A TRIP TO THE FLAMENCO UNIVERSITY
‘Calle de Béjar – Be, e, jota, a, e-re,' I say again to the taxi driver. I offer to show him the little street that disappears off the edge of my laminated tourist map of Madrid, but he gives me one of those dismissive behind-the-head waves you see flamenco singers do at the end of their song. It’s not a good start to the afternoon.
I have of course factored in some taxi tonterías, and will still arrive ten minutes early - in fact, my entire trip to the world’s first University of Flamenco has a built-in flamenco flexibility factor. This comes from three years of flamenco friendships in Madrid, in which many a frantic WhatsApp about logistics has been answered with a maddening ‘Cherry, tranqui’ (calm down). I sit in the taxi reminding myself that things usually work out, but after guitarist friend Josemi Carmona (former member of New Flamenco group Ketama) has mistakenly given me a contact who interviewed me rather than the other way round, building work has delayed the opening (and my return flight), and other friends say they’ve never heard of it, the place is beginning to take on an Oz-like emerald hue.
But here it is: a four-story building tucked away in a pleasant old barrio, its ground floor frontage a reassuring magenta and ochre. Far from hiding behind a screen, or away in a top floor office like my London music college director, Pedro Ojesto – Royal Conservatory-trained pianist, flamenco-jazz performer, composer, founder of a respected music college and now Director of UFlamenco – is waiting for me in reception. He looks the part, somehow combining the calm eloquence of an academic with the passion and long seventies-style (now silver) hair of a seasoned flamenco – and is extremely likeable. With apologies for the still ongoing adjustments to the building, he enthusiastically shows us round music rooms, a cool-blue mirrored dancing studio with a wall of natural light, the recording studio where Josemi will be overseeing Music Production, and the ground floor’s performance space for the tablaos – the dancer-musician groups that are the heart of flamenco.
The side by side teaching of dancers and musicians is one of the innovations of UFlamenco, he explains. Although both the under-graduates and higher course students will be separated into Music or Dance strands, they will have subjects like Musical Language, History of Flamenco and Combo-Tablao group work together. Furthermore, they offer lessons on any instrument, with musicians like phenomenal jazz-flamenco double-bassist Javier Colina (whose concert we were all attending that night) at hand. With the mix of talent, one can imagine some exciting groups forming here and going on to delight international audiences in the future.
We are now sitting in a classroom for my interview, having been joined by Pepe Habichuela – a master of flamenco guitar, and current patriarch of a five-generation flamenco dynasty, who has just received a prestigious award from the USA’s Berklee College of Music. He’s smiley and amusing - and Josemi’s Dad - but having just been to one of his concerts it feels somewhat surreal to be assailing the gran maestro with my clunky Spanish. Pepe Habichuela oversees the guitar and rhythm section teaching, gives Masterclasses and helps to organise the groups. He says he wants the centre to give flamenco the recognition it deserves, and that it will attract students from all over the world. Also with us is Antonio Suarez Salazar (‘Guadiana’), a sought-after cantaor (flamenco singer) – particularly in collaboration with dancers – who supervises the teaching of singing and melodic instruments. Like Pepe Habichuela, he has an illustrious flamenco heritage and learnt his craft the traditional way. UFlamenco’s music students will have the traditional ‘father-son’ type of teaching from maestros, while also receiving more notational-based instruction as directed by Pedro Ojesto – who has published the first book explaining flamenco to music students.
Antonio Canales, a renowned international performer now in his fifties, is in charge of the dance training. He can’t be with us, but via email I’ve learnt about the care with which he chooses his performer-teachers, and how flamenco dancers trained alongside musicians will be more complete artists.
Before we watched a dance class, I talked to a couple of the students. Diego, a 34-year old qualified guitar teacher from Argentina who is on the higher course, says he’s here to perfect his art and take it to a level that wouldn’t be possible in his own country. He supports himself by helping with teaching in the ‘Taranta’ – the junior flamenco school run by UFlamenco. Maryanka, a 34-year old former lighting designer, came from New Zealand four years ago to study flamenco in Madrid. She has now started UFlamenco’s Grado Professional LOE (degree course), while working as a part-time English language assistant. They both comment on the approachability of all the staff, and the inspiration of their teachers.
We watched Maryanka’s dance class, taught by Pol Vaquero no less, and although there is already an easy teacher-student rapport, I’m struck by the intensity of the concentration. I recall Antonio Canales saying how the students ‘must want to devote their life to this marvellous art’ – and feel a ludicrous pang of jealousy. I listen to flamenco, take classes and just that morning finished the first draft of a second novel including flamenco; I am devoted! Just a lousy dancer. But back in Reception I ask Pedro Ojesto the question I’ve wanted to ask all afternoon… and yes, they will be doing Summer courses…
For photographs with this article, see http://www.cherryradford.co.uk/#/blog...
