Paco De Lucía Legacy is an international tribute to the flamenco guitar master on the 10th anniversary of his death. It features eight events over five days with 33 artists from both sides of the Atlantic.
The Paco de Lucía Legacy
Paco de Lucía Legacy Concert features an all-star flamenco lineup; in the Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall in Midtown, Manhattan on Tuesday, February 20, 2024 at 7:30pm. From $23. pacodelucialegacy.com 🇪🇸
The lineup includes:
- Alain Pérez
- Al Di Meola 🇮🇹
- Antonio Serrano, harmonica
- Antonio Sánchez
- Antonio Rey, Spanish guitarist 🇪🇸
- Carles Benavent, electric bass
- Carmen Linares
- Chano Domínguez
- Chonchi Heredia, flamenco singer
- Dani De Morón
- Diego “El Cigala” 🇪🇸
- Duquende
- Farru, flamenco dancer
- Farruquito 🇪🇸
- Israel Suarea “Piraña”
- Javier Colina
- Jorge Pardo
- José Mercé
- Josemi Carmona
- José María Bandera
- Karime Amaya, flamenco dancer
- Madou Diabaté
- Makrines
- Nesrine
- Niño Josele
- Pepe Habichuela, guitarist
- Rafael Riqueni 🇪🇸
- Rubem Dantas, Brazilian percussionist 🇧🇷
- Rubén Blades Panamanian jazz and salsa legend 🇵🇦
- Salif Keita
- Silvia Pérez Cruz
- Tino Di Geraldo
- Yerai Cortés
Paco de Lucía Legacy Biography Presentation and Concert features César Suárez talking about his book “El enigma Paco de Lucía” with Antonio Serrano, Antonio Sánchez and Javier Valdunciel tutoring masters students in flamenco performance from the Centro Superior Música Creativa in Madrid; at Instituto Cervantes in Midtown East, Manhattan; on Wednesday, February 21, 2024 at 6pm. Free with rsvp. pacodelucialegacy.com 🇪🇸
Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra with Valencian pianist Alex Conde, guitarist Antonio Rey, harmonica player Antonio Serrano, flamenco singer Chonchi Heredia, dancer Karime Maya, and Brazilian percussionist Rubem Dantes; play Symphony Space in Manhattan’s Upper West Side; on Wednesday, February 21, 2024 at 7pm. From $20. pacodelucialegacy.com 🇪🇸
Paco de Lucía Legacy Flamenco and Jazz Concert features Josemi Carmona and Javier Colina, percussionist Silvia Pérez Cruz, and guitarist Pepe Habicheula; and Chano Domínguez, Jorge Pardo, Javier Colina and Tino di Geraldo with dancer Farru, playing flamenco jazz fusion; at Le Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village, Manhattan; on Wednesday, February 21, 2024 at 8pm. pacodelucialegacy.com 🇪🇸
Paco de Lucía Legacy Percussion Master Class with cajón percussionist Israel “Piraña” Suarez; at King Juan Carlos Center at New York University in Greenwich Village, Manhattan; on Thursday, February 22, 2024 at 12 noon. pacodelucialegacy.com 🇪🇸
Paco de Lucía Legacy Flamenco Summit Meets New York features Niño Josele with Rubén Blades, Josemi Carmona with Salif Keita, Antonio Rey with Richard Bona, Pepe Habichuela, and more; at The Town Hall in Midtown, Manhattan; on Thursday, February 22, 2024 at 7:30pm. pacodelucialegacy.com 🇪🇸
Paco de Lucía Legacy Puro Flamenco Concert features Pepe Habichuela, Rafael Riqueni, and Carmen Linares; playing traditional flamenco at Instituto Cervantes New York in Midtown East, Manhattan; on Friday, February 23, 2024 at 7pm. pacodelucialegacy.com 🇪🇸
Paco de Lucía Legacy Flamenco Party is a flamenco jam session at Mercado Little Spain in Hudson Yards, Manhattan; on Friday, February 23, 2024 at 7:30pm. Free, but seating is limited. Go very early and enjoy the food. pacodelucialegacy.com 🇪🇸
Paco de Lucía: A Journey, Curro Sanchez’s documentary “film “La Búsqueda” screens with director and artist Q&As, at Quad Cinema in Greenwich Village; on Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 4pm. pacodelucialegacy.com 🇪🇸
The Paco de Lucía Legacy festival ends with the Great Musical Secret of Paco and Pepe de Lucía, an invitation only cocktail at The Angel Orensanz Foundation in Manhattan’s Lower East Side; on February 24, 2024. pacodelucialegacy.com 🇪🇸
For complete listings and tickets, visit pacodelucialegacy.com
Paco de Lucía
Paco de Lucía (1947-2014) was an acknowledged master of flamenco guitar. He started playing on the streets as a kid.
