Mariano
Rego was born in the Azores, 1921, on the island of Sao Miguel. With the
help of his mother and father, he began playing the Portuguese Guitar at
age five years. Soon he was playing in every theatre throughout the Azores.
Winning first prize in Ponta Delgada in the prestigious Companheiros de
Alegria Contest conducted at the famous Teatro Music Hall, 1952, he had
no choice but to immigrate to the United States the next year where he
excelled as a guitarist of renown. By 1957, he decided to re-immigrate,
this time to Canada, bringing with him his family including his two daughters.
At first he formed a band, calling it Os Toureiros de Portugal. After 12
years he was urged to go solo and played at such Toronto night spots as
the Skyline Hotel, The El Mocombo, and Império and Vasco da Gama,
two well-known Portuguese restaurants in Toronto. He has made some 40 recordings
in a career spanning nearly half a century. Although he admits that it
is a great pleasure to give solo performances for such personalities as
Donald Trump, nevertheless, his greatest pleasure is knowing that all women
love his music because, when they watch him play his famous Portuguese
Guitar, he does so as if he were making love to it. In 1979, Mariano Rego
donated to the Royal Ontario Museum his most famous guitar crafted by José
da Silveira, an artist who lived on the Madeira Islands in the 19th century.
[Photo, courtesy Mariano Rego]