Arts and Culture

3rd Annual Flamenco Festival of Washington DC. at the Lisner Auditorium of George Washington University

Tomatito and his emsemble
Since the death of Camarón de la Isla, the famed Flamenco singer, his accompanist Tomatito has become a soloist of major significance within the realm of the Flamenco guitar. His unique approach both to the traditional and festive forms highlights his musical sensitivity and interpretive power. A charismatic personality and an unrelenting commitment to the continuity of flamenco's development have brought him worldwide recognition not only in the musical field but also in film, theater and art. He has collaborated with many performers from all over the globe and has encouraged and influenced a young generation of new artists. For this show, Tomatito teams up with a group of young musicians carefully selected for their affinity with the gypsy spirit. (From the Lisner's brochure)

Accompanied by a magnificent cast of El Potito, singer, Joselito Fernandez, dancer, Bernardo Parrilla, flamenco violin, Diego Amador, Bass/Mandolin, Bandolero, percussion, and Pepe Paradas, Sound Engineer, Tomatito's show shone with the incredibly rich arabic undertones of his music. This same sound, which Tomatito had developed several years ago with and for Camarón, brings flamenco alive with the sounds of its moorish past. El Potito sounded very much like Camarón without the darker tones of the latter and without his years of experience. But El Potito will go far; his voice and his gypsy tonality carries the tune.

The Sara Baras Ballet Flamenco Company.
Sponsored by the Junta de Andalucia and the Embassy of Spain, Sara Baras Ballet Flamenco Company began the series with a performance of Federico Garcia Lorca's 1925 "Mariana Pineda" that brought down the house.

Born in Granada in 1804, Pineda spent her life dedicated to political freedom. When Fernando VII restored absolutism in 1823, she was sent to a convent with the nuns and kept under tight surveillance. Discovered embroidering a Republican flag for the rebels, she was imprisoned and condemned to death.

In Lorca's book "Mariana Pineda", Pineda is represented as a passionate political activist, who unintentionally becomes a heroine. Three men figure prominently in her life: Fernando, her young lover (Miguel Cañas), Don Pedro de Sotomayor, her sipiritual guide and true love (José Serrano); and Pedrosa (Luis Ortega), her executioner. In her final days she struggles with lonliness and searches for inner peace.

Inspired by Lorca's play, with its themes of love, freedom, death and women's emancipation, Baras and director Luis Pascual created a lyrical and dramatic flamenco ballet

The incredible strength, energy and absolute self confidence on the part of Sara Baras, and, in fact, the whole company, mixed effortlessly with the delicate dances, at times, and the magnificent and ravishing Manolo Sanlucar's score. Elegance defined the evening in a theater that was packed with an audience fully appreciative of the performance. Standing ovations followed one another in an unforgettable evening.

Following the performance, the Jaleo restaurant catered foods of Andalucia in a reception sponsored by the President of the Junta de Andalucia, Manuel Chavez who came from Spain for this ocassion and the Spanish Consul General Mariano Alonso-Burón y Aberasturi. Many Spaniards from the Washington-Baltimore area attended the event.