The Town Hall

Madou Diabaté, kora

Diabaté, widely known as “Madou,” was born on September 23, 1982, in Bamako, Mali. He is the youngest son of the late Sidiki Diabaté and Mariam Kouyaté. He is part of the seventy-first generation of kora players in his family. His family has a long heritage in the oral tradition of jalis (sometimes spelled djeli), or griots. “Jali” is the Mandingo word for the repository musician and storyteller of Mande’s ancient oral tradition, transmitting history and culture from generation to generation, from father to son. Madou has been playing lead kora with some of the most important West African singers and musicians, including Kandia Kouyaté, Baaba Maal, and Salif Keita. He is renowned for his extensive knowledge of traditional kora repertoire and command of jazz sensibilities and foreign influences.

Silvia Pérez Cruz, vocals

Cruz’s own story is pretty remarkable. The 31-year-old is a classically trained singer from Catalonia. She studied piano and classical saxophone and has a degree in vocal jazz. While still at the Catalonia College of Music in Barcelona, Cruz co-founded a flamenco group called Las Migas (The Bread Crumbs) with three other women. She says none of them were the best players or singers, but that helped them take a different approach to flamenco. Javier Colina, a jazz bassist, invited her to record an album with his trio. Silvia Perez Cruz sings in French, German, and English in four Iberian languages.

Israel Suarez “Piraña”, percussion

Piraña is considered a vital reference for percussionists and one of the most accomplished cajón musicians; Piraña toured with the late flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía’s band for more than 10 years. Piraña is considered one of the greatest cajón players ever and an essential reference for percussionists worldwide. He has played with artists such as Lenny Kravitz, Ricky Martin, Chick Corea, Paquito D’Rivera, and Wynton Marsalis. One of the main contributors and lead actors in the evolution of the cajón, Piraña has adapted the instrument to genres outside of flamenco, raised its musical standard, and further developed the cajón technique.

Yerai Cortés, Flamenco guitar

Yeray Cortés was born in 1995 in Alicante. His parents, Miguel and María, introduced him to flamenco music at an early age and taught him to play the guitar. Initially, he played the cajón and accompanied his father in the falsetas of Paco de Lucía and Tomatito. However, he later decided to switch to playing the guitar, and since then, he has never stopped playing it and following Paco’s legacy. He started his career by working in the best flamenco tablaos in Madrid, including Teatro de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Teatro Coliseum in Barcelona, and Teatro Lope de Vega in Seville. He has collaborated with a long list of talented musicians.

Tino Di Geraldo, drums and percussion

French-Spanish percussionist, tabla player, and drummer. Tino di Geraldo is one of Spain’s leading flamenco and jazz percussionists, bringing classical and jazz influences to flamenco with a punk-rock background. Billboard cited him as an “eminent flamenco musician.” He toured and recorded with Paco de Lucía, Tomatito, Chano Domínguez, Carlos Núñez, Raimundo Amador, Javier Álvarez, Niña Pastori, and Manolo Sanlúcar. He has worked with French/Vietnamese jazz guitarist Nguyen Le and American folk musician Jackson Browne.

Salif Keita, vocals

Salif Keita is a Malian singer-songwriter known for blending elements of a wide range of local African—especially Mande—music traditions with jazz, rhythm and blues, and other international popular-music styles to pioneer the Afropop dance-music genre. Despite a noble lineage tracing back to Sundiata Keita, the 13th-century founder of the Malian empire, Salif Keita grew up as an outsider in several essential respects. First, he was raised in a poor farming household, not in an environment of royal affluence. Second, owing to his albinism—traditionally viewed as a harbinger of misfortune—he found himself a pariah, rejected by his family and his community. His choice to pursue music violated the occupational prohibitions of his noble status and, consequently, distanced him even farther from his family. Keita succeeded in Europe as one of the African stars of world music. Still, his work was sometimes criticized for the gloss of its production. However, shortly after the turn of the millennium, he returned to Bamako in Mali to live and record.

Rubén Blades, Vocals

Rubén Blades is a highly accomplished and multi-talented individual, having won a Grammy for his work as a musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician. He is particularly well-known for his contributions to the salsa and Latin jazz genres and played a crucial role in the New York Salsa scene during the 1970s. Born on July 16th, 1948, in Panama, Blades has achieved success in the arts and holds degrees in political science and law from the University of Panama and an LLM from Harvard Graduate Law School. In 1994, he even ran for president of Panama and later served as tourism minister from 2004 to 2009.

