SPECIAL FEATURE. FLAMENCO FESTIVAL GUIDE: SUMMER 2011
Sunshine, the beach… and flamenco
Flamenco-world.com, June 2011
Spain is now getting ready for the summer tourist season. And the forecast is positive. Awaiting the travelers who opt for this European destination are thousands of kilometers of beach, monumental cities, fantastic natural settings, rich gastronomy… and also flamenco, a type of music and dancing recently declared Intangible Cultural Heritage. Many of the cities in the country, especially the ones in Andalusia, are preparing their cante, baile and guitar programs for this season. The agenda combines large-scale events in some capitals like Córdoba’s Guitar Festival, Granada’s Veranos del Corral and Madrid’s Suma Flamenca with many others in small towns such as Utrera’s Potaje in Seville and Casabermeja’s Cante Grande Festival in Málaga, where direct contact can be made not just with flamenco, but with its culture, traditions and people.
Flamenco in grand fashion
Flamenco’s summer season was already inaugurated on June 18th with Córdoba’s White Night of Flamenco, a late-night marathon which allowed some 250,000 people to enjoy open-air performances by artists such as Eva Yerbabuena, Niña Pastori and Miguel Poveda. But the Ommiad city is going to be filled up with flamenco once again in July when the 2011 Guitar Festival is held from July 5th to 16th. The program includes other genres, but it devotes special attention to the jondo art, with performances by stars like Vicente Amigo and Joaquín Cortés, among others.
Adela Campallo, Veranos del Corral 2010
(Photo Daniel
Muñoz) |
Granada will be another flamenco hub this summer. There will be flamenco in the International Music and Dance Festival which, besides performers from other disciplines, will have Estrella Morente, Ballet Nacional de España, Rocío Molina and Eva Yerbabuena. The Granada-born bailaora has an entire month ahead of her at the Generalife, where she makes a stop with the premiere of the show ‘Federico según Lorca’. And at the old corn exchange, the Corral del Carbón, a new edition will be held of the flamenco dancing showcase Veranos del Corral 2011, where from July 18th to August 11th, young artists such as Manuel Liñán, Mercedes Ruiz and La Moneta will perform.
Arcángel on 'Muerte sin fin' de Mauricio Sotelo (Photo Daniel
Muñoz)
Marina Heredia, Flamenco en los Jardines de Sabatini 2007 (Photo Daniel
Muñoz)
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Outside of Andalusia, there are several important settings. On the one hand, two programs specializing in flamenco take place in Madrid. The first one, running until July 2nd, is Suma Flamenca 2011, whose bill is highlighted by contemporary composer Mauricio Sotelo’s show ‘Muerte sin fin’, which, in tribute to Morente, will be presented at the Teatro Real on June 29th. The second will be Veranos de la Villa 2011, an ambitious musical agenda which includes a flamenco series at the Sabatini Gardens, with shows like those of Dorantes and Esperanza Fernández, Los Zambos and La Macanita, as well as ‘New Flamenco Sound’ by Chano Domínguez. In the region of Murcia, the 51st edition of the Las Minas Cante Festival will be held in the town of La Unión, one of the most prestigious ones on the circuit. Top figures like Tomatito, Pitingo and Farruquito will perform at the Antiguo Mercado (Former Marketplace) from August 3rd to 13th. In Catalonia, the flamenco festival stands out in Nou Barris, a district in Barcelona which awaits performances by artists such as Mayte Martín, Capullo de Jerez and La Tana, among others, from June 30th to July 2nd.
From town to town
Another way to live flamenco during the summer nights is to take a ride to one of the many Andalusian towns that annually arrange a late-night session with cante, toque and baile, thanks to the initiative of flamenco peñas, town halls and even brotherhoods. The most long-established of these festivals is Utrera’s Potaje Gitano, which celebrates its fortieth anniversary with a lineup that will gather Dorantes, La Farruca and Niña Pastori on June 25th at the courtyard of the Colegio Salesiano in the Seville-area town. At the bullring in Guillena, also in the province of Seville, the 5th Bulería Festival is to be held on July 1st with artists like Rancapino and Juana la del Pipa on the bill. Also young is the 3rd Almazara Flamenca in the Córdoba-area town of Pozoblanco, which takes place on June 24th with Manuel Cuevas heading the bill.
In Huelva, Moguer’s Flamenco Cante Festival holds its thirty-seventh edition on July 9th, with cante by Huelva-born youths Pitingo, Argentina and Guillermo Cano. The veteran Reunión de Cante Jondo in Puebla de Cazalla (Seville), with its forty-three-year history, also takes place that night at the Hacienda La Fuenlonguilla with two of its most famous cantaores, Diego Clavel and José Menese, and the baile of La Moneta and Pepe Torres, among other artists. On July 16th, El Coronil Castle (Seville) awaits cantaores like Chiquetete, Segundo Falcón and Rocío Márquez in its 13th Las Aguzaderas Flamenco Night.
The event undoubtedly the closest to the sea will be Cádiz’s Flamenco Thursdays Series, which will be held at Baluarte de la Candelaria from July 21st to August 18th, with artists on the bill such as Juan Villar, David Palomar, Jesús Méndez and Carmen de la Jara, among others. Nor very far away from the coast, in this case the famous Costa del Sol, is the Málaga-area town of Casabermeja, which commemorates the forty-year-history of its Cante Grande Festival on July 23rd with José Mercé and Moraíto, El Pele and Tomás de Perrate starring in the program.
David Palomar, Jueves Flamencos de Cádiz
(Photo Daniel
Muñoz) |
Little by little, more details will be made known about the festivals in the months of August and September, which traditionally include those of Lo Ferro Flamenco Festival in Murcia, Jerez’s Fiesta de la Bulería and the Ogíjares Flamenco Festival in Granada. Visit Flamenco-world.com’s international flamenco festival agenda to stay up-to-date. |
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