Hipolito (Tito) Rubio

Hipolito (Tito) Rubio

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Did You Know?

  • Flamenco del Encuentro performed on the Whoopie Goldberg radio show in the Fall of 2006.

Tito Rubio was born in 1954 in Monsagro, Spain, a small village in western Salamanca, about thirty miles from the border with Portugal. He remembers seeing his grandfather playing the tamborin (drum) and flute in town processions, as well as playing castanets and dancing the jota, a regional traditional dance. In the early 1960s many Spaniards emigrated to Australia, Tito Rubio’s family among them. Rubio eventually settled in Melbourne, which had a large Spanish population. They remained in Melbourne for almost thirty years, where Rubio started to play guitar, studied flamenco with Manolo Varela and others, and eventually became active as a performer in the city’s Spanish community. As his knowledge grew, he appeared on radio and TV broadcasts in Australia, and became known as something of a boy wonder for his abilities.

In the early 1980s, Rubio began to accompany singers and dancers, as well as continuing to play solo. In the mid-1980s he relocated to Spain, where he was exposed to traditional flamenco families for the first time and studied with some of the world¹s greatest guitarists, immersing himself in flamenco life, taking every opportunity to observe and participate in classes, performances, and flamenco gatherings in fiestas and bars. One of his principal teachers at this time was Juan Maya Marote, of the famous Marote gypsy clan, and Rubio says that to this day, other guitarists recognize Marote’s style in his playing, particularly in his strong rasqueados, a particular type of strum-flourish that uses all the fingers. He also studied with David Serva, an American who has been accepted as an authentic player among flamencos in Spain. Tito appeared in the Festival de la Ville in Madrid in 1989 as part of the company of Danza Española Contemporanea of Juan Maya Marote and performed in the Royal Palace of Morocco for Prince Felipe of Spain and King Hussein of Morocco. Tito performed with companies from Spain in various cities in Asia and in Europe. He made an extensive tour of the Middle East including the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Cairo, Egypt. In 1995 he toured the United States and worked for several months with Maria Benitez’ Teatro Flamenco in New Mexico. It was on this trip that he met his wife and artistic partner, Philadelphia native, Anna Arias Rubio, with whom he founded Flamenco del Encuentro, which joined Musicopia’s roster in 2007 and conducts assembly, workshop, and residency programs.

Tito was awarded an Artistic Fellowship for Folk and Traditional Arts by the PA Council for the Arts for 2004, and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts for 2004. Tito was Musician-in-residence at the Philadelphia Folklore Project for 2003-2004. Tito is also co-musical director, with Roger Mgrdichian, of Herencia Arabe. Visit Tito and Flamenco del Encuentro online at: http://www.flamencodelencuentro.com.

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