Flamenco Spotlight, Late June 2022

Flamencad to Keep Flamenco Alive in the city of Cádiz During Summer 2022

Thursdays during will highlight flamenco in the city of Cadiz once more thanks to the ‘Flamencad. Raíz y Bahía: ¡Baluarte!’ program, which includes a series of concerts and parallel activities starring leading figures in flamenco art and its promoters.

On July 28, the series will begin with the conference ‘Universo Cádiz’. The great protagonist of it will be the singer David Palomar, who will be accompanied on the Baluarte de la Candelaria stage by Anabel Rivera and El Junco, Juan José Alba on guitar and Diego Montoya and Roberto Jaén on handclapping. journalist Pedro Espinosa will act as presenter. Also that day, within the parallel programming, Flamencad will host a conference by Fermín Lobatón.

On August 4, Flamencad will present the ‘Soníos Negros’ show, hosted by José María Castaño. Artists include Antonio Reyes with Miguel Salado on guitar; Pedro el Granaíno, with Patrocinio Hijo on guitar; and David Carpio, with Manuel Parrilla. Jesús Fernández will be the guest bailaor (dancer). Additionally, Roberto Jaén and Jorge Bautista will provide handclapping percussion. Journalist José María Velázquez-Gaztelu will give a lecture on the literary figure of Fernando Quiñones.

The next event, on August 11, will be dedicated to the ‘Flamencas’ (female flamenco artists) hosted by journalist Tamara García. On this occasion, the artists featured include Esperanza Fernández with Miguel Ángel Cortés on guitar; Tomasa Guerrero ‘La Macanita’ accompanied by Manuel Valencia; and Naike Ponce with guitarist Javier Patino. Roberto Jaén and Jorge Bautista will provide the hand clapping and Macarena Ramírez will be the guest bailaora. The activities include a lecture by Cristina Cruces.

The last day, on August 18, will be dedicated to the new flamenco trends, with the title ‘New territories’ with performances by Rosario ‘La Tremendita’, Tomás Perrate and Moneo.

Tickets can be purchased through the website cadizentradas.com. Complete information on the series available at www.flamencad.com

Flamenco Artist Eva Enciñias, 2022 NEA National Heritage Fellow

Eva Enciñias, a flamenco artist from Albuquerque, New Mexico, is one of the recipients of the 2022 National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) National Heritage Fellow.

Born into a family of flamenco dancers and artists, Eva Enciñias carries out the tradition through her teaching and performing, and through the National Institute of Flamenco which she founded in 1982, and where she continues to direct artistic programming.

The NEA Fellow is the United States of America’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. “In their artistic practices, the NEA National Heritage Fellows tell their own stories on their own terms. They pass their skills and knowledge to others through mentorship and teaching,” said National Endowment for the Arts Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “These honorees are not only sustaining the cultural history of their art form and of their community, they are also enriching our nation as a whole.”

Each fellowship includes a $25,000 award and all the recipients will be featured in a film that will premiere in November 2022 on arts.gov. Through the film, viewers will have the opportunity to visit the homes and communities where the fellows live and work, providing a connection to the distinct art forms and traditions these artists practice

First Getafe Flamenco Festival of Guitar Accompaniment for Cante

The First Getafe Flamenco Festival of Guitar Accompaniment for Cante (flamenco singing) will be held on June 30 and July 2-3, 2022 at the Hospitalillo de San José in Getafe, in Madrid’s metropolitan region. The event called Xatafi Flamenco includes performances by some of the winners of the 60th edition of the Festival del Cante de las Minas de La Unión.

The Festival del Cante de las Minas continues to support and promote the dissemination and expansion of flamenco. Proof of this is the agreement between the Cante de las Minas Foundation and the Getafe City Council, through which the La Unión festival supports the First Getafe Flamenco Festival of Guitar Accompaniment for Cante. The winner will go directly to the semifinal of the 61st edition of the International Festival of Cante de las Minas.

The president of the Cante de las Minas Foundation, Pedro López; the vice president, Elena José Lozano; and the director, Juan Carlos López will attend Xatafi Flamenco.

Both Spanish towns have already been united around flamenco before, as Getafe was one of the venues for the first round contests of past editions of the Cante de las Minas contest.

Several Cante de las Minas top prize winners are set to perform in Xatafi Flamenco galas, such Amparo Heredia ‘La Repompilla’ (Lámpara Minera 2022), Álvaro Pérez Álvarez (Bordón Minero 2022), Paula Rodríguez Lázaro (Desplante Femenino 2022) and Óscar de Manuel (Filón 2012). In addition, the event will broadcast the final for free via streaming platform ‘OnFlamenco’.

