Flamenco Festival takes London

Top performers also came to the International Music Festival in Jimena, sadly lost

LONDON (New York Times/InTransit/Valerie Gladstone) Feet will be stamped, guitars strummed and cries of love sung as the Flamenco Festival returns to Sadler’s Wells on Tuesday through  Feb. 19. Now one of the city’s most popular festivals, it features the guitarist Vicente Amigo [who came to the International Music Festival in Jimena], the soulful singer José Mercé, and dancers as varied as the formidable, legendary Manuela Carrasco [also came to the Festival] and the young iconoclast, lovely Olga Pericet. On two gala evenings, Carrasco, Pericet, Rafaela Carrasco (no relation) and Carmen Cortés join forces in an explosion of fiery movement, demonstrating the varied forms of today’s flamenco. The Antonio Gades company will also perform the late choreographer’s dramatic, folk dance interpretation of Lope de Vega’s play, “Fuenteovejuna.” At the other end of the spectrum, the young and alternative flamenco group La Shica merges hip-hop, reggae and bossa nova in the experimental piece “Supercop.” “Every year I put together entirely different line-ups so that audiences get an idea of the wide variety of artists now making their mark in flamenco,” said Miguel Marin, the presenter of Flamenco Festival London. “There’s nowhere, other than Spain, where you can see so many different styles and such a high caliber of performer in this art form.” [This festival, with similar lineups, will also be performing in New York, Boston, Miami and other US venues, supported by the Instituto Cervantes]

XXX Jimena Flamenco Festival next weekend

JIMENA This year marks the 30th anniversary of Jimena's annual Flamenco Festival. Until now, it was one of the most popular such events in the Campo de Gibraltar, attracting rising stars of the Andalucian flamenco firmament - but now, in what should be its celebratory 30th year, it is somewhat diminished, no doubt we will be told for lack of funds, though we venture it is for lack of political will and skill. In any case, the 'festival' features Marta González Sevillano (voice), Pedro Campo Quintana (guitar) and Salvador Campo Quintana (percussion) as the headliner, with local cantaores (singers) Gabriel Jiménez and Jaime Martín accompanied by Manolo Cortés on guitar. Scheduled for Friday, September 2, at the square by the railway station, and starting at 11pm. (Check our UpComing Events calendar now at the foot of this page.)

Jimena is never too far away from the music, by Wendy Tong

Jimena music festival may be gone for now, but just 2 hours up the track by train you can find Antequera hosting a fantastic blues festival. In previous years this has been a week long event, now cash strapped like everywhere else the council has condensed it down to just the 2 nights (Jimena take note!) This is FREE and in a lovely setting up in the Plaza Santa Maria, overlooking the city and surrounding mountains. We went up on Friday night (€20 something return on the train) and stayed overnight at Hostería Colón, also great value and a nice place. The Blues Men opened, their gravel voiced singer blasting out some old favourites. The Lito Blues band were amazing, with brilliant guitar work and an excellent female vocalist. We reckon there were over a thousand people there. Well done to the bars in Jimena, El Anon, Oba and Henriettas and Cuenca for making sure the music has not entirely died here. Excellent performances at Oba and El Anon last night. (Note: The Antequera Blues Festival has been and gone, but another festival close by, at Alcalá de los Gazules -midway between Algeciras and Jerez de la Frontera- is coming up from 10 to 13 August inclusive. Here's more info: www.fimalcala.blogspot.com)

Jimena's own flamenco dancer, Lucía Álvarez Howard (La Piñona), chosen to compete at major festival

(Photo: (c) Alberto Bullrich)

Regular readers will know her, but newer ones may not (catch up here). Lucía Álvarez Howard, known as La Piñona in flamenco circles, has just been selected to compete in what purists consider the utmost competition of its genre: Festival Internacional de Cante de las Minas en La Unión, in Murcia. Lucía, 25, the youngest daughter of Katharine Howard and Álvaro Álvarez, was born in Algeciras and raised in Jimena. She has recently returned from a tour of Japan, and has danced in Kenya, Holland and other places outside Spain, and, of course, all over this country as well. The competition schedule has La Piñona dancing on Friday, August 12. The La Unión festival is well known for giving young singers dancers and instrumentalists that much needed push toward stardom, so let's wish our Lucia all the very best.

Reader's Question: Do you know the dates for the 2010 International Music Festival?

We received the question from a reader. Our reply: "Thank you for your enquiry, Peter. We have no firm dates for the 2010 Festival. If you follow JimenaPulse, you will notice that there are some very significant budgetary constraints, which may result in there being no festival at all. Naturally, it is to be hoped that there will be, but ... As they say, watch this space. Yours, The JimenaPulse Team." (Photo by JimenaPulse of 2009 Festival)