Antonio el Pipa will be the first to set foot on the stage of the Teatro Villamarta in this fifteenth Festival de Jerez. And he will do so following a three-year absence. The last appearance by the Jerez-born artist at this event was in 2008, when he presented the autobiographical 'Puertas adentro', the antithesis of 'De tablao', which he displayed in the 2006 edition.

Antonio el Pipa

The inspiration for this new production comes from gypsies, “forever roaming, forever changing, full of adventures and experiences, and even survivals which make us connoisseurs of a history which has marked us throughout our existence”, the artist explains. All of it is captured in seven scenes, among them, ‘La campiña’, ‘Acampada’, ‘Romance en la noche’, ‘Amanecer’ and ‘La ciudad y el mercado’, staged by means of a wide variety of flamenco styles such as rondeña, alegrías, bulerías, tangos, farruca, taranto, villancicos (carols) and alboreá.

In order to bring this story to life, besides his usual company, the bailaor, choreographer and director relies on Sevillian bailaora Juana Amaya and her daughter Nazaret Reyes as guest artists, who performed at this festival for the last time in the 2007 edition. The show’s music and texts were written by Chiclana-born composer, singer and guitarist Juan José Alba.

Two weeks of flamenco

Following the premiere of ‘Danzacalí’, Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz, Spain) will vibrate with flamenco in all of its senses for two weeks. The bill of performances includes large-scale shows at the Teatro Villamarta like ‘Cuando yo era…’ by Eva Yerbabuena, ‘Homenaje a los grandes’ by La Farruca, ‘Tranquilo alboroto’ by Rubén Olmo and ‘Historias de viva voz’ by Miguel Poveda; small-scale premieres at the Sala Compañía such as ‘Ángel’ by Ángel Muñoz’, ‘Tres’ by Belén Maya and ‘Callejón de Asta’ by Andrés Peña; cante recitals at the Palacio de Villavicencio and concerts like ‘Bipolar’ by UHF and ‘Qasida’ by La Tremendita at the Sala Paúl. In addition to over fifty live shows, there is a baile course program -which will be attended by a thousand students from dozens of countries-, compás workshops, encounters with veteran flamenco maestros, late-night recitals at the peñas and an appealing nighttime ambience in the ‘off-festival’. The tickets for the shows ‘Danzacalí’ by Antonio el Pipa, ‘Historias de viva voz’ by Miguel Poveda and the first of the two performances of ‘Tres’ by Belén Maya are already sold out. There are still tickets availble for some of the main shows such as 'Cuando yo era...’ by Eva Yerbabuena and ‘Homenaje a los grandes’ by La Farruca.