First time to Spain, flamenco enthusiast 9 years

Costs are rising and times are tough.
Please consider a donation to keep this
place going.

Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.

This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.

We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.

You are logged in as Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >>Discussions >>General >>

Page: [1]

Message

<< Newer Topic Older Topic >>

MauiFlamenco

Posts: 17
Joined: Dec. 8 2009
From: Maui Hawaii

First time to Spain, flamenco enthus...

I'm traveling to Spain, my cities of visitation are going to be Sevilla, Cadiz, Jerez. Unless you have a better input.
I have no idea of where to stay, or where I should go. Been studying flamenco for 9 years as a passion, and have very little exposure to real flamenco other than YouTube and many books,DVDs , and Skype lessons from the mainland. I live on Maui, and there is no flamenco here.
I need to know where to stay. Right now, I'm thinking 5 days in each place. Your thoughts? My wife is going with me, so enjoying our stay is just as important as Flamenco guitar lessons. Please any input would be great.
If you have any landmarks of where We should stay, I welcome your feedback.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 3:14:04

Leñador

Posts: 5237
Joined: Jun. 8 2012
From: Los Angeles

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to MauiFlamenco)

Congratulations!
The only place on that list I've been is Sevilla. Just make sure you stay in the city center, the entire city center and all the big tablaos are all walking distance from each other and even getting over to Triana is not far. Best advice would be study the map like hell cus there's no rhyme or reason to the street directions(not a grid) the streets change names every few blocks and the names are in tile on the buildings. The tourist office is between the cathedral and the university near the museum of the West Indies.
Have fun!!

_____________________________

\m/

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 4:17:09

mellowmel

Posts: 85
Joined: Aug. 31 2006

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to Leñador)

quote:

Congratulations!
The only place on that list I've been is Sevilla. Just make sure you stay in the city center, the entire city center and all the big tablaos are all walking distance from each other and even getting over to Triana is not far. Best advice would be study the map like hell cus there's no rhyme or reason to the street directions(not a grid) the streets change names every few blocks and the names are in tile on the buildings. The tourist office is between the cathedral and the university near the museum of the West Indies.
Have fun!!

+ 1

Great advice.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 4:26:26

Arash

Posts: 4495
Joined: Aug. 9 2006
From: Iran (living in Germany)

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to MauiFlamenco)

Granada and Cordoba are also nice and different.
I would include them in cities to visit.

_____________________________

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 5:41:41

kudo

Posts: 2064
Joined: Sep. 3 2009

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to MauiFlamenco)

sevilla is not the best place to learn flamenco IMO !Stay away from expensive toursit tablaos, its all BS commercial flamenco !
if you speak spanish then you can have a much more richer experience, if not, then what you can do is limited, and you would have to stay in those english-tourist places like seville and cordoba..

_____________________________

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 6:56:52

Escribano

Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to MauiFlamenco)

I found Jerez the most accessible for flamenco in the peñas, but I was there during the festival where the always one peña open to the public each evening. Not sure how it works outside of that time.

Granada, Cordoba and Sevilla are beautiful places for a tourist visit, Jerez less so in my opinion.

_____________________________

Foro Flamenco founder and Admin

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 8:53:54

edguerin

Posts: 1589
Joined: Dec. 24 2007
From: Siegburg, Alemania

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to MauiFlamenco)

quote:

beautiful places for a tourist visit, Jerez less so in my opinion

But for those interested, Jerez has
The Centro Andaluz de Documentación del Flamenco http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/culturaydeporte/centroandaluzflamenco/
The Fundación Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre http://www.realescuela.org/en/exhibiciones.cfm
The Museo Arqueológico http://www.jerez.es/en/webs_municipales/museo/

to name but a few

_____________________________

Ed

El aficionado solitario
Alemania

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 12:55:27

Escribano

Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to edguerin)

quote:

to name but a few

Agreed, but I was thinking about his wife as a non-flamenco tourist

_____________________________

Foro Flamenco founder and Admin

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 15:02:00

Morante

Posts: 2179
Joined: Nov. 21 2010

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to MauiFlamenco)

WHEN you come is very important. In July and August there is more flamenco but the coast of Andalucía is full of tourists and refugees from the heat of Sevilla and Madrid, which empty in the summer. So hotels here are full if you have not booked. Festivals, such as de Jeréz, have specific dates and even if they fall in the springtime, due to internet booking, they are often full of Japanese tourists, who are sufficiently sin vergüenza to fight for all the best seats

. You need to make more concrete plans, then you can find out where not to be.

Suerte

Morante

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 15:42:54

Leñador

Posts: 5237
Joined: Jun. 8 2012
From: Los Angeles

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to MauiFlamenco)

quote:

sevilla is not the best place to learn flamenco IMO !Stay away from expensive toursit tablaos, its all BS commercial flamenco !
if you speak spanish then you can have a much more richer experience, if not, then what you can do is limited, and you would have to stay in those english-tourist places like seville and cordoba..

I have friends that worked the tablaos in Sevilla and they're top notch performers. There's nothing wrong with tablao flamenco, it is what it is, a polished show. It's not like tablao players aren't the exact same players as the bars peñas and juergas, it's just them in a more professional enviornment.

_____________________________

\m/

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 16:54:51

kudo

Posts: 2064
Joined: Sep. 3 2009

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to Leñador)

quote:

it's just them in a more professional enviornment.

commercial flamenco...

_____________________________

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 17:13:50

Erik van Goch

Posts: 1787
Joined: Jul. 17 2012
From: Netherlands

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to MauiFlamenco)

When in Sevilla don't forget to pay La Corboneria a visit, if not as a change to meet some of the locals then at least for historical reasons. Against better judgement i also visited los Gallos there, not really my kind of place.

