Adrián Niz is one of the most recognized guitarists in Lanzarote and is one of those people who have made their hobby their profession. Born in Arrecife 37 years ago, the musician has traveled several continents giving away his talent, which he began to cultivate since he can remember.
He learned the first chords from his grandfather at the age of 4 with the timple, who sang in formations. "Years later I wanted to start playing the guitar and since my mother played some chords, I started learning with her," he says.
Already at 11 years old, his involvement in music was increasing until playing in rondallas and groups to learn. "I was at the Municipal School of Teguise, in El Pavón and years later also in the beginnings of the Calicanto group," he declares.
The guitarist has always been linked to the world of folklore although "the first time I stepped into an official school was around 7 years old with Florián Corujo, who was my first timple teacher and later I was taking classes with Fefo Pérez," he says. Although he was in the conservatory, where he has investigated the most is in self-learning, being self-taught.
"Where I learned the most was in parrandas and surrounding myself with musicians from the island and also from outside, such as Cuban musicians, with whom I expanded my knowledge towards other styles other than just folklore," he reveals.
Among his upcoming projects, still to be closed, include concerts in Dublin, Milan and New York, although there will be more places that the guitarist will announce soon. His intention, in addition, is to organize concerts with the Symphony Orchestra again and record a duet album with José Vicente Pérez again.
The importance of accompaniment
Adrián Niz's talent with his guitar creates an indispensable musical support for the soloists with whom he works. "I consider myself a guitarist, above all, of accompaniment, it is where I defend myself best," he explains. And the musician works in duo with the timplista José Vicente Pérez and has focused more on being a timple and soloist accompaniment guitarist.
"I have performed both with José Vicente Pérez and with Alexis Lemes although I am also currently in the Raíces group," Niz explains. In addition, his guitar has also led him to collaborate with groups from Lanzarote such as Calicanto and has recorded albums with Alexis Lemes, as well as the Malvasía Song project.
"Music has given me the opportunity to experience many positive sensations and has led me to play with the timplista Domingo Rodríguez El Colorao and also with Benito Cabrera on some occasion," he says.
"But not only that, but it has led me to meet people from the world and important musicians from the Canary Islands and also to be able to take my sound together with my colleagues to different parts of the world such as Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Casablanca, Prague, Cologne, Bilbao, Praia or Rotterdam," he says.
Adrián Niz's work not only focuses on accompaniment, but also on production. "Apart from music, I also exercise the production part when I organize concerts, so I dedicate myself to making small productions," he says.
The guitar, an instrument not suitable for everyone
Like almost everything in life, to dedicate yourself to a profession or a hobby such as playing the guitar, passion for what you do is essential to make the learning process easier. "You have to have a 'something' to play the guitar because not everyone is good at playing an instrument and you can learn to play the guitar with minimal resources but then there are people who reach a point because it doesn't give for more but then there are other people who have more advanced qualities and capabilities," he explains.
"The first advice I would give to someone to start playing the guitar is that you like it, that music catches your attention, and from there it depends on the time and qualities of each person to be able to reach one point or another," he advises.
And it is that Lanzarote and the Canary Islands in general have always been characterized by cultivating musicians with a lot of talent. "Lanzarote has a good pool of, for example, timplistas and soloists of traditional and popular music," he concludes.