For more information about UFlamenco, visit http://uflamenco.com/
For more information about FLAMENCO BABY, visit http://www.cherryradford.co.uk/#/book...
(Article also published in Flamenco News and Dance Today, London, February 2015)
I have of course factored in some taxi tonterías, and will still arrive ten minutes early - in fact, my entire trip to the world’s first University of Flamenco has a built-in flamenco flexibility factor. This comes from three years of flamenco friendships in Madrid, in which many a frantic WhatsApp about logistics has been answered with a maddening ‘Cherry, tranqui’ (calm down). I sit in the taxi reminding myself that things usually work out, but after guitarist friend Josemi Carmona (former member of New Flamenco group Ketama) has mistakenly given me a contact who interviewed me rather than the other way round, building work has delayed the opening (and my return flight), and other friends say they’ve never heard of it, the place is beginning to take on an Oz-like emerald hue.
But here it is: a four-story building tucked away in a pleasant old barrio, its ground floor frontage a reassuring magenta and ochre. Far from hiding behind a screen, or away in a top floor office like my London music college director, Pedro Ojesto – Royal Conservatory-trained pianist, flamenco-jazz performer, composer, founder of a respected music college and now Director of UFlamenco – is waiting for me in reception. He looks the part, somehow combining the calm eloquence of an academic with the passion and long seventies-style (now silver) hair of a seasoned flamenco – and is extremely likeable. With apologies for the still ongoing adjustments to the building, he enthusiastically shows us round music rooms, a cool-blue mirrored dancing studio with a wall of natural light, the recording studio where Josemi will be overseeing Music Production, and the ground floor’s performance space for the tablaos – the dancer-musician groups that are the heart of flamenco.
The side by side teaching of dancers and musicians is one of the innovations of UFlamenco, he explains. Although both the under-graduates and higher course students will be separated into Music or Dance strands, they will have subjects like Musical Language, History of Flamenco and Combo-Tablao group work together. Furthermore, they offer lessons on any instrument, with musicians like phenomenal jazz-flamenco double-bassist Javier Colina (whose concert we were all attending that night) at hand. With the mix of talent, one can imagine some exciting groups forming here and going on to delight international audiences in the future.
We are now sitting in a classroom for my interview, having been joined by Pepe Habichuela – a master of flamenco guitar, and current patriarch of a five-generation flamenco dynasty, who has just received a prestigious award from the USA’s Berklee College of Music. He’s smiley and amusing - and Josemi’s Dad - but having just been to one of his concerts it feels somewhat surreal to be assailing the gran maestro with my clunky Spanish. Pepe Habichuela oversees the guitar and rhythm section teaching, gives Masterclasses and helps to organise the groups. He says he wants the centre to give flamenco the recognition it deserves, and that it will attract students from all over the world. Also with us is Antonio Suarez Salazar (‘Guadiana’), a sought-after cantaor (flamenco singer) – particularly in collaboration with dancers – who supervises the teaching of singing and melodic instruments. Like Pepe Habichuela, he has an illustrious flamenco heritage and learnt his craft the traditional way. UFlamenco’s music students will have the traditional ‘father-son’ type of teaching from maestros, while also receiving more notational-based instruction as directed by Pedro Ojesto – who has published the first book explaining flamenco to music students.
Antonio Canales, a renowned international performer now in his fifties, is in charge of the dance training. He can’t be with us, but via email I’ve learnt about the care with which he chooses his performer-teachers, and how flamenco dancers trained alongside musicians will be more complete artists.
Before we watched a dance class, I talked to a couple of the students. Diego, a 34-year old qualified guitar teacher from Argentina who is on the higher course, says he’s here to perfect his art and take it to a level that wouldn’t be possible in his own country. He supports himself by helping with teaching in the ‘Taranta’ – the junior flamenco school run by UFlamenco. Maryanka, a 34-year old former lighting designer, came from New Zealand four years ago to study flamenco in Madrid. She has now started UFlamenco’s Grado Professional LOE (degree course), while working as a part-time English language assistant. They both comment on the approachability of all the staff, and the inspiration of their teachers.
We watched Maryanka’s dance class, taught by Pol Vaquero no less, and although there is already an easy teacher-student rapport, I’m struck by the intensity of the concentration. I recall Antonio Canales saying how the students ‘must want to devote their life to this marvellous art’ – and feel a ludicrous pang of jealousy. I listen to flamenco, take classes and just that morning finished the first draft of a second novel including flamenco; I am devoted! Just a lousy dancer. But back in Reception I ask Pedro Ojesto the question I’ve wanted to ask all afternoon… and yes, they will be doing Summer courses…
For photographs with this article, see http://www.cherryradford.co.uk/#/blog...
For more information about UFlamenco, visit http://uflamenco.com/
For more information about FLAMENCO BABY, visit http://www.cherryradford.co.uk/#/book...
(Article also published in Flamenco News and Dance Today, London, February 2015)
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