Oscar Lopez

The Tin Angel Web site bills Oscar Lopez as "flamenco rock." Hmmm. Have I missed something in the last 10 years of recordings from this Chilean-born, nylon-string guitar player? Lopez laughs and recites a laundry list of things he's been described as, among them new age, nuevo flamenco, folk, jazz, smooth jazz, pop. It seems that if it can be played on guitar, Lopez has been accused of it.

Reviewing his musical history and personal philosophy, the reasons for the confusion become apparent. First Lopez states emphatically: "I do not play flamenco. Flamenco is a discipline."

While he has great respect for disciplines, he has no use for them himself. Every composition, every show, every album is a unique expression of how Lopez is feeling at the time, borrowing freely from all his past experiences. Yes, he works in flamenco strumming when inspired, but he is also as likely to set a composition like "Cerca de Ti" from his latest recording, Seduction (Narada), in a vaguely ranchera style that suggests south Texas conjunto.

As a teenager in Santiago de Chile, Lopez studied at a conservatory for a little while. But that didn't last long, since Lopez's aversion to being jammed into a little box was already established. Lopez went back to teaching himself and listening to Jimi Hendrix, Santana and Led Zeppelin. When he moved to Canada, he got work playing rock, country, calypso and reggae. To give himself a break from all that electric guitar work, Lopez was drawn to the nylon string guitar and listening to lots of the music he'd left behind in South America. Today's shows incorporate all this plus Lopez's unalloyed joie de vivre.

-Mary Armstrong

Oscar Lopez, May 7, 8 p.m., Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St., 215-928-0978.