Biography

VICTOR ANEIROS
The Periphery is where the world is different, not where it ends. From this periphery the blues of de Víctor Aneiros surprises specialists, enthusiasts and even those least predisposed to enjoy it. The sound of his guitar and the notes of his blues evokes other lands, other streets, another grammar system, another accent. From Ferrol, in the north of Galicia, the Finisterre of the Old Europe.
We have been lucky enough to have followed Aneiros’ evolution from the end of the seventies to the present day. At the beginning, he was little more than an adolescent, seduced by all the possibilities offered by this new discovery: the continuous flow of music, from head to foot, from heart to hand, from hand to guitar and from guitar to amplifier. Something deeply magical for a bird of prey who wanted to externalise all the expressive force he carried around inside.
There was already a lot of blues feeling in the young man’s powerful urge to play, in his raw enthusiasm and his style which oscillated between heavy metal, Californian rock and even punk (we should not forget that we are, after all, talking about the end of the seventies). And within his sweeping force, there was a certain sense of spirituality which made him different from any other guitarist on the plentiful Galician music scene of that time. There was also something else, although more superficial: he was left-handed, like Jimi Hendrix, the super-guitarist whom he adored.
During the eighties, Aneiros joined a number of groups such as Alkitrán, Blancanieves, Treinta y Nueve escalones, Grelo Bravo and Acceso Norte, playing music of all kinds. But his phrasing was increasingly blues-like. During these years, Aneiros played many records of Freddie King, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and Duanne Allman, etc. conversing with them in this universal language of the soul that is expressed as music.
Like a plant that germinates naturally, the blues flowered with increasing strength in his music, step by step, year by year. During the nineties, Aneiros had played everything that can be played on a guitar and was sure of the route he wished to follow. With a couple of friends, one of whom was Germán Lamas, with his wonderful voice, he formed the Forcadas Blues Band, which came as somewhat of a revolution on the rather blinkered Galician music scene.
With Blue Notes, Aneiros recorded his first album, published by Cambayá Records in 1999, entitled Que el blues te acompañe, as well as participating in diverse festivals (Antequera, Cerdanyola, Reus, etc.).
After sharing a stage with BB King, Buddy Guy, Raimundo Amador, Coco Montoya and Larry McCray, with whom he had the opportunity of improvising live, Aneiros brought out his second work entitled ‘Live in Montreux’ in 2003, this time published by Gaztelupeko Hotsak. This album is a recording of one of the two concerts given by the Víctor Aneiros Band in the Montreux Jazz Festival OFF in 2002.

Aneiros’ blues style is heterodox, with no purist obsessions. For him, the good thing about music is precisely its endless scope, as is evident in Crossfire, but also in his remakes of Calling Card or Little Wing.

His live performance is on a par with any of the great blues legends. This is another of the major differences that set him apart from the other guitarists both of his time and from later generations. He is a pedigree guitar player with a lot of class who never deflates in front of an audience. Any blues lover should note his name down in their diary as an absolute must to see live whenever the opportunity arises. His extraordinary talent has led him to be included in Gérard Herzhaft’s ‘Great Encyclopaedia of the Blues’ (2003).
In the spring-summer of 2004, Aneiros is due to bring out his new album: ‘Blues do Amencer’, in which he returns to the idea already present in his previous work, i.e. that of singing the blues in the Galician language, as in his main track: Non me deixes morrer aquí (Don’t leave me to die here). The tone of this language is conducive to the blues and his handling of the Dobro also helps the differentiation. As Aneiros himself has often said: ‘homesickness is the eau-de-vie of Galician blues’. With tracks composed entirely by the singer, he is accompanied by an energetic band whose live performances will not disappoint.

Blues Festival (Portugal), the 2005 Ourense Blues Festival, the 2006 Torreperogil Blues Festival, the 2007 Seia Blues Festival (Portugal), and the 2007 Gaia Blues Festival (Portugal). He played on the same bill as Eric Sardinas, Deborah Coleman, John Lee Hooker Jr., Ten Years After, Coco Montoya...

In 2008, he released “Heroe Secreto” (Secret Hero). On this recording he puts music to the poems of Rosalía de Castro, Luís Pimentel, Amado Carballo and Ramiro Fonte. He also performs a blues version of the Galician emigration hymn “Unha Noite Na Eira do trigo” (A Night on the Threshing Floor) by the poet Curros Enríquez. Collaborators on this recording included saxophonist Roberto Somoza, trumpet player Hansel Luís Díez, trombonist Edward Chamorro Cabrera, double bass player Xacobe Martínez Antelo, vocalist Paula Martins, accordionist Javier Díaz and banjo and guitar player Juan Cabezón.

He performed for the second time at the Cerdanyola Blues Festival in 2008. He played on the same bill as Eric Sardinas, Raimundo Amador, Shemekia Copeland, Bob Brozman...