Today we’d like to introduce you to Edward Frank Martinez.
Edward, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Up until this point, age 22ish, my life has been an overflow of music, of passion, and of practice. In the past seven years, since sophomore year of high school, my life has been dramatically changed by numerous teachers, friends, and artistic inspirations. Being from a city in Orange County where culture and art need a little uplifting, I’ve found myself gracious enough to have had enriching experiences through travel, family, school, studies, etc.
I love to think about the time when my Grandpa surprised me at age 8 with my first guitar on Christmas day. I was so joyously shocked because I’d always seen him play with my Grandma who plays piano. The first thing he taught me was a C-Major Scale and said: “Now, you can play any song in the world”. At the time, I never knew what he meant by this. Nevertheless, my grandparents were surely the catalysts in sparking my interest in music.
Middle school was enjoyable musical times as I began playing with the youth group band, and started private lessons. I found a liking for rock/blues/jazz/fingerstyle. I remember frequently learning songs that soared a ways above my skill set but I always loved struggling through them.
In high school, at the Orange County School of the Arts, is where I found true love for two art forms, Flamenco and Classical guitar. I had two extraordinary teachers, Walter Molina, and Vasil Chekardzhikov. Once in class, Molina showed a video of Paco de Lucía playing and I’ve been hooked ever since. Similarly, Vasil gave me an insanely difficult fugue of Bach as one of my first classical pieces and I’ve been hooked on Bach ever since.
After OCSA, I went straight into Vanguard University to study with Michael Nigro, a real brainiac, and Martha Masters, another teacher of the highest caliber. Throughout undergrad, I traveled to Spain (thrice), Bulgaria, Italy, and across the U.S. to play guitar, and compete in competitions. Traveling has all the difference in musical enrichment for me.
I’ve been to Madrid three times now to study flamenco with a world-renowned artist, El Viejín. Some of my most treasured experiences have been in Spain. The stories are never-ending but I was humbled seeing a family of artists incredibly devoted to an art form; making art filled with love and detail.
Anyways, my whereabouts now are pursuing my Master’s degree at USC!
Can you give our readers some background on your music? What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
At heart, I’m someone who finds a ton of value in talking to someone without saying anything. When I play guitar, I’ve put in hours and hours on end to phrase things, to create tone, to make little details accumulate into a grand idea. And after doing these things, I perform for an audience, releasing everything that I’ve practiced. The magical element though is that during a performance, I’m taking the next step and tapping into my inner self to portray something more profound and more complex than I. This is a feeling that is priceless and it frequently happens when I perform and it is all the more worthwhile when I can share it with others.
I play Flamenco and Classical guitar, sometimes one more than the other, and although they are two distinctly different art forms, there is a lot to offer from both. Flamenco guitar is driven by rhythm, improvisation, nuance, and feeling while Classical though has these elements as well, it thrives upon structure, clarity, and pronounced ideas. Both styles actually work quite well together, and I feel that if used responsibly, something beautiful can and will be created.
My goal ultimately is to have myself and others be able to enjoy my music. I also just want to bring honor to these two art forms, which is a mountain of work but has proved to be worth it so far.
We often hear from artists that being an artist can be lonely. Any advice for those looking to connect with other artists?
You’re not lonely, you have the greatest gift of all, an instrument and your imagination.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
The easiest way right now is through my Instagram (@Franduem), Youtube (@Franduem), Facebook, etc. All the normal fixins…
At the moment, I’m working on my first album called “Two Natures”. It is an album filled with flamenco masterpieces and classical masterpieces of Bach. All of the music is perfectly written and I think that this album will be good to resurface these works, let alone giving me a huge project to undertake.
Other than that, since I’m living in LA, I’ve already performed numerous times with my ever so talented friend Dylan Kanner. I also perform at various events and venues throughout Southern California and I am looking forward to setting up more and more performances in LA and beyond. My performances have taken a momentary halt to work on school and the album!
Contact Info:
- Phone: 9493786108
- Email: efmartin@usc.edu
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/franduem/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eddie.martinez.71
Image Credit:
Andrew Baffa (main photo)
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