It all makes for a package that could easily come off as forced or insincere -- a kid from Minneapolis who's making a buck off traditional Spanish music -- and yet Pascual makes it work with his gorgeous guitar playing and respect of the art form.

Earlier this week he sat perched on the edge of bandmate Adolfo Herrera's enormous bed, surrounded by a handful of musicians from Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and Spain. As they barreled through the raucous ''Rumba for J. B.,'' Pascual looked at violinist Lorenzo Peris as Peris's solo sped up and down a fiery scale. Pascual rarely stopped smiling. In between songs, he advised his band in perfect, fluent Spanish -- Castilian lisp and all.

The practice was in preparation for this Sunday's release party for Pascual's first album, ''Cosas en Comun,'' at the Cambridge Family YMCA in Central Square. It is an album replete with lush melodies and Pascual's dynamic songwriting. He says writing flamenco music comes to him naturally, often during a jam session on or off stage, and it shows in songs that nod to tradition and yet exalt contemporary pop stylings. The album's title track opens with Pascual's fluid guitar strumming that's soft as rain against Gonzalo Grau's nearly vaporous percussion. Within a minute, the piece gives way to a round of palmas, the strident palm claps that mark flamenco, and the whole piece erupts into a full-fledged foot-stomper.

Pascual has been working toward an album since he was 15, which is when a fellow student from Spanish class introduced him to flamenco. Pascual had been playing guitar since he was 11, emulating his heroes Jimi Hendrix and Chet Atkins, but when he heard flamenco, he understood the scope of music's passion and energy.

''I always knew that I wanted to be a musician, but I also wanted to do something useful, something that nourishes people,'' he says. ''Maybe because I grew up with parents who were in social work, but I was always plagued with issues of helping people. I finally realized that I could do that with my music.''

He mentions a woman who spoke to him after one of his shows. ''She said, `I've been really depressed for the last couple of months, and tonight, with your music, was the first ray of light I've seen in a while.' That, of course, helped me get over my issues.''

The next few years were a whirlwind. At 16, he studied for three months with flamenco maestros in Seville, and he moved to Spain immediately after high school graduation. Monetary woes shelved his plans to travel around Europe for six or eight months.

''I thought I had saved enough money to last, and suddenly I was broke after four weeks,'' he says. So he took his guitar to the subways in Madrid and banged out a living with covers of American rock classics. '' `Stairway to Heaven' was a popular request,'' he said. ''I think I made more money off that song than Jimmy Page. So thanks to Led Zeppelin, I managed to sneak by for a year.''

He said at first he was shy about playing flamenco in Spain -- and rightly so considering the skepticism that dogs foreign musicians playing traditional music.

''I understand that,'' he says. ''I mean, it's their music and their culture. If you're a foreigner, forget it.'' But he buckled down and took gigs accompanying flamenco dancers in various schools. He began making more money and eventually won over skeptical fellow musicians who admired his jazz and blues sensibilities.

Pascual landed in Boston when he enrolled in the New England Conservatory's Contemporary Improvisation undergraduate program. Since graduation, he has taught private lessons, given workshops, and toured with a traveling band and occasionally accompanied singers and dancers.

Percussionist Adolfo Herrera attests to Pascual's talent. Herrera was a flamenco musician in his native Venezuela but moved to Boston last year to study at Berklee and now plays regularly with Pascual.

''When flamenco musicians from Spain, like Vicente Amigo, come to Boston, they know about Juanito,'' he said. ''Juanito is one of, if not the, top flamenco act around here, and it's easy to see why. He plays music that's passionate and sensual, and he's good at it. His audience is always very receptive.''

This summer Pascual opens for jazz saxophonist Gato Barbieri and pianist Michel Camilo at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival. Perhaps more important, Pascual has befriended most of the area's leading flamenco musicians and dancers and has become sort of the community's epicenter.

''There's definitely a flamenco scene in Boston, it's just very concentrated,'' he said. ''Still, there's a real audience for this music.''

Jonathan ''Juanito'' Pascual performs Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at the Cambridge Family YMCA, 820 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. Tickets $18, students and seniors $14. Call 617-661-9622.