Oscar Lopez

Oscar Lopez (born 1953) is a Chilean-Canadian guitarist, whose signature style blends Latin and jazz styles.

Background Lopez was born in Santiago, Chile, studying music through the University of Chile's youth music program. He moved to Canada in 1978, initially settling in Winnipeg, Manitoba before moving to Calgary, Alberta in 1981. before starting to perform as a Latin-style acoustic guitarist.

He was a regional finalist for Western Canada in the Montreal International Jazz Festival's national Concours de Jazz in 1987.

Music career He released his debut album Hola in 1989.

At the 1990 Northern Lights Festival Boréal, Lopez and singer-songwriter James Keelaghan met for the first time and began to explore the fusion of Celtic and Latin music. The duo undertook a number of tours together, and contributed as guest musicians on each other's solo albums before recording two Juno Award-nominated albums, Compadres (1997) and ¿Buddy Where You Been? (2007) as a duo.

He signed to Narada Records in 1997.

In 1998, Lopez co-produced Volcán: Tributo a José José, a tribute album dedicated to the iconic Mexican singer José José. He received a nomination for Best Instrumental Artist at the Juno Awards of 1998, the same year in which the album Compadres was nominated for Best Roots & Traditional Album – Group.

At the Juno Awards of 2002, Lopez won his first award, in the Best Instrumental Album category for Armando's Fire. He won a second Juno Award in the same category for Mi Destino/My Destiny at the Juno Awards of 2005. Around this time, however, Lopez took a break from performing for two years to deal with depression. As a result, Spirit of the West recorded a tribute song to Lopez, "Come Back Oscar", on their 2004 album Star Trails. On July 24 that year, Lopez appeared on stage with Spirit of the West at the Calgary Folk Music Festival to perform the song;

After collaborating with Keelaghan on ¿Buddy Where You Been?, which was again a Juno Award nominee for Best Instrumental Album at the Juno Awards of 2008, his next recording project was with Pavlo and Rik Emmett on the album Trifecta (2009). Credited as P.R.O., the trio toured North America in support of the CD, which was again a Juno Award nominee for Best Instrumental Album at the Juno Awards of 2010.

Lopez released his latest recording Apasionado on October 21, 2014 as an independent artist.

Awards and nominations

Other Awards 1999: Prairie Music Awards Winner Instrumentalist of the Year

2002: SOCAN Winner Hagood Hardy Jazz/Instrumental Award

Discography Title Album details Nominations/AwardsHola Released: 1989 Label: Fantasy of Latin Strings Formats: cassetteSueños Released: 1991 Label: Fantasy of Latin StringsDancing on the Moon Contigo Released: 1994 Label: Socan (#FLS2) Formats: CD, cassetteNominated for a Juno Award for Best Global Recording Compadres (James Keelaghan, Oscar Lopez) Released: 1997 Label: Jericho Beach Music (#JBM 9701-2)Nominated for a Juno Award for Best Roots & Traditional Album – Group Heat Released: 1997 Label: Narada Productions (#ND-63040)Seduction Released: 1998 Label: Narada Productions (#72438-46140-2-7)Armando's Fire Released: 2000 Label: Narada Productions (#72438-49799-2-8)Won a Juno Award for Best Instrumental Album Flashback: The Best of Oscar Lopez Type: Compilation album Released: 2002 Label: Narada Productions (#72435-42521-2-9)My Destiny (Mi Destino) Released: 2003 Label: Narada Productions (#72435-93645-2-0)Won a Juno Award for Instrumental Album of the Year ¿Buddy Where You Been? (Compadres – James Keelaghan, Oscar Lopez) Released: 2007 Label: Centino MusicNominated for a Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year: Group Trifecta (Pavlo, Rik Emmett, Oscar Lopez) Released: 2009 Label: P.R.O. (#PRO-001)Nominated for a Juno Award for Instrumental Album of the Year Apasionado Released: 2014 Label: Independent

Other compilation appearances Masters of Acoustic Guitar (1997) (Narada) (Track 5 – Classical Soul (Edit)) Narada Smooth Jazz (1997) (Narada) Narada World A Global Vision (1997) (Narada) The Next Generation: Explore Our World (1997) (Narada) Gypsy Passion: New Flamenco (1997) (Narada) Gypsy Soul: New Flamenco (1998) (Narada) Stories (1998) (Narada) (Track 3 – Looking Back) Narada Film and Television Music Sampler (1998) (Narada) Narada Guitar: 15 Years of Collected Works (1998) (Narada) Obsession: New Flamenco Romance (1999) (Narada) Latino Christmas (1999) (Narada) (Track 2 – Happy Christmas, Track 6 – White Christmas, Track 9 – Little Town of Bethlehem) Nuevo Flamenco (1999) (Virgin France) Gypsy Fire (2000) (Narada) Global Transmissions (A World Music Sampler) (2000) (Narada) Narada Guitar 2: The Best of Two Decades (2000) (Narada) Guitar Greats: The Best of New Flamenco – Volume I (2000) (Baja/TSR Records) Tabu: Mondo Flamenco (2001) (Narada) Guitar Greats: The Best of New Flamenco – Volume II (2002) (Baja/TSR Records) Best of Narada New Flamenco Guitar (2003) (Narada) The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Latin Christmas (2005) (EMI Music/Metropolitan Museum of Art) (Track 1 – Happy Christmas, Track 13 – White Christmas) The World of the Spanish Guitar Vol. 1 (2011) (Higher Octave Music) Guitar Greats: The Best of New Flamenco – Volume III (2013) (Baja/TSR Records)