Martin J. Merino

He first became fond of the blues when his inseparable companion in childhood adventures, Flavio Rigatozzo, Tota, took up the harmonica. Both became passionate about African-American music and, while still adolescents, plunged into the Buenos Aires blues scene by forming a band that played songs in Spanish and that still survives today. He landed in Barcelona in December 2001, alongside his usual accomplice, and the city put them to the test. They played wherever they could, until they became regular figures on the Barcelona scene with their humorous blues in “casteshà”. After several years playing at every festival in the country with Tota Blues Band, and without ever abandoning the project, he has embarked on a personal career that has revealed him as a versatile, brave and virtuoso guitarist, equally capable of tackling the repertoire of Howlin’ Wolf or of Jimi Hendrix, as well as composing his own songs. Grateful to the blues for having provided him with a livelihood and for helping him to grow as a person, he confesses himself seduced by its expressive capacity: “What I have always liked about the blues is the ‘simplicity’ it has in its structure, rhythms and harmonies, to express yourself musically. It is ground on which I feel very much at ease.”