José “El Piru” was born in Valencia.
He first picked up the guitar at 14, and his interest in the instrument began to grow. He studied at the Taller de Músics with maestro Dani Flors, learning modern harmony, and took private bossa nova lessons with Escandril.
At 18 he felt drawn to flamenco and began studying with his first flamenco guitar teacher, Rubén “El Rubio”. It was then that he found a music he felt completely at home with and identified with. Soon after he met Kike Naval, with whom he took lessons for 2 years and who broadened his knowledge of flamenco.
Shortly afterwards he moved to Cádiz, “La Tacita de Plata”, where for a year he learned accompaniment for singing and dancing, and composition, alongside maestro Rafael Abuja. The following year he travelled to Sanlúcar de Barrameda for six months to learn from Manuel Domínguez, with whom he discovered a more subtle and expressive handling of the guitar.
He then embarked on a two-year stay in Seville to study with maestros such as Pedro Sierra, Paco Cortés, Niño de Pura, Eduardo Rebollar, Pedro Barragán, Pepa Sánchez… He was awarded a scholarship by the Fundación de Arte Flamenco to continue for one more year and complete his higher studies in flamenco guitar.
His playing could be described as subtle and full of nuance, with light flavours of the other musics he has absorbed, which give it a distinctive and personal sound.
He has performed concerts around Spain, in France, Morocco and Portugal, and has played with artists such as Jorge Pardo, Marinah (Ojos de Brujo) and Juan Belda. He has also collaborated on various recordings and is currently co-founder of the group Malvaloca, together with Aina Espinosa, a group that has recently recorded an album entitled “Oliva y Naranja”.
He recently started another new project with cellist Matthieu Saglio, which will soon release a new album entitled “Petit à petit”.
Together with the singer Isabel Julve he has also formed the group La Malquerida, whose new album “Posdata” gathers 10 self-penned songs with J.L. Porras on double bass and Manu Quintero on percussion.
He is also a member of the quintet Lorcamente, which performs the poems of Federico Gª Lorca, and accompanist to the singer Kiko Cortés with a repertoire of Traditional Flamenco.
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