On June 27th the Olympic Torch was carried through the city of Madrid, candidate to host the 2012 Olympics. Upon setting off, the Madrid municipal government organized a concert where flamenco was the star of the day. Sara Baras and her company and Paco de Lucía with the group that is accompanying him on his tour of Spain, offered their music to the world.
“Música para el adios” (‘farewell music’)
was the title of the concert held in the Cibeles plaza not far from where
Spain’s Prince of Asturias lit the Olympic flame at twelve noon.
Despite the scorching temperatures many flamenco fans turned out to see
Paco de Lucía who as of today still has no scheduled performance
for Madrid on his current tour. Sara Baras is one of the best-known flamenco
artists outside of Spain, and Paco de Lucía, without a doubt, the
best ambassador in the world, which was the organization’s objective
in order to spread the flamenco word by means of the most symbolic representatives
of Spanish music.
Each of the stars performed for a little over a half hour, Sara Baras
and her company with a choreography specially created for the occasion
based on Olympic motifs. Paco de Lucía who was tremendously successful
the previous night in Granada’s Festival Internacional de Música
y Danza, appeared with his complete group including Duquende, Montse Cortés,
La Tana, Alain Pérez, Piraña, Niño Josele and Antonio
Serrano with a half hour of pieces from his latest record “Cositas
Buenas” and reprising his most universal composition “Entre
dos Aguas” which drove the audience wild with delight. Noteworthy
was Antonio Serrano’s harmonica that Paco has incorporated into
his music, and hence, into flamenco, and which sounds marvelously flamenco.
To close, Paco de Lucía had Sara Baras go up to dance some bulerías
and give everyone the satisfaction of seeing the dancer together with
the maestro.
