IF ESTEEMED Filipino flamenco guitar player and maker Adolfo Timuat could have his way, he?d come home and live in the Philippines.

But it is his love of guitar music and flamenco that keeps him in Spain. Here, he hones his craft and distills his art. He has been living in the outskirts of Madrid for 23 years now, where we have been invited to a barbecue visit in his home of 10 years in Barrio Villanueva de la Torre, Guadalajara, just outside the city.

?I wanted to be near Madrid but not in the city,? he said.

The brick house he himself built and decorated to the minutest detail, down to the placement of tiles and planting of trees, is a few meters away from the city border.

In Madrid, he teaches guitar in the upscale British school Runnymede to the likes of David and Victoria Beckham?s children.

He also performs in flamenco guitar concerts all over Spain, other European countries and the Philippines, and makes flamenco guitars with his luthier?s or guitar builder?s license.

His calendar is extremely busy, but not busy enough to make him miss an annual homecoming in July or August to Manila and Cebu.

We first heard about him from Madrid reporter CheChe Lambatin, who then set up this interview. Descending upon him with friends Richard Signey, Nathaniel Sisma, new acquaintances Arantxa Carreo and Armando Victoria, we got more than we bargained for.

Not only did we get to shoot the breeze with him in comfortable surroundings, we also shared barbecue, sat down to a mini concert/lecture in his veranda, and got a glimpse of his latest passion ? collecting Juan Luna sketches.

To say that Timuat opened up his house and heart to us would not be far from the truth.

Mixed parentage

Adolfo Timuat Toyoda was born in Okinawa of Filipino-Japanese parentage. At age 6, he moved with his family to the Philippines, where he was introduced to the guitar by an elder brother.

The young Timuat was immediately drawn to the instrument. His youth was spent pursuing civil engineering at FEU while singing in folk houses, observing how guitar makers of GuitarMasters made guitars, and playing the guitar until he began to excel in it.

In time he became a respected concert guitar player, and went into guitar building when GuitarMasters closed shop. He opened his own.

By this time, he had married and set up house with his in-laws in Quezon City with his shop nearby. He had also gone into performing flamenco guitar numbers without the benefit of formal lessons, and had gone into learning to sight-read on his own. He had also started teaching young guitar enthusiasts.

Carnegie Hall

In 1985, one of Timuat?s guitar students, Ramon de la Cruz, was playing at Mandarin Hotel when a hotel guest, American actor Anthony Zerbe, took notice of him.

The actor (?The Omega Man? and James Bond?s ?License to Kill?) complimented De la Cruz on his performance. De la Cruz answered that Zerbe should hear his teacher.

The actor, apparently a guitar enthusiast himself, asked to meet Timuat. Impressed, he recorded Timuat?s music, which he brought back to the US.

?After a month, I got a letter inviting me to perform in a recital at Carnegie Hall. They paid for everything, I was treated very well and I gave many other concerts in the US,? he recalled.

The recital opened doors to other opportunities. He was invited to perform in the UN, at Lincoln Center, in San Francisco and in Los Angeles. In New York, he took lessons in flamenco guitar from a master guitar player, and was guest lecturer at the American Institute of Guitar.

His visa, good only for one week, was extended to a year. Then he got an offer to go to Spain for a year on a special visa. Spain was the land of flamenco. He would get to study formally and learn to be a luthier as well.

The world was suddenly at his feet. He loved it there, sold his property in the Philippines, got his kids to come over, and settled in Spain.

Frustration

It seems so easy when retold, he said, but he went through hell. There were moments of frustration and sadness.

?Ilang beses ko nang sinipa-sipa ang gitara ko [I kicked my guitar so many times], telling myself that this was not an easy thing to do. This is more of a dedication, an obsession, than a profession. You don?t know what will happen next. There are times you don?t earn at all. You do it because you love it. It?s not like other professions that enable you to compute your earnings, and possibly make you rich. With this, you just don?t know. It?s dedication and hard, hard work.?

Today, Timuat has learned to live his life to the fullest and to accept the forces he cannot control; like having two sons in Barcelona and Madrid with no interest in following in his footsteps; like the disappearance of the world?s best guitar wood ? the Brazilian Rose Wood; like the fact that he will have to be content with visits to the Philippines.

Why this fixation with flamenco?

?The house of flamenco is the guitar. No other instrument can better interpret flamenco music than the guitar. You can try playing it on the piano, but when you say flamenco, it is guitar. Because I love the guitar, I want to play the music specifically meant for the guitar. And this is flamenco.?

Highlight

Now, it was time for the piece de resistance ? Timuat playing the guitar for us. But if we had expected a few numbers, we were grossly mistaken.

He began with the kundiman ?Maalaala Mo Kaya? and ?Sa Yo Lamang,? then a samba medley of ?One Note Samba,? and ?Girl from Ipanema,? the Beatles? ?Here Comes the Sun,? to ?Flight of the Bumblebee.?

Then followed the serious part. He did a number called ?Recuerdos de la Alhambra? (Memories of Alhambra) composed by the near-blind Francisco Tárrega. Here, he demonstrated the famous tremolo guitar music he had invented.

Timuat is in Manila, preparing for shows in Cebu, Dumaguete, and Batangas. This towering artist deserves to be heard in his
homeland.

E-mail the author at bibsycarballo@yahoo.com