Mastery and Duende from José Mercé in Marbella

Iconic flamenco singer José Mercé delighted and bewitched the audience in Marbella on June 25th, 2022,as part of the Starlite Catalana Occidente concert series.

In addition to his traditional repertoire, full of seguiriyas, malagueñas, fandangos and other flamenco forms, Mercé presented his new album “Oripandó”, the umpteenth demonstration of his restlessness and nonconformity in music. Mercé is always investigating and seeking new ways of expression. This new album is the result of a long and intense work of conceptualization and composition together with the well-known artist and friend Antonio Orozco.

“Flamenco and roots music are not a fad, some days it will be higher up, other times lower down, but what is clear is that flamenco is timeless, that it is our music and our Spain brand”, said José Mercé who received constant displays of affection from his followers.

One of the highlights of the event was Mercé’s finale through a cappella bulerias.

The 61st edition of Cante de las Minas Reveals New Version of the ‘Lámpara Minera’ Trophy

The prestigious ‘Lámpara Minera’ flamenco trophy has been transformed and updated for the 61st edition of the Festival Internacional del Cante de las Minas. Local artist Esteban Bernal presented the new design to the president of the Cante de las Minas Foundation, Pedro López. Esteban Bernal stated: “this modern and elegant trophy, without losing its primitive, features an expression of a Festival faithful to its roots, but equally alive and up-to-date”. Additionally, a new ‘Catedral del Cante’ vertical design was announced.

Esteban Bernal has created the Festival’s trophies in recent years. “He is a versatile artist who is always at the service of the municipality of La Unión and the Cante de las Minas Foundation and his proposals are accepted because they are of tremendous quality,” says Pedro López, president of the Cante de las Minas Foundation, describing him as “visionary“, capable of “always seeing beyond“, making the Festival continue to grow. “We believe that this impressive design means that this festival is not a stagnant festival in any way, not even in terms of its awards,” added López.

The new design of the ‘Lámpara Minera’, which represents the fifth transformation of the Festival’s top trophy since its inception, consists of three flat pieces cut out of stainless steel, curved to provide dynamism and three-dimensionality, making this material a nod to the brilliance of the silver extracted in the region’s mines and with which it was previously manufactured. It preserves two of the unique elements: the lamp and the pickaxe, typical mining tools, but evolved into simpler geometric shapes and with a more modern language.

The curved base refers to the rim of the mine shaft. The rings make a game of opposite curves that reflect “the paradoxical duality between the lower darkness of the well and the light of the lamp located at the top, as well as between death and life in the mine, or suffering and prize obtained with the victory”, highlighted Bernal. In addition, instead of engraving the trophy text, it is completely openwork, “like the heart of the Sierra Minera excavated and pierced by innumerable wells and tunnels.” Finally, in the central part is the heart of the trophy, the luminous flame of the lamp cut out over the circle of darkness, from where it shines.

Details embossed in steel

The other trophy that has also been updated in this 61st edition is the ‘Catedral del Cante’, designed on a 4 mm stainless steel sheet that pays homage to the building of the Old Public Market, the headquarters of the Festival. In it, the silhouette of one of the central walls of the monumental building, you’ll find its stained-glass windows, and the spires of its exterior decoration like a Gothic cathedral can be seen in a recognizable way.

“Everything in it is geometric and simple, like a flamenco comb that shows its filigree in the upper part and leaves the rest of the body free to indicate the title with the letters cut out of the steel,” says Esteban Bernal. The foundations of such a unique building are made up of a solid four-centimeter-thick methacrylate block that gives this new trophy greater elegance and modernity.

High School Flamenco: Lorca, flamenco and Rock – “Zorongo Gitano” with José Antonio García, singer of 091

“Lorca, flamenco and Rock” is a project devised by the teachers of the IES Fernando de los Ríos high schoool in Fuente Vaqueros, Spain (the birthplace of Lorca). The goal of the project is to recover Lorca’s songbook, recreating it through the prism of Flamenco and Rock. In this school year, and as a pilot experience, the students recorded “Zorongo Gitano”, one of the pieces that Lorca recorded on the piano with La Argentinita in 1931.

The song was recorded by the high school choir together with flamenco guitarists and a pianist, all of whom are students and teachers, in collaboration with José Antonio García, singer of rock band 091. The music video was shot at the Federico Garcia Lorca Birthplace Museum, produced by the students of the Curva Polar school of Visual Art and Sound in Granada.

Flamenco Culture and Sherry Project Reveals Second Edition

The flamenco clubs of the province of Cádiz will be once more meeting places for good fans of flamenco art, thanks to the initiative Cultura Flamenca y Sherry (Flamenco Culture and Sherry). This is one of the projects developed under the framework collaboration agreement between the Diputación de Cádiz (Cadiz provincial government) and the Provincial Federation of Peñas Flamencas.

