years:

Miami Dade Cultural Affairs
Centro Cultural Español Miami
TigerTail Prod
FundArte (Ever Cahvez / Carlos Caballero)
Michelle Hayes
Siudy Flamenco Company
Pablo Croce
Miami Dade County Auditorium
Koubek Center
Ballet La Rosa (Ilisa Rosal)
Siempre Flamenco (Paco Fonta-Celia Fonta)
Pepe-Canto & Cava Flamenco
Consulado de España
Damaris Ferrer
Marquez’s Family
Susana Behar (singer)
Federico Britos (violinist)
William Gonzalez (Luthier)
Jorge de Zofia (luthier)
Samuel Rosales (carpenter-musician)
Berto Boyd (guitarist)
Alberto Puerto and Gined Lopez (Puerto Guitar)
Saul Vera (Khalos School of Music)
Kike San Martin (photographer)
Pedro Fajardo (designer)
Maria del Valle (Ex-Director at 905 Miami Beach Museum)
Fernando Gonzalez (journalist and musicologist)

Website: www.joseluisdelapaz.com

Instagram: @joseluisguitar

Facebook: @joseluisguitar

Youtube: jose luis de la paz

Image Credits
Kike San Martin Jose Manuel Alconchel Gabriel Rodriguez