Amilcar Soto Rodriguez

Guitarist, composer and arranger is a new key figure in Afro-Peruvian, Latín Jazz and World music. Born in Surquillo-Lima in 1969 but quickly moved to Villa El Salvador, he grew up in a family of musicians and started playing guitar and charango when he was just a child. Relocated to Italy at the age of 25, he enrolled in Music Conservatory of Padova, graduating in jazz guitar. He skilfully combines traditional Afro-Peruvian rhythms and sounds with the sumptuous harmonies of classical music and with the innovative twist of jazz and its improvisations. Inspired by such composers as Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés, his songs deal with social issues. Fundamentals are the collaborations; first of all Susana Baca was the performer of the first single Mujeres de Arena. He collaborated with the italian percussionist Leo di Angilla, in the single Recuerdos de Villa. The album Mujeres de Arena y Otras Historias still counts on the impressive interpretations of Susana Baca and boasts the participation of the I Solisti Veneti Orchestra directed by Giuliano Carella. Other great musicians such as Alfonso Deidda, Francesco Angiuli, Javier Girotto, Hernan Luciano Fassa, Josè Antonio Molina, Alberto Lincetto and Irene Ermolli intertwined the variegated jazz harmonies with the rhythms of the Afro-Peruvian tradition, such as the landò, the festejo and the Panalivio. The collaboration with Lalo Izquierdo, co-founder of Perú Negro, has been crucial as well.