World music and dance will fill the stage at Packard Music Hall tonight for the final concert of the Warren Civic Music Association’s 2023-24 season.

Benise describes himself as a “nouveau flamenco” guitarist, but that’s not how he started. He grew up in Nebraska and was raised on rock ‘n’ roll. Eddie Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix were his idols.

He moved to Los Angeles to pursue music, which is where he discovered Spanish guitar. It wasn’t an easy transition, though. Instead of playing the clubs on the Sunset Strip where Van Halen and other rockers got their start, he played on the streets of southern California for whatever passersby would give him.

In a 2019 interview with this newspaper, he said it was a valuable training ground.

“If you don’t get someone to stop as they’re walking by, you’re not making money, you’re not eating, you’re not paying rent,” Benise said. “You have to write music that captures people and captures them right away.”

He was successful enough as a street musician to make enough money to create his first theater show, one that added dance and spectacle to go along with the music. That production led to his first PBS special.

Benise has released 15 albums on his own independent record label, Spanish Guitar Entertainment, as well as seven CDs. And his music draws inspiration from Africa, Brazil, the Mediterranean, Cuba, India and Egypt as well as Spain.

This will be Benise’s second appearance for the WCMA, first performing in 2019.

When the current season was announced, WCMA Artist Selection Chair Ellie Monchak said, “His production is amazing — beautiful set, other dancers. He’s a very talented young man and just as nice as can be.”

The program starts at 7 p.m. today at Packard, 1703 Mahoning Ave. NW, Warren. Tickets are $40 and will be available at the box office before the show.

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