The biannual festival is to be held from August 27th to September 23rd, 2007

Flamenco-world.com, September 2006

Málaga en Flamenco 2007 is starting to shape up. The new director of the Málaga festival, José Luis Ortiz Nuevo, has already put forth the structure of the program for the second edition, which is going to be held at various points in the province of Málaga from August 27th to September 23rd, 2007. With the number seven as a motif, he explains that the bill will consist of seven subject blocks, standing out among which is the ‘Homenaje’ (‘Tribute’) to Paco de Lucía. As a prelude, in the early morning hours of July 7th, the festival’s presentation will be held at Puerta de Menga in Antequera, “with seven sequences of art, while we take in the sunrise amidst verdiales gangs and Morón guitars”. The announcement took place on October 3rd at Seville’s Expo Casino, in the setting of the activities of Bienal de Flamenco 2006.

José Luis Ortiz Nuevo, director of 2007 Málaga en Flamenco
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Another of the festival’s novelties, according to the Málaga-born writer and playwright, is ‘Siete producciones nuevas’, a series which will include three baile shows, two cante shows and two of guitar which have been chosen in the public contest it is holding until November 30th. New stages are also to be incorporated such as the beach of El Palo and Gibralfaro Castle in the capital, plus the so-called ‘Seven Wonders’ throughout the province of Málaga. In those seven emblematic spots, including Ronda’s Bullring, the Cave of Nerja and El Torcal de Antequera, as many shows will be held.

There’ll be room for young flamenco talents within the series ‘Sólo apto para menores’ (‘Just for Minors’), in which artists born in 1980 or later will take part. And seven new albums “released between the months of May and October” will be taken into account to carry out their respective presentations live. As in the previous Bienal, in the words of the ex-director of Seville’s Bienal de Flamenco, there’ll be a special place for native artists in the chapter ‘Son de Málaga’, while the more heterodox offers are included in the section ‘Siete caracolas’.

The biannual festival Málaga en Flamenco was born in 2005 as an initiative of Malaga’s provincial government. In its first edition, held from September to November 2005, it scheduled two hundred seventy activities, which were followed by over thirty thousand spectators. Artists such as Paco de Lucía, Antonio el Pipa, Chano Lobato, Mario Maya, Miguel Poveda, Rocío Molina and Fosforito appeared in the first lineup.

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