Benito Bernal & David Domínguez: “Soleá”, a new production by Solera Flamenca


This week on Solera Flamenca we are bringing you Benito Bernal´s guitar: a composition of soleá where we find new harmonies and this rhythmic “juggling” we like so much, which is starting a new trend, along with the percussionist David Domínguez.

Benito Bernal Díaz was born in June 1998, in a small town called Villanueva de los Castillejos (Huelva), located in the middle of the shire of Andévalo.

His curiosity about music started when he was really young, just a child. This curiosity is explained by the culture and family around him. At home, everyone was a music lover, and there were always guitars handy. Also, local singing genres, such as Sevillanas and Fandangos were particularly popular at home. Of course, he started as a child, just playing for fun. Later, his mother would be the one who would make him play the guitar “for real”. He carried on learning at the local school, where he still played for fun. However, when he was 16, he managed to join Huelva´s Professional Music Conservatory, named after Javier Perianes. It would be there that he would stop playing games and he would start playing the guitar.

At the age of 19 he succeeded in joining Cordoba´s Upper Music Conservatory, named after Rafael Orozco, where he is currently about to finish his studies. It is at this point that he began achieving some successful performances, singing in several festivals and theatres all around Spain. That year he won the Niño Miguel Guitar Award.

At the early age of 21, he joined Estevez/Paños´s artistic group, who were the Dancing National Award 2019. With them, he performed in “El Sombrero”, which led him to also perform in Jerez´s Festival 2020, at the Villamarta Theatre (Jerez). At the age of 23, he accompanied (and still does) plenty of artists, such as Arcángel, Miguel Poveda, Ángeles Toledano, Diego Guerrero, Rafael Estévez, Valeriano Paños, etc.

David Domínguez (Barcelona, 1980), percussionist, started playing flamenco percussion as a teenager and in a self-taught way.

He has accompanied numerous flamenco artists such as Duquende, Montse Cortés, David de Jacoba, Rafael de Utrera, Ginesa Ortega, Antonio Canales, Arcángel, Olga Pericet, Marco Flores, Alfonso Losa, José Maldonado, Juan José Suárez “El Pakete”, Chicuelo and Juan Ramón Caro, among many others.

His musical restlessness and his constant search for new sounds has led him to participate in projects of diverse musical styles, far from flamenco (jazz fusion, classical music, Mediterranean music, traditional music, etc.), in which he has collaborated with the Labèque Sisters, Joan Albert Amargós, Enric Palomar, Perico Sambeat, Marc Miralta, Javier Colina, Marco Mezquida, Joan Díaz, Lluís Vidal, Carles Denia, Coetus, Antonio Lizana, Jordi Molina, HR Big Band of Frankfurt, the Aahrus Jazz Orchestra, UMO Jazz Orchestra of Helsinki and Brussels Jazz Orchestra, among many others.

He has recently participated in the shows “Déjà vu”, “Boleros” and “Al cantar a Manuel” by Mayte Martín. He’s also collaborated in the recording and tours of “Cuatro” (Las Migas), “Mi esencia” (Rycardo Moreno), “Cant Espiritual” (Carles Denia), “Federico García” (Pep Tosar) and “El Bestiari” (Joan Díaz).

He is currently participating in the educational project Flamenkat, produced by the Palau de la Música Catalana, as a musician and musical director.

In this great production which we are about to show all of our friends, you will find a masterfully performed soleá, where beautiful tunes and fantastic technique merge. Where rhythmic resources take the lead and develop at unthinkable speed. This video was recorded with a guitar made by the luthier Jesús de Jiménez , in 2022: An amazing guitar, with powerful flamenco sound, just like our protagonist´s art.