Rubem Dantas, percussion

Rubem Dantas was born into a musical family in Salvador de Bahia. His earliest exposure to music was studying piano with his mother. His interest soon turned to percussion. It was with Vahindo do Gantois, whom Rubem considers his master, where it all began, playing some of the most important festivals in Brazil. In 1977, his move to Madrid allowed him to play with other outstanding musicians and be in the middle of the growing new flamenco movement. Pedro Ruy Blas invited Rubem to join the group “Dolores,” and it was in that group that he met Jesus Pardo, Alaro Yebenes, and Jorge Pardo. During this time, he crossed paths with guitar legend Paco de Lucia. The two formed one of the world’s most influential and innovative new flamenco bands. They toured extensively with Carles Benavent, Ramon de Algeciras, Joaquin Grilo, Duquende, Jorge Pardo, and Jose Bandera. While in Peru, Rubem discovered the native percussion instrument, the cajon. He felt it could add a new dimension to the already pioneering flamenco sound he was helping create. Dantas has recorded or performed with Vince Mendoza, Gilberto Gil, Paquito D’Rivera Chick Corea, and Touchstone. He currently lives in Granada, Spain.

Rafael Riqueni, flamenco guitar

Rafael Riqueni del Canto was born on Fabié, a street in the Triana neighborhood of Seville.  He is considered one of the biggest names or “Maestros” in flamenco guitar history. At age fourteen, he won two prominent national awards for flamenco guitar in Spain. At age eleven, he started to play with Niño Ricardo and discovered Paco de Lucía, which made him finally decide to pursue a music career. His first teacher was Manolo Carmona, and then he became a student of Manolo Sanlúcar. Rafael Riqueni’s music takes flamenco as a basis, plus classical music influences, among other contemporary styles, a process accessible to identify his musicianship.

Pepe Habichuela, flamenco guitar

Pepe Habichuela belongs to one of the great flamenco dynasties, the Habichuelas, and to the generation of Paco de Lucía, Camarón de la Isla, Enrique Morente, Manolo Sanlúcar… which has opened the way for the current generation of young flamencos and whose work has brought about the enormous popularity that this art form enjoys nowadays. From Pepe’s trajectory, it is possible to perceive the surprising evolution of flamenco in the last few years. He was the first flamenco artist to pass on his knowledge to his sons and nephews, forming the Ketama band, Raimundo Amador, and José Soto “Sorderita.” He took his first professional steps in the Sacromonte caves, Granada, and then moved to the Madrid tablaos. At that time, he accompanied Pepe Marchena and Juanito Valderrama. However, his close cooperation with Enrique Morente in the seventies marked a change in direction for his career, and together, they discovered a new world of harmonies that found expression in two historical works, Despegando and Homenaje a D. Antonio Chacón. As a solo artist, his first record, A Mandela, was distributed worldwide, and his second CD, Habichuela en Rama (1997), was recorded with the cooperation of his son, José Miguel Carmona (Ketama). Apart from that, Pepe Habichuela also played in a duet with the American trumpeter Don Cherry, a veritable legend of free jazz and one of the first theoreticians of fusion. The last chapter in this innovative career has been the fusion between flamenco and classical Indian music.

Niño Josele, flamenco guitar

Flamenco guitarist born in Almería (Andalusia, Spain) started playing at six and comes from a long dynasty of traditional flamenco musicians. Unlike his forebears, he has become a trademark of versatility, especially since the release in 2006 of Paz, his critically acclaimed work dedicated to jazz pianist Bill Evans. Paz, a collection of Evans’ reconfigured works, established Josele as a visionary fusionist, achieving an ingenious intersection between flamenco and traditional jazz. Before Paz, his apprenticeship developed with Paco de Lucia and Enrique Morente, with whom he shared tours and collaborations. He was nominated for Grammy Awards for his albums on several occasions, giving rise to a career in which his creativity as a composer stands out. He was part of Chick Corea’s latest project, “Antidoto”, for which they were awarded the Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album 2019. His last released album, “Galaxias,” features a special collaboration with Chick Corea and Rubén Blades.

Makarines, backing vocals and handclaps

The Makarines are a flamenco singing duo formed by brothers José and Maka Ibañez. Raised in the rich flamenco tradition, their sound is classic and freshly modern, with beautifully layered vocals that give the music a celestial feel. Their hallmark flamenco fusion and effortless listening style defies categorization yet is still rooted in the tradition of flamenco cante. Growing up in Triana, they attribute their love of music to their grandfather Segundo, who instilled in the brothers a love of singing and harmony. Later, their musical education consisted of singing night after night in every corner of their neighborhood. While their first performances were purely for fun, they soon started performing professionally, debuting at the flamenco tablao La Madrugá in Seville. Since then, they’ve shared the stage with renowned cantaores and bailaores such as Rosalia, Diego Carrasco, Diego del Morao, La Tana, María Jiménez, Juan de Juan, Joaquín Grilo, and Jesús Carmona, to name a few, and have also collaborated with Chiquetete and Radio Makandé.

