The role of El Dorado. Sociedad Flamenca Barcelonesa has established itself in the local music scene since its inception fifteen years ago, and now it is taking a step forward with the Naked Strings series: a series of concerts and conferences by top-level artists who, without coming from flamenco, legitimize as a universal culture through their knowledge and works.
Conceived and directed by the journalist Pere Pons, the cycle will be articulated in the form of nine performances within the program of El Dorado (in the Sala Sandaru, which is located in the Center Cívic Parc Sandaru) from October 13 to 11 May 2023.
Pons specified that one of the objectives of this initiative is "in addition to reflecting an artistic world in which flamenco is impregnated and arouses curiosity, it seeks to counteract that absurd concept called cultural appropriation".
In today's presentation of the new project, Pedro Barragán, the alma mater of the aforementioned flamenco society and an indispensable figure on the Barcelona scene, explained that "Pepe Habichuela, Dorantes or Arcángel have passed and come to El Dorado fundamentally because they want to come to Barcelona, and that the local flamenco scene is much worse than before". And he added that this happens despite the fact that "here right now there is demand and artists."
In this regard, the Barcelona guitarist Pedro Javier González, also present at the event, stated that this is due above all to the fact that "the city's flamenco formation is in the hands of few people and they do so mainly due to financial criteria and what which is fashionable".
Thus, Cuerdas furtivas will begin with a conference by the music journalist and critic for years of La Vanguardia Mingus B. Formentor, who will present his particular vision of flamenco Barcelona, or as Pere Pons said yesterday, "he will take us to his particular planet".
Next, a series of musical encounters with the public –a capacity of 170-180 people– by the Catalan guitarist Toti Soler, the double bassist Renaud Garcia Fons, the guitarist Pau Figueres, the six-string player Mario Mas, the guitarist Feliu Gasull and the violinist Olvido Lanza, the duo formed by Pedro Javier González and Horacio Fumero, a conference by the erudite musician Raúl Rodríguez, and finally the veteran guitarist Pedro Soler.
In the opinion of Pedro Javier González (who has played with Joan Manuel Serrat, Victoria de los Ángeles or El Último de la Fila ) "we all have in common that we have not sucked flamenco from the cradle, we were furtive infiltrators, but when we met him we his head exploded and we incorporated him into our lives.
For the director of El Dorado, Pedro Barragán, this cycle reflects the spirit of said association, where “we understand flamenco as a culture that is alive and manifests itself in many ways. And that here we offer it with the minimum and in a very close physical way, and the latter is a very important quality for the artist".