With the intention of repeating last year’s success, a program has been designed that will run from June 30 to October 15, and which will have events spread throughout the province, in a total of 16 clubs at different locations. The provincial deputy for Culture, Antonio González Mellado, indicated that this is a sign that “the clubs in our province are very much alive, they have reinvented themselves.”

González Mellado added that “the administration has the obligation to support flamenco entities with resources to continue developing flamenco art and reaching out to fans”, hence the importance of undertaking this type of “dissemination actions in which the world of flamenco and its links with Jerez’s Sherry wines”.

Within this project, each of the participating clubs has chosen its own theme for the conferences that José María Castaño will develop. The conferences will also feature wine tastings, mainly from the Jerez area, although there will also be samplings of other local wines from each area. As a whole, the proposal is presented as an authentic “sensory adventure”.

José María Castaño has advanced that in this second edition of the project there will be a “special inclination to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the death of José Monge Cruz, Camarón de la Isla.”

The program for the 2nd edition of ‘Flamenco Culture and Sherry’ is as follows:

• 30 June. Peña Cultural Flamenca Feminista y LGTBI La Lola. Jerez.
• 8 September. Peña flamenca La Zúa. Jerez.
• 9 September. Tertulia Flamenca Pepe Alconchel. Jerez.
• 15 September. Peña Cultural Flamenca Barca de la Florida. La Barca de la Florida.
• 16 September. Peña Cultural Flamenca de Puerto Lucero. Sanlúcar de Barrameda.
• 17 September. Tertulia Flamenca Viejo Agujeta. Rota.
• 22 September. Peña Cultural Flamenca de Arcos. Arcos de la Frontera.
• 23 September. Peña Cultural Flamenca de Ubrique. Ubrique.
• 24 September. Peña Cultural Flamenca Chato de la Isla. San Fernando.
• 30 September. Peña Cultural Flamenca La Petenera. Paterna de Rivera.
• 1 October. Peña Flamenca Sanroqueña. San Roque.
• 6 October. Peña Flamenca La Perla de Cádiz. Cádiz.
• 7 October. Peña Flamenca El Pescaero. Jerez.
• 8 October. Tertulia Flamenca Tomás El Nitri. El Puerto de Santa María.
• 14 October. Peña Flamenca Los Cernícalos. Jerez.
• 15 October. Asociación Cultural La Guitarra Poética. Conil de la Frontera.

And without Huelva there is no fandango

‘Y sin Huelva no hay fandango’ is the title of a 4-volume set by Juan Camacho. It is a unique study of folklore and the main traditions of the province of Huelva. This project, published by the Andalusian Studies Center, has the support of the Ministry of Culture, the Port of Huelva, the Caja Rural del Sur Foundation and the Huelva Provincial Council

Volume 1: Huelva and the outskirts of the capital. 559 pages
Volume 2: The Coast, the County and the Sierra. 667 pages
Volume 3: El Andévalo and the Mining Basin. 743 pages
Volume 4: Alosno. 751 pages

Israel Galván & Niño de Elche, Mellizo Doble at Royce Hall, UCLA

Flamenco stars Israel Galván and Niño de Elche are set to perform on January 21, 2023, at Royce Hall, UCLA at 8:00 pm.

The unclassifiable dancer Israel Galván recodifies the physical language of flamenco, incorporating a multiplicity of influences in order to break out of the accumulated sediment of tradition. Mellizo Doble is a collaboration with singer and guitarist Niño de Elche, exploring performance as a cyborg experience, a blending of passion and technique. The presentation with CAP UCLA will be the American premiere of Mellizo Doble.

The “Manolo Soler” Flamenco Dance Talent Contest Reveals Its Five Finalists

The “Manolo Soler” Flamenco Dance Talent Contest, organized by the Cristina Heeren Foundation for Flamenco Art in collaboration with ACCIONA, has announced the five finalists. These dancers include David García Vargas (Granada, 20 years old), Adriana Gómez Mogena (Madrid, 23 years old), Zaira Prudencio Honrado (Badajoz, 17 years old), Aída Orozco Castellano (Barcelona, ​​25 years old) and Diego Alba García (Badajoz, 21 years old). years). All of them were chosen by the jury after the semifinals.

The final of the Dance Contest will take place at the Teatro Flamenco Triana on July 19 at 7:30 p.m., while the cante will be on July 5 and the guitar one will be on July 13, also at 7:30 p.m.

The Cristina Heeren Foundation will broadcast the final galas of the contest by streaming, so that it can be followed on its YouTube channel and official profiles on the Foundation’s social networks (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram). Likewise, the official hashtag on social networks will be #TalentoFlamenco.

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(headline image: José Mercé on stage at Starlite 25.6.22)