The Córdoba Guitar Festival turns thirty years old. And to commemorate that anniversary, the doors of the Mosque-Cathedral open to host the inaugural concert on the night of Tuesday, July 6th, 2010. The internationally renowned ‘Misa Flamenca’ by Córdoba-born guitarist Paco Peña, who will have cantaor El Pele as guest artist, is the show chosen to kick off the festival. There are shows scheduled until July 25th by artists from the flamenco world like Paco de Lucía, José Antonio Rodríguez & Arcángel, the Compañía Requetedanza and Eva Yerbabuena, who join figures from other genres such as Mark Knopfler, Leo Brouwer and Deep Purple. At the same time, there is a training program with toque, baile and cante courses taught by maestros of the likes of Manolo Sanlúcar, Matilde Coral and Calixto Sánchez.

Paco Peña, 'Misa flamenca' (Photo Joris van Bennekom)

‘Misa Flamenca’ is one of Paco Peña’s most famous works. The Córdoba-born guitarist established in Great Britain composed this work in 1988 by invitation from the Wratislavia Cantants Festival, and it was recorded on CD and DVD at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The author received the assignment fearfully “due to the great respect and love I feel for the two cultures, classical and flamenco, which confronted me with the inevitable commitment of having to achieve a work which did justice to both”, he points out. And he faced the challenge, he explains, from the conviction that “flamenco comes out partly as a spiritual experience”.

Five years after presenting his ‘Réquiem Flamenco’ at the same setting, the musician thus returns to the festival whose origin were the Flamenco Encounters which he himself promoted in the city between 1981 and 1983. And he will do so accompanied, besides by El Pele, by a lineup of artists including the Ziryab Choir, cantaores such as El Chaparro and José Ángel Carmona, guitarists like Paco Arriaga and bailaores such as Ángel Muñoz, among others. The concert is part of the world tour carried out this season by the flamenco company of Paco Peña, who recently made a stop at Sadler’s Wells in London with ‘Flamenco sin Fronteras’.

Paco Peña, 'Misa Flamenca' (Photo Nimbus Records)