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Event
La Primavera Flamenco en Vivo Portland
An evening of Spanish Flamenco featuring singer Kina Mendez, dancer Savannah Fuentes, and guitarist Gerardo Alcala.
sponsored by Lolo Diklo, Romani against Racism, Deb McCarroll Works, and The Spain Association of the Pacific Northwest.
Flamenco singer, Kina Mendez of Jerez de La Frontera will be performing for the first time in The Pacific Northwest.
Kina Mendez, niece of the legendary La Paquera de Jerez, represents the Mendez clan of Gypsy artists from Jerez. She began singing under the influence of her aunt and began her professional career with Manuel Morao's company. She later worked with Mario Maya and toured internationally with Salvador Tavora's Carmen and Carmina Burana productions. Performing in such festivals as La Fiesta de las Bulerias and Las Fiestas de la Vendimia in Jerez de la Frontera, she shared the stage with renowned artists Agujetas, El Grilo, and La Macanita. She was a featured artist at the 2010 Festival de Jerez, and recorded a solo CD, "De Sevilla a Jerez". In 2012 she performed in San Francisco, Los Angeles and NYC with Festival Flamenco Gitano USA as a member of the group Fiesta Jerez led by Diego del Morao.
Gerardo Alcalá, flamenco guitarist born in New Orleans, is one of the few foreigners to be respected as a full-fledged Flamenco artist by the gypsy Flamencos of Andalucia. He learned his art from the masters: Rafael del Aguila, Parrilla de Jerez, Niño Jero, Rafael Alarcón, Eduardo de la Malena and Pedro Bacán. He has performed professionally in major theatres on three continents, including Carnegie Hall, as well as for television, radio and film. In the U.S. he toured with the Spanish dance companies of José Molina and Teo Morca and did many recitals with the legendary Anzonini del Puerto.
In Spain, he performed with the all-gypsy company of Fernanda Romero and has had a particularly long and close relationshp with the Agujetas family, including Manuel Agujetas, who preserves the deepest and purest singing in Spain. With them, he was featured as sole accompanist in the prestigious Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid and in the Dutch film Duende. In 1990, he was honoured to become the first North American ever to be contracted to perform as a soloist in the Bienal de Sevilla, Spain's most important Flamenco festival. Gerardo's style represents a return to a more raw, traditional way of feeling and playing Flamenco. Based primarily in the school of Jerez, it is sparse and full of the silences which allow the notes to be injected with great emotion.
Savannah Fuentes was born in Seattle, Washington to parents of Puerto Rican and Irish ancestry. She began her flamenco studies in Seattle and continued in Spain. She has produced over 250 performances and workshops featuring internationally recognized artists. She continues to tour throughout the Western United States
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LocationHeadwaters Theater (View)
55 NE Farragut St. #9
Portland, OR 97211
United States
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