#9 Nights of Fire- Benise
Spanish Guitar in its various forms has been a favorite of mine for years. A client of mine gave me a DVD for Benise’s Emmy Award-winning PBS Special “Night’s on Fire” in 2006 and I was instantly a fan. I saw him live a few months later, not knowing his career would directly intersect with my life.
In 2010 I was looking for musicians to play at a 50th Birthday Party I was throwing for my wife and a friend mentioned he knew Roni Benise’s agent. I hired Roni and two of his band members, then called and asked if my son Dominick who was studying Classical Guitar as a sophomore in High School could perform at the party with him. Roni generously agreed. The party was at the Soho House in Hollywood and the guests all lived near us in the Whittier area so I rented a bus to transport the partygoers ensuring no one would have to drive drunk that evening. I took the opportunity to use the bus ride to kick off the party by liberally distributing shots of Patron.
When we arrived at the Soho House, Andy Kwan, a great friend, and partner in our Chinese import business, who was several shots to the good, asked Roni if he’d ever performed in China. Roni said it was always a dream of his. “Oh, we can get you into China easy” Andy boasted. Three days later we met Roni to discuss terms of us representing him for a concert tour in China. I only had one condition, which was that Dominick would perform with the musicians. Benise agreed.
Andy and I put a deal together with a promoter in China for a 10 show 8 City tour over 12 days beginning December 22, 2011. I spent those 12 days as Dominick’s chaperone and as a surrogate roadie for the Benise Troupe. Dominick, at 16 years old, performed nightly in front of crowds of 3,000, signing autographs for star-struck Chinese girls after the performances and being mentored by the talented professional musicians in Benise’s group. I had a great time and he had the experience of a lifetime. He later appeared in an encore performance with Roni in the USA in 2012.
Nights of Fire mixes Spanish Traditional Standards like “Mi Amor”, and add Salsa, Samba, Flamenco and a few of Roni’s own creations. The music stands on its own, but if you get a chance to watch the video and add the color and passion of the dancers, you are in for an unforgettable experience. These performances touched my soul in 2006 and my experiences with this music burn in my memory today.
