Tomatito opens the 2012 Nîmes Flamenco Festival with his concert in tribute to Camarón

In the first weekend, the program offers performances by artists such as José de la Tomasa, Capullo de Jerez, Laura Vital, Rocío Márquez and La Moneta

Flamenco-world.com, January 2012

The 2012 Nîmes Flamenco Festival gets off to a strong start. Tomatito opens the program with ‘Luz de guía’ on Friday, January 13th at the city’s Théâtre. The concert is a retrospective of his entire discography, forever devoted to the memory of Camarón, with whom he began his career and who he was guitarist for until his death. In this new look at albums like ‘Guitarra gitana’, ‘Spain’ and ‘Aguadulce’, the Almería-born guitar maestro is accompanied by El Cristy on second guitar, Morenito de Íllora and Simón Román on cante, Lucky Losada on percussion and José Maya on baile. On Saturday the 14th, the afternoon will feature the flamenco and poetry show ‘La música de los espejos’, directed by José María Velázquez Gaztelu and with cante by Laura Vital and toque by Eduardo Rebollar. Then at night, the doors of the main theater will be opened once again to host a double cante recital by Sevillian José de la Tomasa and Jerez-born Capullo de Jerez. The first weekend of the festival will be completed on Sunday the 15th with a double performance at the theater split up into a first part by Laura Vital, Manolo Franco, Rocío Márquez and Niño de Elche, and a second one with Fuensanta la Moneta and her baile show ‘Extremo jondo’. The festival’s twenty-second edition will continue until January 21st with performances by artists such as Israel Galván, Niño Josele, Inés Bacán, María Toledo, Diego Carrasco and Rocío Molina, among others.

Tomatito (Photo © Alain Jacq)