Double Juno-Award winning guitarist Oscar Lopez is bringing his high-energy Latin soul music back to Sechelt’s Rockwood Pavilion this weekend and he couldn’t be happier about it.
“I’ve been there a couple of times. It was a terrific experience and we had a really good time,” Lopez told Coast Reporter in a telephone interview from his Calgary home, anticipating his Saturday, July 6 concert. “It’s a beautiful outdoor pavilion.”
Lopez will be bringing a couple of accompanying players with him, one on guitar the other on percussion, as he delves deeply into his jazz-, roots- and blues-flavoured play-list, built up over a dozen albums.
“We do a very unpredictable show. It’s very cool,” said Lopez. “The trio is very well-connected, nice chemistry.”
Lopez, 65, has been making his living on guitar since the 1980s, after settling in Canada from his native Chile in 1979. He’s been playing the instrument, preferring the nylon-stringed acoustic, since his teens, encouraged by his family, who first had him try the violin, then the mandolin and then the bass.
“When I grabbed the guitar, that was my baby, it felt so good. Guitar has been my companion for a very long time.”
It’s been a beautiful relationship. In 2002, Lopez won his first Juno, in the Best Instrumental Album category, for Armando’s Fire. Three years later, he scored a second Juno for the album Mi Destino/My Destiny.
“I’ve travelled all over the world playing music,” Lopez said. “I do not take it for granted. I’m very blessed and very fortunate.” Chances are, those who get to hear him at Rockwood will feel the same.
Partial proceeds from the event will be donated to the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts.
The two-hour show starts at 8 p.m., doors at 7 p.m. Tickets are $35, from the Festival of the Written Arts office, MooreStock in Sechelt, MELOmania in Roberts Creek, The Blackberry Shop in Gibsons, and EarthFair Store in Madeira Park.
