Before he died, José Monge Cruz laid the first stone to what is his own altar today, a two-storey colonial house full of hundreds of his photos where his songs play over and over. La Peña de Camarón de la Isla opened in 1995, is maybe the greatest reference to the singer and songwriter in his birthplace, San Fernando, which still builds its identity around the memory of the soul of flamenco. 20 years after his death, the route around all of the places related to Camarón continues to be a pilgrimage for followers who want to see his legacy. The Peña, a kind of museum where even his disciples interpret it, is about the maximum representation of what

Lights and fame are not for everyone; some decide they are better at home among the family, revealing their art to those they truly love. Antonio Álvarez Rosales, ‘El Álvarez’, is one such person. Álvarez’s story is special because his art, for many experts, is unique in the world.    Antonio is a classically inspired flamenco cantaor. He has also been pointed out by many as the best fandango performer (one of the different kinds of flamenco rhythms) in history. Even Camarón de la Isla came to see him sing.    However, El Álvarez has always worked as a street sweeper in his district, El Molinillo, in

Nowhere is Madrid's "Passion for Life" expressed fully than in one of their dances--the flamenco. My own exposure was a visit to a club so small; we were practically on the wooden stage. Tall, lanky and dark-haired Jose Maria Velazquez walked out quietly, assumed a ballet position with both arms lifted over his head, feet at an angle. He looked like a natural for a basketball game, but could he perform the intricate steps that constitute a flamenco dance? The music began and the answer crashed upon our ears in a deafening tattoo of tapping toes and heels. The crescendo of the rhythm of his boots on the wood became a torrent of syncopation. His clothes were wet now and his ha

Un anno fa iniziava la mia avventura a Siviglia. Sapevo che una nuova vita sarebbe iniziata, qualcosa di migliore. Ma non avrei mai immaginato che avrei vissuto l'anno più incredibile di tutti i tempi. E anche se oggi è tutto finito, qualcosa dentro di me rimarrà per sempre: la luce e i colori della città più bella, la cordialità del popolo più caldo, gli occhi e i sorrisi dei nuovi amici ora sparsi per il mondo, la tranquillità del cuore ogni mattina... La routine è tornata, ma io sono diversa: grazie alle canzoni cantate a squarciagola tornando a casa per le vie sivigliane profumate di fiori d'arancio, grazie ai bote

  Where to see a good flamenco show? Luck is being in the right place at the right time. If you are in Spain and you want to see a flamenco show, you are lucky. Almost every city in the country maintains its own tablaos and flamenco is now at a time of splendour thanks to a generation of new artists who want to ask new questions about this art, now Heritage of Mankind. But luck doesn’t come alone, you have to find out.    Where to see a good flamenco show? Seville, Madrid and Granada top the list for the largest number of tablaos of great tradition, but new forces are on the rise. Barcelona, Jerez, Malaga and small cities such as Pamplona are betting as ne