''I've been preparing it for three weeks now,'' he says. ''It's completely new.''

But it's also steeped in tradition. It is, Pena says, a show that looks at what it is that constitutes flamenco - the music, the singing, the dancing and the emotion.

It looks at the level of present-day flamenco and its latest variations in dance, song and guitar, but also encompasses the most primitive, pure forms of the art and the inspiration that modern flamenco artists draw from the past. ''I don't want to sound pretentious,'' he says, ''I'm just really being honest. It's looking at the ingredients that make flamenco sound and look the way it does.''

And it's hard to think of anyone better qualified to do so than the Spanish musician.

''It was very much a tradition of my land of Andalusia.''

Pena was born in Cordoba and began learning to play the guitar when he was six.

''It was my older brother's guitar. I had seven sisters so I played the guitar to follow in the footsteps of my big brother.''

He was, he says, ''a little precocious in that field'' and by the age of 12 he was performing in public with other musicians. As a young adult, with the encouragement of his family, he travelled to larger cities such as Madrid and Barcelona to play. At the time, he says, that seemed like ''the end of the universe''.

But his world was soon to become a lot bigger. His brother had gone to Britain and Pena visited him there in 1963. ''The guitar was very popular there but not so much flamenco.''

He decided to take on the challenge of popularising it internationally and in 1966 moved to Britain where he began attracting attention and interest.

''I made my debut concert in London in 1968,'' he says. Not long after he was part of a concert at the Royal Festival Hall - ''a Guitar In'' in the parlance of the time - which showcased different guitar styles including rock: Jimi Hendrix topped the bill. And, as Pena puts it in his characteristically understated way, ''One thing led to another.''

He was, he says, committed to promoting and performing the music of his culture and he was soon touring internationally and performing in major venues around the world including the Concertgebuow in Amsterdam and New York City's Carnegie Hall. He later founded the world's first university course on flamenco guitar, at the conservatory of music in Rotterdam.

While flamenco is his speciality and his passion, he is also interested in other forms of guitar music, both as a listener and a performer.

He played some jazz guitar with the American virtuoso Joe Pass and after his Australian tour will be travelling to the US to perform with classical guitarist Eliot Fisk.

''He's taught me a lot of classical music - Bach, Mendelssohn, Scarlatti - and I've taught him some flamenco. It's a nice coming together.''

Having been exposed to the guitar in many genres, Pena has his own ideas on why the instrument is so popular.

''It's a very personal instrument, very immediate, and it's adapted to many cultures,'' he says.

As for why flamenco has travelled so far from its homeland to become popular around the world - Europe, Asia, the Americas, Australia - he says, ''It deals with emotions that are very deep and very true to human beings and all human beings can grasp these.''

He says some cultures are a little removed from some of the grittier aspects of life that flamenco deals with - death, love.

''But when they are exposed to this, they respond.''

All of which would seem to make Pena and flamenco a good choice for another of his upcoming projects, at the Edinburgh Festival, a commemoration of the centenary of the outbreak of World War I, a time when emotions ran high and deep and primal instincts were aroused - all of which seems eminently suited to the style of flamenco.

But for now, he's thinking about Australia.

It's been a few years since he last toured here and he is looking forward to coming back.

''I don't mind telling you I love the place,'' he says.

His concerts always get quite a lot of interest in Australia, he says. Even on the other side of the world, the passions of flamenco appeal strongly.

Flamencura is on at The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre on Sunday April 6 at 6pm. Tickets $99.50/$90/$65. Bookings: canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.