London Flamenco Festival, Kings Place, London
May 29 & 30, 2025
This year’s London Flamenco Festival offers a number of performances at Kings Place in King’s Cross. On May 29, guitarist Alejandro Hurtado gave a short recital accompanied by percussionist David Domínguez and dancer Inmaculada Salomón. Hurtado has studied classical and flamenco guitar since childhood, obtaining his first accolades at the tender age of 12.
He has a clean, clear style of playing and an enduring engagement with his audience. No programme was provided but tangos, soleas, bulerias, jota and de Falla’s Miller’s Dance from Le Tricorne were recognisable.
He was accompanied by percussionist David Domínguez for the majority of the evening with mixed results. Although undoubtedly accomplished musician, the percussion only produced a real partnership on one or two instances, the reminder of the time overwhelming the guitar and becoming intrusive.
Inmaculada Salomón presented various classical Spanish and folk dances in spite of having very little room on the end of the stage. She bravely opened in a bata de cola (long flamenco drss) but the tightness of the area limited what she could offer, and her use of the manton (shawl) was somewhat frenetic. She certainly didn’t shy away from pirouettes and sautés though, so anyone looking for pure flamenco technique would have been disappointed. The Miller’s Dance and jota were enjoyable and her castanet playing was precise. Whilst her braceo (arms, ports de bras in ballet terms) lacked the liquid fluidity that pulls at the heartstrings, she demonstrated a deep backbend and has the advantage of long fingers which was advantageous for the intricate floreo hand movements.
The guitar here was literally and figuratively centre stage and the dance perhaps more suited to a cabaret than the flamenco afficionados.
There is an inherent contradiction in flamenco puro: it is essentially a private expression of the life led by an effectively closed group of people usually only expressed amongst themselves. Yet, it is possible that flamenco would have died, petering out in a degraded form in tourist traps had it not reached out and become a performance art.
Photo SL Chai
This paradox was evident in Las Tres Orillas by the Manuel Valençia Trio the following evening, which demonstrated the very essence of flamenco but in a theatre space. In an era when it seems that so much performance lacks profundity and the ability to speak to our troubled times, it is ironic that this very private of art forms from a world which most people even in Spain will never experience is the one that packs a gut punch throughout. And it isn’t necessary to understand a word of Spanish.
The trio are in fact from two ‘shores:’ guitarist Manuel Valençio and singer David Carpio from Jerez and dancer El Choro Molina from Huelva, a place steeped in flamenco culture and tradition. This would be the place to learn about the flamenco hierarchy: singing being the most important, then guitar and then dance. To an extent, the guitar was prominent and what technique. It was a masterclass in clarity and expression with subtle dynamics that are heard too seldom.
After a brief introduction from all three, Carpio returned about a third of the way through. It was well worth the wait. There is much discussion in these days of AI, deep fakes and authenticity. Well, there is nothing more authentic than cante jondo (literally, ‘profound’ or ‘deep’ song) and Carpio is one of the very best of its exponents.
Used sparingly like icing on the best cakes, El Choro’s dancing was no less moving. His imposing physique is belied by the delicacy of his braceo, the sparing use of a curled wrist wrenching at the emotions. The clarity of his zapateado footwork mirrored Valençia’s playing, he too managing subtle contrasts with cleverly placed tacon (the heel going down to the floor).
This was the very best of contemporary flamenco and how lucky are we that London is able to witness it.