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Gustavo Alonso López is a North American Flamenco guitarist located in Walla Walla, WA. Born and raised in Idaho as the son of a Salvadoran immigrant, he is formally educated in architecture. His cross-disciplinary background guides a distinct career path coalescing around music. He has worked as a musician for over a decade in Washington, Texas, and Spain. For reasons musical, personal, and cultural, Flamenco is the cornerstone of his creative practice. His music emerges from Flamenco’s grassroots oral tradition and the institutionalized Western notation system, borrows concepts from classical music and jazz, and blurs lines between composition and improvisation. His creative method draws on his design background, as he builds concept albums that aspire to create immersive, cinematic aural experiences. Dismantling stereotypes and building cross-cultural dialogue and understanding through music are key elements of Gustavo’s creative practice.

Gustavo recorded and produced his debut album, Punto Lejano, in 2014 and secured a Fulbright Fellowship to Spain in 2017, which provided his only formal musical education. In Spain, he trained with top guitarists, created original music, and conducted an interview project with the broader Flamenco community, which resulted in a blog entitled Palabras Flamencas. He released a second album, Espasón, in 2023 that included an international team of collaborators from the United States, Italy, and Spain. A third album is currently in post-production. His work has also received support from ArtWalla, The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, Artist Trust, Audiosocket, and the Ucross Foundation.

The music of Flamenco’s luminaries, such as Paco de Lucía, Pepe Habichuela, Manolo Sanlúcar, and Rafael Riqueni, is a constant source of inspiration for Gustavo. He is also a fan of jazz, rock, classical, and world music, and enjoys playing with artists from these other traditions. He has lived many places throughout the United States and abroad, including Italy, Argentina, and Spain.