In October and November, Unicaja and Málaga Provincial Council will bring a total of 40 performances to flamenco clubs in 32 municipalities across the province as part of the ‘Nos vemos en tu peña’ tour, featuring artists such as Antonia Contreras, Luis Perdiguero, Francis Bonela, Luisa Chicano and Isabel Guerrero.
The Provincial Council’s vice-president and councillor for Culture, Manuel López Mestanza, presented the ‘Nos vemos en tu peña’ tour on Thursday. The tour has been organised in collaboration with the Provincial Federation of Flamenco Clubs of Málaga and is sponsored by Unicaja. The financial institution’s head of Institutional Business, José Antonio Sánchez Garrido, also took part in the event.
The tour is divided into three series: ‘El baile por bandera’, ‘Málaga cantaora’ and ‘De peña en peña’, and will visit 32 municipalities across the province from 10 October until 29 November. “This has become an almost unmissable event on Málaga’s flamenco calendar, as it is eagerly awaited by the peñas, the artists and the fans,” said the councillor for Culture.
Forty artists (30 singers and 10 dancers) will take part in ‘Nos vemos en tu peña’; among them are Luisa Chicano, Carmen Camacho, Ana Pastrana, Fátima Navarro, Antonia Contreras, Luis Perdiguero, Francis Bonela, Pepe de Campillos, El Polaco, José Manuel Fernández, Isabel Guerrero, Rocío Bazán, Genara Cortés and Virginia Gámez.
The tour will visit the federated flamenco peñas located in Alhaurín de la Torre, Alhaurín el Grande, Almáchar, Álora, Antequera, Arriate, Benalmádena, Campillos, Casarabonela, Coín, Colmenar, Cómpeta, Cuevas de San Marcos, El Burgo, Fuengirola, Guaro, Humilladero, Málaga, Marbella, Mijas, Monda, Nerja, Ojén, Rincón de la Victoria, Riogordo, Ronda, Sierra de Yeguas, Teba, Tolox, Torremolinos, Valle de Abdalajís and Vélez-Málaga.
López Mestanza welcomed the new president of the Provincial Federation of Flamenco Peñas of Málaga, Antonio Gavilán, and paid tribute to the two previous presidents, Diego Pérez and Juan Recio, “who did an extraordinary job at the helm of this organisation and with whom we always enjoyed a constant collaboration”.
The councillor for Culture highlighted the format of the circuit, which “allows high-quality flamenco to be brought to an intimate setting so that enthusiasts can better appreciate the singing and guitar playing”. In this regard, he emphasised the work of the flamenco clubs “in keeping the flame of the ‘arte jondo’ alive in every corner of the province”.
In the same line, José Antonio Sánchez Garrido, head of Institutional Business at Unicaja, welcomed the fact that “this circuit brings flamenco to local towns and keeps the peñas alive as meeting places centred on culture and traditions”.
In this regard, he noted that, “for Unicaja, it is important to support initiatives that help ensure culture remains present and accessible in different parts of the province”, whilst also highlighting the importance of the collaboration with the Málaga Provincial Council and the Provincial Federation of Flamenco Clubs to “preserve and promote an artistic expression so closely linked to Andalusian identity”.
Posthumous tribute to Pedro Maldonado
Antonio Gavilán, for his part, thanked the Málaga Provincial Council and Unicaja for making it possible to launch, “yet another autumn”, the ‘Nos vemos en tu peña’ circuit, which this year is dedicated to the memory of the Málaga-born luthier Pedro Maldonado, who passed away on 16 April 2020 at the age of 90.
Although born in Loja (Granada), Maldonado was the most iconic and renowned guitar maker in the world of flamenco guitar in the history of Málaga. Guitars destined for every continent have emerged from his workshop on Avenida de Velázquez, in the Sixto neighbourhood.
His clients included classical guitarists of the calibre of Los Romeros, Eliot Fisk, Jan Wolf, Cecilia Peigel, Angelo Gilardino, Francisco Doblas and Arturo F. Jasso, and flamenco guitarists such as Manuel Cano, Merengue de Córdoba, Paco de Antequera, Parrilla de Jerez, Moraíto, Vicente Amigo, Antonio Losada, Antonio Soto, Paco Javier Jimeno and Andrés Cansino, amongst others.
