“El Sonido producido al pulsar la guitarra, es el reflejo interno de quien la pulsa”

Ramsés Calderón

Artist Profile

Currently residing in Gatineau Quebec, Ramses was born in San Salvador, El Salvador. His music career began at the age of 11 playing the marimba. He has been living and performing in Canada since 2000.

Having studied in the tradition of Agustin Barrios Mangoré, Ramses incorporates traditional instruments and rhythms into his music and compositions, specially those for orchestra. The result of his creation process is a unique fusion of classical, traditional and popular music that reflects the richness of humanity.

Ramses spent over seven years under the teachings of five Agustin Barrios disciples (Julio Cortes Andrino, Dr. Roberto Bracamonte, Jose Cándido Morales, Cecilio Orellana, and Victor Urrutia), absorbing all the knowledge they had about their Maestro. Since 1994 Ramses has dedicated his time to the investigation, study, research and preservation of music and manuscripts from the 17th to 20th centuries from El Salvador and Central America. He also drafted with Master Cándido Morales the first documentation of Agustin Barrios Mangore’s technique for guitar, after Morales passed in 2002, he kept working over the years until it was published by D’OZ in Quebec city on May 2019 commemorating the 75th years of his passing, along with his music and arrangements compiling a set of 8 volumes knowing as ‘El Libro de Oro’ (The Book of Gold), edited by Luthier Federico Sheppard; a project that took 25 years to put it together.

Ramses’ interest in global culture has also driven him to work on numerous multidisciplinary collaborative projects with a variety of artists including: Duo Cofradia (musicians, Cuba), Dr. Igor De Gandaria (composer & musicologist, Guatemala), Luis Enrrique Mejia Godoy (singer-songwriter, Nicaragua), Los Guaraguao (singer-songwriters, Venezuala), David McIntyre (composer & pianist, Canada), Eduard Minevich Canada), Dr. Pauline Minevich RIP (musicologist Canada), Edward Poitras (artist, Canada), Robin Poitras (dancer, Canada), Michelle Sereda RIP (performance artist, Canada), David Sereda (singer-songwriter, Canada), Sarah Abbott and Ann Veral (filmmakers, Canada), and David West (guitarist & composer, Canada-Ecuador).

Ramses believes music is a profound tool for communicating with one another on numerous levels about the realities in the world around us. Interested in transforming and addressing community challenges through music, his primary aim is to make his music accessible to all cultures and communities as he aspires to influence people’s sense of consciousness.