To break the rules, you must master them first. Traditional music often seems improvised, but you are not allowed to improvise until you master the traditions. Spain’s flamenco community is very traditional and flamenco purists don’t like change, but change is necessary to keep the arts alive and growing.
The world keeps changing too. The Beatles went global in 1964. Youth culture exploded around the world in 1966 and Brazilian bossa nova (samba jazz) became the world’s second most popular music after the Beatles. There was a lot of experimentation and cross-cultural exploration.
In the 1970s, Spain was changing from a very isolated dictatorship to a country open to the world. When the dictatorship fell, Spaniards took a deep breath and wondered who they were, now that the pressure was off. In times like these, there is usually a return to traditional culture, but Spain’s return to the world brought many new influences as well.
El duende flamenco
De Lucía’s “El duende flamenco de Paco de Lucía” (1972) was the start of his change away from traditional flamenco. It was the first in a series of groundbreaking flamenco albums. He could play traditional flamenco with the best. In 1975, he was the first flamenco artist to perform at Madrid’s Teatro Real, basically Spain’s national theater. But De Lucía had other things on his mind. He was exploring Arab and jazz influences. In 1977 he played a concert with Mexican American rocker Carlos Santana.
When change comes, purists often hate it, until it becomes the dominant form, like a virus evolves. First the Spaniards said De Lucía’s music was not flamenco. But today, flamenco fusions have become the norm, so much so that most people don’t even know what is traditional flamenco.
Many think the cajón box drum is a traditional flamenco instrument. It’s actually an African Diaspora instrument that spread from Cuba across the Americas. De Lucía brought one home from a tour in Peru. So this Afro-Peruvian instrument has become normal standard flamenco.
We are not sure why, but flamenco and jazz fit together like a hand in a glove. To our ear flamenco has clave in it, the African and Diaspora bell pattern that is the key to Latin jazz and a lot of Latin music. Flamenco and jazz are a natural fit.
The trend that De Lucía helped start continues to this day. Flamenco settled down for a while into its flamenco jazz fusions, and Spain became famous for its flamenco. De Lucía died in 2014. Then came Rosalía.
Urban Flamenco
Rosalía studied flamenco music as a young lady after becoming interested in the music of De Lucía’s longtime collaborator, Camarón de la Isla. Her second album “El mal querer” mixed traditional flamenco with urban music in 2018. Urban flamenco put Rosalía on the international map and she hasn’t stopped since.
Flamenco purists said Rosalía is not flamenco, and she’s from Barcelona, not Andalusía, the flamenco heartland. But Rosalía triggered a global flamenco renaissance that carries on to this day. At some level, she followed the footsteps of one Paco de Lucía.
The master passed away ten years ago, but his music will live forever in el duende flamenco.
Paco de Lucía Legacy Venues
CARNEGIE HALL, Midtown, Manhattan
INSTITUTO CERVANTES, Midtown East, Manhattan
KING JUAN CARLOS CENTER at New York University, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
MERCADO LITTLE SPAIN, Hudson Yards, Manhattan
LE POISSON ROUGE, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
SYMPHONY SPACE, Upper West Side, Manhattan
THE TOWN HALL, Midtown, Manhattan
QUAD CINEMA, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
For tickets, visit pacodelucialegacy.com