Victor Herrero

Victor Herrero was introduced to music in his childhood while living in the famous monastery Franco erected in a mountain valley west of Madrid (El Valle de los Caídos). There he learned to sing Gregorian and Mozarabic chant under the guidance of Benedictine monks. Joining the abbey’s wellrespected boys’ choir he performed around Europe and was featured in the soundtrack and as an extra in the Belgian cult film ‘Farinelli’ (Gérard Corbiau, 1994). As a teenager back in his hometown Toledo he formed a psych-rock outfit called ‘Cicely’, which grew into a popular Madrid-based band. The group lasted 8 years, after which Victor recorded and released an album of his solo piano compositions ‘Connotaciones para Piano’ (Sello Autor – SGAE, 2006) under his old stage name Victor Cicely.

Shortly after this period, Victor met his wife the US artist Josephine Foster, and they began to collaborate and perform together in concert as well as in the recording studio. He plays lead guitar on her disc ‘This Coming Gladness’ (Bo’Weavil Recordings, 2008) as well as on her two last solo albums; ‘Blood Rushing’ (Fire Records, 2012) and ‘I´m a Dreamer’ (Fire Records, 2013). In 2009 he released his second solo album ‘Anacoreta’ (Bo’Weavil Recordings, 2009), an instrumental collection of his compositions written for Spanish guitar. The music embodies different styles which have all formed a part of his experience; classical, folkloric and contemporary threads all united under the strong influence of traditional Andalusian music.

In 2010 the UK label Fire Records released ‘Anda Jaleo’ recorded by his folkloric ensemble with his wife Josephine Foster & Victor Herrero Band. A collection of popular traditional songs collected and harmonized by the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca in 1930, these piano scores and recordings were the inspiration for this new recorded version made by Victor and Josephine. With this same ensemble in March 2012 Fire Records released ‘Perlas’ a new collection of Spanish folkloric songs.

In summer 2012 the label Foehn Records of Barcelona released ‘Tiempo para la Cosecha’, an album by Viva, a project created by Victor with the Spanish musician Israel Marco and Togolese percussionist Gamal Seya. The music is based in the traditional African rhythms. In 2014 Victor Herrero released his third solo album ‘Estampida’. A collection of original songs written in Spanish, they take inspiration from the music and poetry of Spain and Latin America. This record has been released by Foehn Records and Windbell Records Japan.

LINE-UP
Victor Herrero: portuguese guitar, spanish guitar, vocals