FLAMENCO FESTIVAL USA

Sonia Martínez Pariente

Seasoned flamenco veterans and young hopefuls travel to the US and London

At the presentation of the Flamenco Festival USA, artistic director, producer Miguel Marín and some of the participating artists were present such as Sara Baras, Rocío Molina, singer José Mercé and Ramón Jiménez and Marina Abad, members of the group Ojos de Brujo to comment on the festival which is now in its fourth edition and, as Miguel Marín underlined, “is becoming the most important flamenco festival outside of Spain particularly for bringing together young hopefuls and seasoned pros”. Sara Baras, Ojos de Brujo (Marina & Ramón), Rocío Molina and José Mercé Sara Baras, who participated in the last edition, was the first to speak and she expressed proud satisfaction at sharing the bill with great artists. When asked what kind of audience attends the festival she said “you wouldn’t believe it, there’s everything, people of all ages, from all countries…New York has such a diverse population, flamenco is something that gets to everyone. Audiences get involved in an incredibly respectful way, and you really see all walks of life, well, it’s only natural that everyone wants to go, for example last year suddenly Antonio Banderas caused a stir just by showing up” recalled the dancer from Cádiz. For José Mercé it’s his first performance in North America. The man from Jerez is looking forward to this new experience: “I don’t think they’re going to understand what I say, but I hope I can communicate emotionally. I think flamenco is feeling, and if you get through to people and they’re moved, that’s good enough for me”.
Sara Baras	Ojos de Brujo

Ojos de Brujo is a group which represents the most daring approach to
flamenco in this festival. This will also be their first trip to the US
“I don’t know if they’ll let us in” joked
Marina, the lead singer for the group. “We’re proud to
be able to offer the most alternative kind of flamenco and in particular,
the seismic ripples of how these artists do it may influence us. That’s
enough of drawing from other sources” said Ramón Jiménez,
one of the guitarists for Ojos de Brujo.

This year the festival brings the great guitar maestro Paco de Lucía.
There will be stars representing the various styles of flamenco dance,
from the most traditional to the most modern, with Manuela Carrasco, Israel
Galván, Juan de Juan and Rocío Molina who will take place
in the show Gala de Sevilla; Sara Baras, current holder of the Premio
Nacional de Danza with her show “Sueños”, as well as
the Compañía Andaluza de Danza with “Bodas de Sangre”
and “La Leyenda”. Flamenco singing will be represented by
José Mercé with a repertoire that is part traditional flamenco
and part fresh pop themes from his last record “Lío”.
Between January and February the festival will hit New York, Boston, Washington,
Chicago, Cleveland, Hartford and Miami with the novelty that this year
the concept of uniting traditional and contemporary approaches will expand
its frontiers to London which in addition to the Gala de Sevilla and José
Mercé’s performance, will receive two dance companies which
had great success in previous editions of the Festival Flamenco USA: María
Pagés and Farruquito and family.

Artistic director Miguel Marín made clear that the festival is
not just made up of shows and there will also be parallel activities:
conferences, an exhibition of posters from the Bienal de Sevilla and a
cycle of cinema devoted to the Carmen Amaya era. Fulfilling a desire to
bring flamenco to New York schools, flamenco artists and teachers will
visit 20 schools and 2700 children will attend a performance at City Center
of “La Leyenda” by the Compañía Andaluza de
Danza. Marín also explained that this Flamenco Festival has stirred
much excitement, and in London and three New York performances they are
all sold out.

More information:

Festival
Flamenco USA & Festival Flamenco LONDON PROGRAM

PACO DE LUCÍA USA-TOUR