Flamenco's Fridays

As the last years, the city council organizes the Flamenco's Fridays. It is an event in which all the Fridays of August there are performances of flamenco in a monumental place of the city, the Alcazar ofJerez.

This year, the organization has focused in flamenco dance, so that all the performances will have the participation of an expert artist and other beginner.

• 1^st of August: Singer, Antonio Cortés "chiquetete”; and Salomé Ramírez and Carlos Carbonell dancers. The guitarist will be Periquín “Niño Jero”.
• 8^th of August: Singer, Juan Villar; and Saray Jiménez and Antonio Molina “El Choro” as dancers. The guitarist will be again Periquín.
• 15^th of August: Singer, Romerito de Jerez and the guitarist will be his son, "Romerito hijo". Fernando Jiménez and "La Lupi" as dancers.
• 22^nd of August: Singer, Juana la del Pipa, Antonio Jero as guitarist and Yessica Brea y Eduardo Guerrero as dancers.

The performances will start at 22:30 in Alcazarof Jerez and the price will be 10€. The tickets can be bought in the Tourism Office in Arenal Square or in Alcazar of Jerez from 20:30.

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Andalusian Flamenco Centre

(Spanish language sound but the video shows the CAF's facilities)

The Andalusian Flamenco Centre (CAF, initials in Spanish) is located in Santiago neighbourhood, one of the most famous neighbourhood of Jerez, due to many famous artist of flamenco have been born there.

The Andalusian Flamenco Centre headquarters is situated in PemartinPalace which was built in the 15th century, and has a beautiful baroque patio.

Currently, the Andalusian Flamenco Centre is the biggest institution regarding to the quantity of documents about flamenco, and all of them are available to all people, researchers, students or fans.

Despite the work in documentation, CAF develops the diffusion and promotion of the flamenco activities that have been organized in Spain or in the rest of the world.

The CAF receives thousands of guided visits during all year, in which, besides knowing Jerez and the palace where is located the CAF, they are lucky to watch movies and documental about flamenco in the screening room or access to all the information that the centre has.

Furthermore, there are more activities that the Andalusian Flamenco Centre offers as courses, contests, festivals, scholarships, flamenco art exhibitions with photos and paintings, congress, conferences and meetings, performances in the patio...

Moreover, CAF's facilities provide two permanent exhibition rooms where are exhibited portraits of the most important flamenco artists and a collection of flamenco's lithography of the 19th and 20th centuries. Also, usually the centre has temporary exhibitions of photographs, sculptures and old guitars.

Other services that the Andalusian Flamenco Centre offers:

Library: currently has 4,200 volumes which are classified in four thematic blocks, Flamenco, gypsies, Andalusia and other references. The specific monographs about flamenco are around 1,700 volumes which are virtually all of the bibliography about flamenco that exists around the world.

Newspaper files: From 1992 the institution has this service which is available for all users. This way, visitors can read news, reports or interviews about flamenco from 1886, when was published the first magazine about flamenco.

Sound library: The institution has around 75,000 registers which are recorded in discs, cassettes, LPs etc.

Video library: The Andalusian Flamenco Centre has around 1,300 videos, which are films, TV shows, live performances etc. All of them can be watched in the centre's rooms.

Finally, Andalusian Flamenco Centre has a large directory in which users can look for information and data about flamenco clubs, festivals, plus links to websites and blogs about flamenco.

Contact, visit and location

Address: Plaza de San Juan, 1. Postal code 11403

Telephones:

(+34) 956 349265

(+34) 956 322711

(+34) 956 321602

Fax: (+34) 956 321127

Email: flamenco.ccd@juntadeandalucia.es

Facebook: Centro Andaluz de Flamenco

Schedule: Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 2pm

Free entry

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"Noches de Verano" (Summer nights)

"Summer nights" is an activity that is celebrated in Jerez for some years. During July and August, there will be many concert of flamenco, classical music, tango and other styles and activities that will take place in the Alcazar, St. Domingo cloister and Asuncionsquare.

(During the following days, this post will be updated with all the information about the concerts)

