Multi Instrumentalist | Maestro Flamenco Guitarist | Producer and Composer
With M21, flamenco guitarist Rafael Lloyd Iglesias launches a groundbreaking new chapter in his career. After four decades as a professional musician rooted in the flamenco tradition, he now returns to the spirit of his youth back when he was a New Romantic in the 1980s. This latest composition is more than a musical experiment. It is a deeply personal journey. In M21, Rafael fuses the intricate rhythms and harmonies of ethnic gypsy flamenco with the lush, textured sounds of '80s electronica. The result is a genre-defying innovation: Electro Flamenco.
Inspired not only by the legendary maestro and innovator Paco de Lucia but also by ground breaking acts like Visage, Ultravox, Kraftwerk or Vince Clarke, Rafael has reimagined flamenco guitar, not through strings, but through synthesis. The complex arpeggios once played on nylon strings are now programmed into vintage synthesizers, giving the music a hauntingly modern yet familiar voice.
But M21 Electro Flamenco is not just a showcase of virtuosic musicianship. It’s a story. A personal journey that takes him back to the times lived in the now legendary Rock Ola venue in Madrid. A "back to the future" moment that traces his teenage dreams and reimagines them through the lens of lived experience. Paying homage to New Order’s Blue Monday, the piece features the unmistakable pulse of the Oberheim DMX drum machine, an infectious groove that drives the music forward while rooting it in retro nostalgia. Yet M21 Electro Flamenco is also a revival. It’s a fully reimagined version of Rafael's first-ever composition, Mezquita, written in the late 1980s. The harmonic structure remains almost identical, but the musical context has shifted dramatically and transformed it from classic flamenco into something entirely new. A genre crossover.
A sonic reinvention. A world first.
With M21, flamenco guitarist Rafael Lloyd Iglesias launches a groundbreaking new chapter in his career. After four decades as a professional musician rooted in the flamenco tradition, he now returns to the spirit of his youth back when he was a New Romantic in the 1980s. This latest composition is more than a musical experiment. It is a deeply personal journey. In M21, Rafael fuses the intricate rhythms and harmonies of ethnic gypsy flamenco with the lush, textured sounds of '80s electronica. The result is a genre-defying innovation: Electro Flamenco.
Inspired not only by the legendary maestro and innovator Paco de Lucia but also by ground breaking acts like Visage, Ultravox, Kraftwerk or Vince Clarke, Rafael has reimagined flamenco guitar, not through strings, but through synthesis. The complex arpeggios once played on nylon strings are now programmed into vintage synthesizers, giving the music a hauntingly modern yet familiar voice.
But M21 Electro Flamenco is not just a showcase of virtuosic musicianship. It’s a story. A personal journey that takes him back to the times lived in the now legendary Rock Ola venue in Madrid. A "back to the future" moment that traces his teenage dreams and reimagines them through the lens of lived experience. Paying homage to New Order’s Blue Monday, the piece features the unmistakable pulse of the Oberheim DMX drum machine, an infectious groove that drives the music forward while rooting it in retro nostalgia. Yet M21 Electro Flamenco is also a revival. It’s a fully reimagined version of Rafael's first-ever composition, Mezquita, written in the late 1980s. The harmonic structure remains almost identical, but the musical context has shifted dramatically and transformed it from classic flamenco into something entirely new. A genre crossover.
A sonic reinvention. A world first.