_____________________________

The smaller the object of your focus the bigger the result.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 17:59:14

Leñador

Posts: 5237
Joined: Jun. 8 2012
From: Los Angeles

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to MauiFlamenco)

I visited nearly every tablao and bar in Sevilla and I would agree that carboneria was the best.

quote:

commercial flamenco...

There's videos of Diego playing casa patas, is he a sell out???

I forgot, sorry Maui, unless you have a personal invitation to Agujetas living room it's just not worth going to Spain. Lololol

_____________________________

\m/

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 18:22:37

NenadK

Posts: 137
Joined: Jun. 6 2010

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to MauiFlamenco)

Sevilla is good for flamenco venues. I went to Los Gallos which a local dancer told me had some of the best performers in town. It is pricy and touristy though. It was pretty annoying when during the finale 70% of the audience takes out their video cameras and starts recording. Contrary to what Kudo says, the flamenco itself isn't touristy (I'm sure in some places it is just not in Los Gallos) it's just that there are a lot of tourists in the audience.

I also went to pena Torres Macarena and it was a really great show and there were less tourists. However I heard that it closed just a few months ago due to noise complaints. http://www.torresmacarena.com/

If you go to Sevilla I would also recommend going to T de Triana which is just on the other side of the river from the centre of town. This is just a bar but they have live flamenco which I thought was great. Also great tapas.

For flamenco I did find that Sevilla was the best out of all the towns I visited (Madrid, Granada, Jerez, Cordoba, Sevilla). Jerez was good too though and I actually quite liked it there but I think I just like smaller towns with fewer tourists. Flamenco aside my favourite place was Cordoba. Just a very nice small town I could spend all the time in the world in.

Good luck!

Nenad K.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 18:58:52

Morante

Posts: 2179
Joined: Nov. 21 2010

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to Leñador)

quote:

I have friends that worked the tablaos in Sevilla and they're top notch performers

. The first time I saw Juana Amaya she was in Los Gallos. Recently theyhave had artists of the calibre of El Junco, José Salazar, Encarnito Anillo etc. This is real flamenco: not the same as sitting at a table with a bottle of manzanilla and playing guitar for Rancapino, but one scenario is available to all, the other available to very few.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 19:03:15

mezzo

Posts: 1409
Joined: Feb. 18 2010
From: .fr

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to MauiFlamenco)

It depends on what you're looking for.
If you want to see flamenco shows every nights of the week, then go to Sevilla and stay there all your trip.
I think at the end it gonna be expensive, but if exposure to gig is what you want, then you will find it there 7/7 days. Not all of them at the same level, but it's good to be able to enjoy different level of artists. That way you could find out what you like or dislike most.

I think the prob in other city like Jerez or Cadiz is that there's not alot of gig during the week. All happen during (thursday) friday-saturday. So you could see shows but on a minor scale then in Sevilla.

What you should do is have a look to a ressource called guiaflama. It's a monthly agenda sort of thing, it's in paper but I think it's also available on the net. Have a look at it, and see the scedule. City by city. You would have an idea of what happen, where and when.
Then made your plan based on this. e.g Tomatito is playing in Almeria that day, then take the bus and go to see him and came back to your city. See if there are Pena festival organized here and there in small town around, then take the bus...

If you want to visit cities, then the logic should be a little different.

_____________________________

"The most important part of Flamenco is not in knowing how to interpret it. The higher art is in knowing how to listen." (Luis Agujetas)

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 20:09:27

liv

Posts: 12
Joined: Mar. 1 2013

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to MauiFlamenco)

Go to Granada and visit Alhambra, most beautiful town and place I ever been too

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 22:07:33

athrane77

Posts: 785
Joined: Feb. 6 2011
From: Reykjavik

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to MauiFlamenco)

mmh, people say a lot of different things. some love seville, some granada, some jerez, a friend of mine lived some years in barbate and had great experiences, I doubt anyone have heard about barbate before hehe.
it depends on you. flamenco's everywhere, just go to andalucía with your guitar and you'll get what you want.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 22:32:44

edguerin

Posts: 1589
Joined: Dec. 24 2007
From: Siegburg, Alemania

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to Escribano)

quote:

Agreed, but I was thinking about his wife as a non-flamenco tourist

Well, the archeological museum and the equestrian academy qualify, don't they?

_____________________________

Ed

El aficionado solitario
Alemania

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 20 2014 22:36:07

etta

Posts: 342
Joined: Jan. 20 2010

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to MauiFlamenco)

Seville, Triana; I spent all night in two places where my friend and I were the only two non-natives ( this was in 20ll). It was the highlight of two weeks in Spain. I did go to some other touristy flamenco shows in Seville and Madrid but was totally disappointed. Do not hesitate to ask the locals; it will take many inquiries, but it can be found. The two best places we went in Triana were not "shows" but gatherings of locals to drink, play, dance, and sing for each other. It was great.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 21 2014 2:51:52

El Burdo

Posts: 632
Joined: Sep. 8 2011

RE: First time to Spain, flamenco en... (in reply to MauiFlamenco)

We found flamenco difficult to find in out of season Jerez though there was a workaday student performance in a Tablao near Terremoto's statue. OK, but just going through the motions. But they did have Juana La Pipa and Paco Cepero on later in the month but not when we were there. There's also Gonzalez Byass - but no evident flamenco there!
You should visit or better stay in old Cadiz. It's a beautiful town, has the bluest sea, a fantastic market and the peña is great too. Home of Perla de Cadiz and Aurelio de Sellé, not to mention Camarón just down the road.

Hope you have a good time. I think feeling Spain is a good way of understanding flamenco so I'd spend a few days going into the interior for the vibe - and maybe have your picture taken at Diego's wall in Morón de la Frontera! The drive from there to Marbella is wonderful.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 21 2014 9:27:39