Blog: After Party at Catalán West with the Paco de Lucía Septet
Friday March 23, 2001 by Miguelito
Guitarist Paco de Lucía and his septet opened their North American tour at the Warner Theater in Washington DC Friday March 23, 2001. As expected the concert was sold out.
Performers included
- Paco de Lucía, guitar
- Ramón de Algeciras, guitar
- José María Banderas, guitar
- Jorge Pardo, saxophone and flute
- Rubem Dantas, percussion
- Carles Benavent, electric bass and mandola
- Joaquín Grilo, dancer
- Rafael de Utrera, cantaor
The new face in the septet was 27-year-old singer Rafael de Utrera. Some DC flamencos may remember him from his recent performance in New York with Farruquito and family.
Although I could've taken pictures during the show, I resisted the temptation.
[Editor's note: Back in February, I remember some very rude people taking numerous flash pictures during Carmen Linares' performance at Lisner Auditorium. It destroyed the ambience that Carmen delicately created through her cante. Later, I heard from the auditorium staff that Carmen and the performers were very upset and rightfully so!]
Here instead is a small sampling of pictures from the post-concert party. Enjoy.
12:00am The artists arrive. DC area flamenco dance students Kyoko and Sandra greet dancer Joaquín Grilo. Kyoko discussed with Joaquín the idea of a possible DC area dance workshop. Stay tuned for updates.
12:34am Singer Rafael de Utrera with DC flamenco dancers Micaela Moreno, Marta Chico Martín and Soheila Nassiri.
12:35am
1:58am Junior, César and José get the party started with some music from the Andes. [These guys perform on Fridays and Saturdays at Paper Moon 1073 31st ST NW. Call (202)965-6666.]
2:17am Torcuato joins in singing a rumba.
2:35am Seemingly out of nowhere this saxophonist appears and beautifully improvises a melody over Richard Marlow's bulerías compás. [Her name is Patricia Zárate. She performs on Thursdays from 10pm-12am at Cafe Nema at 1331 U St. She's fantastic!]
2:46am Joaquín Grilo joins in on cajón as Marta Chico Martín, Micaela Moreno and Sara Jerez provide palmas.
3-something am As the jam session heats up Joaquín gets so inspired that he can't decide whether to dance or play cajón. So he gets creative and plays standing up.
3-something am Richard Marlow and Rubem Dantas getting intense.
3-something am DC flamenco dancer Edwin Aparicio gets up to do a short bulerías while Rubem Dantas enthusiastically cheers him on.
3-something am Micaela with Rubem and Torcuato
3-something am Sara Jerez with Joaquín Grilo and Rubem Dantas
Just look at the expressions on the faces above: the party was definitely the highpoint of the evening. Thanks to Rubem Dantas, Joaquín Grilo, Rafael de Utrera and Jorge Pardo for letting us DC flamencos party with them. Thanks also to Catalán West for the hospitality.
[Editor's note: Catalan West is located at 1319 F St NW DC. They have flamenco shows on Friday and Saturday nights. Call (202)628-2299. Be sure to mention that you heard about this on the DCFLAMENCO website. Thanks.]
The above photos were taken by yours truly Miguelito using the Olympus D460Z 1.3 megapixel digital camera set at HQ with a original resolution of 1024x768
