video credit: Felix Vazquez for Flamenco Biënnal Nederland
“Everyone is crazy about FLAMENCO CRIOLLO!”
“Great originality and expressive effectiveness ... Flamenco Criollo has revealed itself to be a solid, original and well-calibrated work.”
“Flamenco Criollo a musical ecumenical service where genres come together beautifully.”
Photo credit: Ottavia Salvadori
Africa, Spain, and Cuba meet in an adventurous mix of flamenco and dazzling Afro-Cuban rhythms. In 2021, at the request of the Flamenco Biënniale Nederland in co-production with November music, Cuban pianist, director, and composer Aruán Ortiz gathered a unique ensemble in order to investigate the roots of flamenco. The result is a collaboration between 11 musicians from Cuba, Morroco, Palestine, and Spain, combining a suite of original 17th and 18th century Moorish melodies that travel via Spain to colonial Cuba and back to the Iberian peninsula full of new rhythms.
The sound of history
Flamenco Criollo is the result of two years of intensive research by Cuban composer and pianist Aruán Ortiz on melodies of Moorish origin that migrated to colonial Cuba via Spain between the 17th and 18th centuries.
Aruán Ortiz presents a powerful suite of music born from deep research and cultural exploration. Bringing together musicians and dancers from Cuban, Spanish, Middle Eastern, and North African traditions, he created a dynamic ensemble that defies genre boundaries. Their premiere at the Flamenco Biënnal Nederland 2021 was a resounding success—and since then, they have played to sold-out audiences with standing ovations.
How it all began
video credit: Felix Vazquez for Flamenco Biënnal Nederland
composer and artistic directoR arUÁn Ortiz invites you to meet the artists
Flamenco Criollo Ensemble is integrated by deeply knowledgable instrumentalists, singers, and dancers from Cuba, Morocco, Palestine, France, and Spain who have come together to bring to life an innovative, powerful, and worldly new musical language.
Photo credit: Andrea Mazzoni
Contact Us
For booking in Europe:
Alberto Lofoco, Akamu Sas
via Eleonora Duse, 9
40127 Bologna ITALY
alberto@akamu.net
Other inquiries please fill out the form above.