Sulaimani Guitarist Brings the Soul of Spanish Flamenco to Life

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - In the intimate setting of Aram Gallery in Sulaimani, a young Kurdish guitarist sat with his instrument on Sunday and played music rooted in solitude — a style that Spanish flamenco has long considered its own deepest expression.

Suren Saman, a Sulaimani-based musician who specializes in Spanish flamenco guitar, performed a concert under the title "Soli Flamenco" on April 26, presenting a program drawn from the work of two of the genre's most celebrated masters: Paco de Lucía and Vicente Amigo.

The program included Solea, Fandangos, and Farruca by Paco de Lucía, alongside Minera, Rondeña, and Roma by Vicente Amigo, as well as Farruca by Sabicas and Tangos by Moraíto Chico — a selection that traced the stylistic range of a form that many consider flamenco's emotional and historical core.

Saman told Kurdistan24 that Soli Flamenco occupies a singular place within the broader flamenco tradition. "This style is one of the most important and profound in Spanish flamenco music," he said. "It is often known as the mother of flamenco, because many other styles branch out from it."

The name itself, he explained, carries its meaning within it. The word "soli" derives from "soledad" — the Spanish word for solitude or aloneness. "That is why this style so often conveys feelings of sorrow, reflection, longing, and deep inner yearning," he said.

Saman described the musical architecture of the form in precise terms. Soli Flamenco is built on a distinctive rhythm composed of 12 beats, and is slower and heavier than most other flamenco styles. It gives particular prominence to voice, emotion, and technical guitar work — a combination that, in the hands of a skilled performer, builds from stillness into overwhelming feeling. "When you listen to it, you most often feel sorrow and memory, grandeur and a powerful sense of human depth and solitude," he said.

Fingerpicking, feeling, and the giants of the form

What distinguishes Soli Flamenco as a guitaristic challenge, Saman said, is the demand it places on both technical precision and emotional truth simultaneously. "In the Soli style, the guitarist uses detailed and precise fingerpicking technique, while at the same time infusing the melody with feeling and spirit," he said. It is a balance that has defined the careers of the musicians whose work he performed on Sunday.

"That is why great guitar masters such as Paco de Lucía and Vicente Amigo have exceptional pieces in this style."

Saman is among the younger generation of musicians in Sulaimani who have dedicated themselves to the Spanish flamenco guitar tradition.

He runs his own specialist teaching studio in the field — an institution that, in a city known for its cultural openness, has found an audience willing to follow a musical form far from its Andalusian origins.

On Sunday afternoon, inside Aram Gallery, that distance collapsed for a moment. The guitar played, the room listened, and a style born from solitude filled a hall in the heart of Kurdistan.