Dorita y Pepe

Dorita y Pepe were the stage names of British musicians Dorothy and Peter Sensier. They made many appearances as a duo on British television in the late 1950s and 1960s, performing Spanish and Latin American folk music, and released several albums. Peter Sensier was also known as a guitar maker, writer and radio broadcaster.

Biography[]

Peter Sensier (20 January 1918 – October 1977)^[1] was a Brentford-born musician who played guitar in jazz and swing bands, and became a friend of bandleader Edmundo Ros. He and Essex-born Joyce Dorothy Hamberger (26 September 1923 – December 2003)^[2] married in London in 1948. Peter Sensier was an accomplished classical and Spanish guitar player, and shared with his wife a love of Latin American music. They began performing as a duo in London clubs in the mid-1950s.^[3] By 1957, they had begun recording together as Dorita y Pepe, featuring on the EP Ken Sykora's Guitar Club Vol.2. She sang and played rhythm guitar.^[4]

The couple divorced in 1957 but maintained their professional relationship. Their first LP, Dorita y Pepe, was released on the Columbia label in 1961. They toured often in South America, and became popular there. They also performed in Russia, China, and elsewhere,^[5] and their music featured in the film Guns of Darkness (1962). They appeared regularly on BBC radio, in programmes including Guitar Club.^[3] In 1962-63, they featured in their own ITV television series, Their Kind of Music,^[6] and appeared many times during the 1960s on The Benny Hill Show.^[7] The duo's later albums included Viva Dorita y Pepe! (1964), En Buenos Aires (1965), and Latin American Folk (1968).^[8]

Peter Sensier was also known as a maker of guitars, vihuelas, charangos, tiples and other exotic instruments. Under his real name, he wrote articles for the BMG (Banjo, Mandolin, Guitar) magazine , and presented programmes on BBC Radio in the 1960s and 1970s, including a regular monthly programme, The Classical Guitar.^[1]

After her divorce from Peter Sensier, Dorothy was married to Philip Beck from 1958 until her death. Peter's first marriage, from 1939 to 1948, was to Lily Lewis.

References[]