New York, March 2. Two of the most outstanding flamenco artists, the dancer Sara Baras and the guitarist Rafael Riqueni, will be the stars of the New York Flamenco Festival, which this year celebrates its 21st edition between March 16 and 30.
The New York programming will have ten shows this year, in addition to another nine in Miami and Washington, which will feature more prominent artists such as Diego Villegas, Matías López “el Mati”, Emilio Solla and Antonio Lizana Quartet.
As usual, representatives of the most orthodox cante jondo will coexist in the program with avant-garde expressions and innovation to show “the diversity of looks, languages and ways of understanding a universal art”, the organization highlighted this Thursday in a statement.
The festival will kick off with an educational workshop by Rafael Riqueni, one of the most established guitarists, at the State University of New York (SUNY); the following day (17) he will present his latest creation, “Herencia”, in a room in Brooklyn, and on the 18th he will take it to Miami.
For her part, Sara Baras begins a 3-city tour with her ballet on the 17th that will take her to Miami (March 17 and 18), New York (March 23-26) and Washington (March 29-30).
One of the concert venues in New York will be, as in previous years, the Instituto Cervantes, where Diego Villegas and Antonio Rey will perform, thus making it clear that flamenco is one of the main hallmarks of the “Marca España”.
Among the numerous flamenco festivals in the world, the one in New York is one of the most prestigious and, throughout the past twenty editions, the bailaoras Eva Yerbabuena and María Pagés have paraded on its stages; singers like Estrella Morente and Carmen Linares, and guitarists like Paco de Lucía and Tomatito, among other established names.
In last year’s edition, in which Miguel Poveda was the headliner, the organizers wanted to highlight the transversal and diverse nature of flamenco, not only because of the figure of Poveda (Catalan and declared homosexual) but also because of the presentation of a concert by “queer flamenco” by the company of Manuel Liñan. EFE
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