July

·         2^nd of July: (St. Domingo cloister) “Illusions” (Felipa del Moreno's recital) at 10pm. Felipa Medrano Lara (Known as Felipa del Moreno) is a flamenco singer of Jerez de la Frontera, who has worked in many places of the world. For instance, in London recorded a spectacle with the famous dancer Joaquín Cortes, and also has worked in the Mont-de-Marsan festival. She has a great voice and her artistic qualities are famous by the flamenco fans. The spectacle has been called "Illusions", because is the official presentation of her own recital as soloist and her illusion to develop it in her hometown, Jerez de la Frontera. The price is 10€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         3^rd of July: (St. Domingo cloister) “Las cartas a Julieta”(“The letters to Julieta “ ) of The New Costelas band at 10pm. This band born in 2012 of union of 5 friends by their admiration of contemporary musicians that have string quartet in their works. Letters to Julieta is a musical spectacle of The new Costelas band that will play one of the most singular works of the British singer Elvis Costello. The work is dedicated to an imaginary person called Julieta Capuleto through letters. This band provides a singular version with their women voices in a musical genre far of the traditional string quartet. The price is 7€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         4^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) “Hispania pianissimo flamenco” of Manolo Carrasco at 9pm. Manolo Carrasco is composer, pianist and orchestra director who has won many of awards in Spain and France. He is the composer of the music of The Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art and has done some tours in Japan, China, United States, Europe and Spain. Manolo has 12 discos, 3 re-editions in Asia and 1 in United States. The price is 19€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         5^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) God save the Queen (International Tribute to Queen) at 10pm. This spectacle is a tribute to the band Queen, its music and its leader Freddie Mercury. The spectacle uses the original choreography, costumes and videos, also has light panels and other scenery stuff. The price is 25€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         10^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) 'Pasión Tango – Compañía el Despiole' (‘Tango Passion - the despiole Company') at 10pm. “Pasion Tango” is an spectacle that has all the expression of the Argentinean tango with the actuation of two of the best couples right now, the singing and the poetry interpreted by Martin Gatica and the music of “El Despiole” orchestra directed by Orlando Dibelo. The price is 15 or 20€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         11^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) “Echándole lunares” Laura Gallego spectacle at 10pm. It is a spectacle that sounds as the traditional flamenco and remembers to La Paquera,   Antonio Mairena, Caracol, Camarón... who are considered the masters of flamenco. Laura will sing some songs of different types of flamenco. The price is 10 and 15€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         12^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) "Llorando por Granada" (Crying for Granada), "Los Puntos" at 10pm. "Llorando por Granada, 40 años, la gira de Los Puntos" (Crying for Granada, 40 years, the tour of Los Puntos), at 10pm. "Los Puntos" was one of the more success bands of Spain during 70's. This pop band has achieved many successful songs which have been sung for many singers, some of them, contemporary. The price is 18€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         17^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) “Big Band de Jerez” at 10pm. A Big Band is a spectacle in which is very important the improvisation. It is composed by a minimum of 15 members that play different styles of jazz, like Swing, Blues, Bebop, Cool, Fire Jazz... The "Big Band Jerez" is a group of musicians that play a varied repertoire of music in which intended to show the historical development of big bands, from 20's to the current fusions with other styles. The price is 12€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         18^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) "Improvisao" ("improvised") the spectacle of Farruquito at 10pm. "Improvisao" ("improvised") the spectacle of Farruquito at 10pm. Farruquito is an important flamenco dancer of Spain who born inside of a famous family of artists. He has danced around the world and got many awards like the best artist of the big apple of 2001 by The New York Times. In this spectacle, Farruquito remembers his origin and all the things that he has learnt during his career. It is highly recommended to attend this spectacle because is one of the best flamenco dancers at this moment and his shows always have good reviews of flamenco experts. The prices are 23 and 25€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         19^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) "La revirada- compañia Rea Danza" at 10pm. "La revirada" is a spectacle that has all the expression of the Argentinean tango which represents the development of the tango during different periods. The prices are 15 and 20€ and the duration is 75 minutes.

·         22^nd of July (Plaza de la Asuncion) "Soul Tribute" by The Dock at 10pm. The Dock honours to one of the most influential music ever, the soul of the 60's and 70's. This band offers a really big repertoire of the golden age of the "black music" as Otis Redding, Ray Charles, James Brown, Marvin Gaye…It is free entry and the duration is 60 minutes approximately.

·         25^th of July (St. Domingo cloister) Presentation of David Carpio disc which is called "Mi verdad" at 10pm. David Carpio is a flamenco singer from Jerez de la Frontera. David has wanted that his first disc shows that the classic flamenco sing is "more alive than ever" and due to this, he has decided that the presentation will be on live. The prices are 8 and 10€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

The information will be updated with the next spectacles and performances soon.

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One of the aims of the Jerez festival will be to promote of Flamenco between the kids

The Flamenco festival is world famous and is consider for many medias as the most important of world. There are a lot of performances and courses about flamenco. The assistance and the importance of the festival are growing yearly and also the international assistance, being the most numerous Japanese and Germans. In the next video, you can watch a summary of the past festival.

The XVIII Festival of Jerez will be from 21st February to 8th March and will have different activities and courses. You can visit this website and download the English programme in the next link:
 http://www.jerez.es/fileadmin/Documentos/Festival_de_Jerez_2014/Programme_of_courses_and_workshops.pdf
Also, at the bottom of the next website you can find the programme in others languages:
http://www.jerez.es/index.php?id=festival-jerez

This year, one of the aims will be attract to the young people to the flamenco world and to achieve it, the organisation will visit many schools and high schools of Jerez to teach the flamenco culture and invite to the pupils to the general testing of one performance.

Other festival events are many exhibitions about flamenco, for instance, in the Gonzalez Byass winery there is an exhibition about Barbie (400 figures) which are wearing flamenco suits. On the other hand, there are some pictures and painting exhibitions like "Jerez & Japan: Flamenco & Gyotaku" in the Arab Baths.

Since last year there is an app to Iphone and Android with all the events and the information of the festival and also, there is an internet television in Vimeo which since last year has 800,000 users.

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