Spark of genius

Spanish guitarist, 40-member cast fire the imagination

Fred Shuster, Los Angeles Daily News

Thursday, April 20, 2006

If you watched TV last month, you may have gotten a fleeting glimpse of Benise, the flamenco-tinged, Cirque du Soleil-inspired performer whose high-energy special was shown frequently during the PBS pledge drive.

Like Michael Flatley, Sarah Brightman, Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli before him, Roni Benise (pronounced buh-NESS-ay) has gotten lots of TV exposure, thanks to public television's hunger for your cash. And the fiery entertainer is taking that visibility up another notch with his big-budget national tour, "Nights of Fire," which reaches the Lecture Hall at the Colorado Convention Center April 28.

"When we started out, we couldn't get booked at a club without renting the place out ourselves," the cheerful Benise said the other day.

"So, we took it to the streets. We played anywhere tourists would gather - Universal CityWalk, Disneyland, State Street in Santa Barbara, farmers markets, flea markets - everywhere.

"To people in Chicago, we're an overnight success. But we've been grinding it out for years. Nobody can say we haven't paid our dues."

With powerful management and a top-notch creative team behind him, Benise now spearheads one of the most colorful live shows of the season. A virtuoso guitarist, composer and producer, his Spanish guitar arrangements touch on all points of the musical globe, from Spain, Africa and Brazil to France.

Surrounding him on stage is a 40-person cast that takes in exotic drums, Gypsy violin, flamenco dancers, Cirque performers, Brazilian samba dancers and percussionists, African tribal drummers, Havana horns and brilliant lighting.

"I wanted to marry theater and dance with my music, because a lot of my stuff is perfect for soundtracks," Benise said. "My songs are the soundtrack for the show. Each one tells a story. I always imagined my music as a big Las Vegas show."

Interestingly, it was a whisper outside of the country that sparked interest in Benise at PBS, when a public television executive attending a convention in France heard about the spectacular one-named performer who lives in the Conejo Valley.

"They say you have to be famous away from home for people to take you seriously," muses Gustavo Sagastume, vice president of programming at PBS. "What I heard was, 'There's this guy in Southern California, you should check out.' So, I tracked him down and saw the talent and potential right away."

A large part of that upper-demographic viewing audience is females who don't seem to mind that Benise has flowing hair, chiseled looks and a build that brings to mind a romance-novel hero. The music also fits into New-Age and smooth-jazz radio formats.

"It's the romantic element," said Benise, who insists he's single and doesn't have time for a committed relationship. "There's just something about the Spanish guitar."

Benise has seemingly always charted a distinctive path. Receiving his first guitar at age 11, he practiced relentlessly, teaching himself a variety of styles.

Moving to Los Angeles, he was turned down by almost every club in the city. ("Spanish guitar? Forget about it!" was the reaction Benise recalls hearing). So began Benise's street team. "We'd play around 225 shows a year," the guitarist recalled. "We'd be anywhere there were tourists. You had to grab people's attention before they walked away."

Benise began promoting his own concerts at 2,000-seat theaters throughout the area. He subtitled his all-instrumental show "Love, Music, and Life!" and produced and arranged seven albums and two live DVDs on his independent label, Rosanegra. Nights of Fire!, taped at the gorgeous art deco Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, is available in DVD and CD form.

High-powered rock manager "Doc" McGhee, whose credits include KISS, Motley Crue and Bon Jovi, said it was a "no brainer" to sign Benise after catching a packed show last September.

"The thing I noticed, along with Roni's undeniable charisma, was the connection with the audience," McGhee said. "It was like finding Motley Crue in 1982."