I am Italian, I have spent many years living in Crete (Greece) and I am now living in Madrid. I dedicate myself to the wonderful world of music, my specialty is the Steel guitar or Lap Steel guitar (many call it simply slide guitar).
It is a wonderful instrument that I invite you to know and listen to. My music mixes the sound of the Steel guitar with Folk, IndieFolk, and also some electronic touch. A fusion between the Mediterranean and the American roots.
Apart from following my artistic path in Spain during these years, I have worked with different musicians and television and radio channels such as Tele 5, Cuatro, Telemadrid, LaSexta, Ondacero, Melodía FM, Radio3, Radio Coop and I have performed at festivals such as High Rock -A- Billy, Barcelona International Jazz Festival, Blues Cazorla, Out Jazz, Cuenca International Film Festival, Jazz Moncloa, Matala Festival of Greece, Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival (Ireland).
In different events for the Italian embassy, the Chamber of Commerce of the National Library of Madrid, I have also been fortunate to participate in the recording of many albums as a "session musician" with artists like Ismael Serrano, Flaco Barral, Curt Savoy.
In 2016 I released my first album: Jonathan Colombo Storie published by Gasser Discos. In 2017, I started an audio visual project called Urban Slide. Slideguitar themes recorded in emblematic places of Madrid. It is the single that anticipates the sound of the new album.
I started playing Steel Guitar or Lap Steel right after suffering from tendonitis. I got injured and the doctors told me that I had to be a month without playing the guitar since it also hurt me to squeeze the strings with my left hand. And of course, the problem is that I could not live or be without playing the guitar.
I had seen a video of Hawaiians playing a guitar lying on the legs (Lap Steel) and sliding a steel bar or "tone bar" on the strings, which always prompted my curiosity. I wanted to know more about it and learn well. And so I did, it was how I picked up my acoustic guitar, lifted the strings and began to play it.
Fifteen years later, Steel Guitar is my most precious instrument, the one I like the most and with which I compose most of what I write, and it makes up my Trade Mark.
Throughout this time I have played the Lap Steel Guitar with many musicians in different groups of different styles, from: Folk, Blues, Pop, Hawaiian, Country, Blue Grass, and also ethnic music and music of oriental roots.
It is usually tuned in "open" which means that without pressing anything a chord sounds, usually G major or D.
The sound possibilities it produces are similar to those of the human voice. Being the Steel an instrument without frets (like a violin) allows us to play infinite fractions of notes. Depending on how it is played it may sound Hawaiian, Blues, Ethnic, Pop ...
Who wants to contact me:
Apart from playing live I collaborate with different studios and individuals to record this wonderful instrument.
And I also teach new generations of Steel Guitar.
© 2019 Jonathan Colombo www.jonathancolombo.com Mail: j.colomboslide@gmail.com Cell. +34 663 46 12 28