He points to a picture of himself at age eight standing in between Camarón de la Isla and Paco de Lucía and begins the story of how the city of Madrid had him pegged as “the next great flamenco guitar player;” quite an honor for a kid who listened to nothing but flamenco at the time. But now Rayito is sitting in his South Beach home studio strumming a $30,000 custom-made classical guitar. As his fingers flirt with the nylon strings in a traditional flamenco tune, the story continues and he admits that the dream of being “the next great flamenco guitar player” was never his. He left Spain for Miami at 14 hoping the sun and sand would teach him what he needed to learn to follow his path. That path has Rayito currently promoting his self-titled debut album.

A lot has changed for Rayito, who’s gone from child prodigy to young solo artist. At first, “I was seen as just a guitar player,” says Rayito. Then, “when I wrote songs they saw me as a writer,” he adds, speaking about the two songs he co-wrote with David Bisbal (“Lloraré las Penas”) and Ricky Martin (“Jaleo”). He kept having to prove himself and the industry kept trying to pigeonhole him. “It has always been a constant fight, a battle. But I don’t regret. It has made me work harder.”

Rayito the album, “is Latin pop,” says the 24-year-old. “Some of the songs I wrote in the process of the album, but most of the songs were already written.” The music “is a melting pot. A mix. I don’t want to say the word fusion because everybody says fusion now and most of them are not.”

After hearing the album, legendary producer Kike Santander told Rayito, “God came down to earth and touched you with his magic wand.”

In a sense, Rayito’s music is ever-changing. “My roots are flamenco, but I came here to study music and I had the opportunity of meeting musicians of my age from all different genres.”

He studied at the New World School of Arts, which is part of Florida’s Magnet Program, and since then has collaborated with Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Paco de Lucía, Julio Iglesias, Paulina Rubio, Bisbal and Martin.

At 22 he signed with SouthBeat Records and soon after started recording the album, a process that took about two years. This journey led him somewhere rather unexpected.

“I recorded at Bob Marley’s house. They treated me so well. I got to record in the room where he used to write his songs. I played and sang songs with his mother,” he says, beaming.

These days Rayito says he’s waiting to confirm his upcoming tour. “It is still in the works,” he says.

As the afternoon sun dims outside of his studio’s window, Rayito talks a little bit about his love for the guitar. He gave his first concert at age four. By eight, he was eating mature flamenco guitarristas for breakfast. He says his father taught him to play and to this day they get together every now and then to jam a little bit. There is a guitar in every room of the house. The closets are filled with guitar cases.

At the end of the interview Rayito is asked, “How hard was it to leave Madrid and to walk away from possibly being the next great flamenco star?” With great respect for the music and for the people who love flamenco, he simply states, “I can’t live their way. I can only live the way I want.”

I guess the beauty of leaving something that may rightfully be yours to pursue other avenues is that you can always come back.