Injury cannot derail guitar's royal family

By: PATRICIA MORRIS BUCKLEY - For the North County Times | Wednesday, January 4, 2006 12:48 PM PST ∞

A twist of fate can be both a good and a bad thing.

That's the case in the upcoming concert that was to feature Celino Romero and his cousin Lito Romero. Then Lito suddenly had to bow out of the concert.

"Lito had a pretty nasty injury," said Celino, from his home in Del Mar. "He was skiing at Mammoth and slipped a disc. That put him a week and a half behind in practice."

Normally this wouldn't be a huge problem, since the cousins often play as a duo. But they had planned a completely new program for the concert that required eight hours of practice a day.

Luckily they belong to "guitar's royal family," which began with Celino's legendary grandfather, Celedonio Romero, and his sons, Celin, Pepe and Angel. The family quickly decided that Pepe would replace his son Lito for this event. And in doing so, history will be made.

"This is the first time that two generations will play in a duo concert," said Celino, whose father is Celin Romero. "So while the accident was bad news, there was good news as well. And I think that the audience loves whatever Romero package they get, but they especially love to see two generations together."

Pepe and Celino have performed together many times, either as part of a quartet or with an orchestra. This is the first time they will be alone onstage. That's especially meaningful for Celino, who learned guitar from Pepe.

"My uncle is my idol and he's been a great teacher for me," Celino said. "He's a very easy going guy and I never get nervous around him. I think this concert is going to be very exciting."

The program includes mostly Spanish music, with selections from Joaquin Rodrigo, Fernando Sor and Gaspar Sanz.

"And we always play my grandfather's music," said Celino. "Mostly, because it's an audience favorite. It's classic, but with a flamenco flair.

He was into flashy things, like playing one hand over another. We grew up with it, so it's like our own music, even though he wrote it."

Each musician will perform one or more solos. Both Pepe and Celino are planning to play a solo piece by Francisco Tarrega.

"Some of these piece are fast and fiery duos," Celino said. "I feel so lucky to play them with my uncle."

Celino reports that Lito is understandably "pretty bummed out."

"We do tons of duo concerts, so we'll have to make this one up sometime," Celino said. "But I think people are going to love this show."

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