Where to find Flamenco
 

I am traveling to spain in march 2000. My boyfriend is very interested in the guitar and it's origins and we would both like to take in some flamenco. I would prefer it not be "for the tourist". I know I need to go south to Granada and Cordoba, but I would like specific recommendations. Thanks, teri

Teri, <BR> <BR>You can also find authentic Flamenco in Madrid. Try a restaurant/club called Casa Patas. We had a great dinner there and then went into the back room for the show. It was fabulous. We also saw a more "tourist-oriented" show that was entertaining but very different from the authentic singing/music/dancing at Casa Patas. Enjoy. We loved Spain very much.

If you go to Granada there are "shows" in the gypsy area that start at around midnight. These are usually in homes that have chairs set-up and are not night clubs in any sense of the word. <BR>Ask at your hotel about tickets. <BR> <BR>If you go to Seville, go to Menkes Dance store. They are a good source of information on private clubs that will <BR>allow visitors to special programs.( They may have a store in Madrid, too). <BR>In Seville, there are good shows that are more commercial, but the dancers and musicians are excellent. I can't remember the names of the clubs, but if you so a search on Spain I posted them a while back or email me at home and I can give them to you. <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>

In Granada, you want to go to the area called the Sacramonte--it's where the gypsys live. When we were there, we stayed at a cave in the Sacramonte that was quite cool. In Seville, one show to avoid is El Gallo in the Plaza de Santa Cruz. It was awful! The "singers" looked bored out of their minds, and they only had one dancer on stage at a time. The show went like this: One man, dances for 15 minutes. Singers switch around. One woman, dances for 15 minutes. Singers switch around. Another woman, dances for 15 minutes. Singers switch. We went through 4 women this way. My friends had gone to this show a few months before us, and they had many people on the floor so I don't know what happened the night we went. But apparently they can't guarantee a good show and the quality varies. It was so bad I wanted to leave, but my husband thought it would be rude. I thought it would be a wake-up call to the people!! And the worst part about it was our clothes reaked of cigarette smoke afterwards, even though nobody had been smoking. Guess they never heard of actually cleaning their chairs!!

Teri: To find the most authentic, not "made for tourists" flamenco, you should head straight to Casa Patas on Cale Canizares #10, in "Old Madrid" behind the Palace Hotel. (www.visualware.es/guiamad/anct/patas.htm). Mary is absolutely right on this tip! You don't need to go for dinner; you can simply go for the performance and perhaps order "tapas" or a cheese plate or dessert in the bar area or just wine or sherry. Performances are Mon.-Thurs. at 10:30 p.m. (in season) and Fri.-Sat. at midnight. Casa Patas is not a traditional "tablao" (restaurant-show lounge) with a resident dance troupe catering to the tour bus trade, but instead a venue for the finest in big name flamenco talent in Spain. It's a favorite meeting place for flamenco artists, and there will probably be flamenco stars themselves in the audience. Here you certainly won't be surrounded by tourists on the nightclub tour bus circuit. <BR> Your other option would be to go to a store selling flamenco guitars or dance outfits (yes, such as Menkes) and ask them to suggest a private club, a "pena", to witness a real flamenco "jam session" that may start quite late at night or in the early morning hours (you certainly will find yourselves alone with the locals here), but if you are going to be in Madrid, please be assured that the flamenco you see at Casa Patas will certainly be FAR more authentic than the "tablaos" of Seville (such as "El Arenal" or "Los Gallos"), Cordoba or Granada ("Los Jardines de Neptuno"). I have taken American friends to the above-mentioned flamenco clubs, as well as to the two well-known bus tour night clubs in Madrid ("Cafe de Chinitas" and "Corral de la Moreria") and while they did enjoy the shows as first-timers, if you're familiar with the art form, you will see that these shows do often lack in authenticity. The performances may appear to you lifeless and tired, particularly when the place is filled only with tourists. <BR> I do not recommend that you visit the Gypsy caves at Sacromonte in Granada for pure flamenco. Most gypsies do not actually live in these caves, although they're decorated to appear as if they do, and their shows are geared strictly and only to the tourist trade.