Steve
Ceniceros
art by jared barbick
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A guitarist, singer, and songwriter, Steve's focus is on finger style playing of steel string guitars. Born in Los Angeles (Boyle Heights), Steve spent his early childhood in the village of El Sauzal de Rodriguez near Ensenada in Baja California where he picked up the guitar at the age of ten. He spent his adolescence in Orange County during the seventies and the music of that time had its impact. These two key experiences form the essence of Steve's approach to guitar playing and songwriting: heart-felt ballads in West Coast tradition with a touch of Latin.
Europe has played an important role in defining Steve's musical tastes. At the age of seventeen he lived for a year in Germany to acquire skills in speaking the language as well as to absorb its diverse culture. He was impressed by the Europeans' fascination for South American music; especially the music of Peru and Bolivia. This music's profound influence inspired him to found a Latin American band in 1985 along with other Latin musicians. This is how the band Huayucaltia was born. Steve played in this ensemble from 1985 to 1991. The band had a record contract with ROM Records (Keith Holzmann) and released three CDs the first of which was reviewed by Rolling Stone. Huayucaltia toured primarily in California, with some performances in Arizona, Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Chicago.
In Los Angeles Huayucaltia opened up several shows for Jackson Browne. During this period Steve had the pleasure of meeting Ry Cooder who contacted him for a music engagement in a film production. He played flutes, hand string instruments as well as percussion.
Steve Ceniceros has also performed in La Misa Criolla for religious communities in Santa Barbara (diatonic accordion and charango), and Hamburg, Germany (tenor).
In December of 1991 Steve emigrated to Germany where he lived for 11 years. He performed as a songwriter in 1995 in the town of Buxtehude near Hamburg.
He has formed part of the back-up band for David Pomeranz and other artists at a demonstration for religious freedom at Opera Square in Frankfurt, Germany. In 2003, he also performed in Brussels with Italian pop star Elena Roggero.
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