Karime Amaya, Dancer

Bailaora was born in México in 1985, the grandniece of the legendary Carmen Amaya. Karime is one of the world’s most recognized and respected dancers. She carries the blood and legacy of “La Capitana” Carmenn Amaya. Her debut at 9 was in the company of her parents, bailaora Mercedes Amaya “La Winy” and guitarist Santiago Aguilar, with whom she began her career at 12 and continues to dance. Karime has been performing as a soloist in the world’s most essential forums and tablaos, and has shared the stage with Tomatito, Los Losada, Farruquito, Gerardo Nuñez, and the lineup with dancers such as Maria Pages, Israel and Postora Galvan, Antonio Canales, Manuela Carrasco, Rafael and Adela Campallo, Torombo, Rafael del Carmen, Mario Maya’s company, Antonio “El Pipa,” the Farruco family, among many others.

Josemi Carmona, flamenco guitar and mandolin

Josemi Carmona is a prominent figure in the recent history of Spanish music, particularly in the flamenco and guitar genres. He is the son of maestro Pepe Habichuela and is part of a family legacy of four generations of influential Granada artists. At 14, he became a member of Ketama, a highly influential and groundbreaking band in Spanish music that sold over 1 million of their 14 albums. He also collaborated closely with world-class artists such as Paco de Lucía, Alejandro Sanz, and Jorge Pardo while producing for Niña Pastori and La Barbería del Sur.

Jorge Pardo, flute

Jorge Pardo is one of the architects of the current flamenco renaissance—a founding member of the group Dolores (together with Pedro Ruy-Blas). Today, Jorge Pardo is regarded as one of the true leaders of a style of music that fuses flamenco with jazz. He is among the elite jazz figures from Spain with an international following. Introduced to the world of professional flamenco at the hands of groundbreaking flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia, he has acquired a new hybrid language between jazz “de raiz” (“from the roots”) and flamenco. He is acclaimed for his longtime association with Paco de Lucía and American jazz legend Chick Corea. Jorge Pardo’s style and technique on both flute and the sax are blazing new trails in this constantly developing music. In addition to his work in Sextet by Paco de Lucia, he has collaborated with nearly every prominent figure in the world of flamenco on concerts with Chick Corea and Astrid Gilberto, also a longtime collaborator with flamenco rock bands Ketama and La Barberia del Sur, further exploring the outer reaches of the rhythms of flamenco.

Javier Colina, double bass

One of the best double bass players in the current scene, a self-taught musician who started independently after studying piano, accordion, and guitar. An artist with an unquenchable curiosity, Colina has traveled –literally & artistically- to countless musical places and expressions with a depth and knowledge seldom seen. His career has led him to play with renowned jazz musicians such as George Cables, Tete Montoliú, Chucho Valdés, Jerry González, Perico Sambeat, and Jorge Pardo.

Farruquito, dancer

“Farruquito,” Juan Manuel Fernández Montoya, heir to the most renowned Gypsy flamenco dynasty, is the Greatest Flamenco Dancer of this New Century (The New York Times). Son of flamenco singer Juan Fernández Flores “El Moreno” and dancer Rosario Montoya Manzano “La Farruca,” the eldest of 3 siblings Juan Antonio Fernández Montoya “El Farru,” Manuel Fernández Montoya “El Carpeta” and Alegría Fernández Montoya, Farruquito was immersed in the purest form of flamenco founded by his grandfather, “El Farruco,” one of the most fantastic dancers in the history of flamenco. His first international stage appearance was at the age of four, on Broadway in New York City alongside his grandfather in the hit show Flamenco Puro. At 11, he was featured in the film Flamenco, produced by the legendary film director Carlos Saura, which launched Farruquito’s career and positioned him among the most elite flamenco artists in the world. That same year, together with the flamenco legends in his family, he created and choreographed Bodas de Gloria.

Farru, flamenco dancer

Antonio Fernández Montoya is a flamenco bailaor best known as “Farru,” the son of the flamenco cantaor [singer] Juan Fernández Flores “El Moreno” and the flamenco bailaora [dancer] Rosario Montoya Manzano, known as “La Farruca.” The grandson of “Farruco,” one of the most influential flamenco clans of dancers in history and the founder of one of the world’s leading flamenco schools. His brother “Farruquito,” is currently considered one of the most distinguished flamenco dancers. In this family environment, it is unsurprising that Farru also felt the call of flamenco when he was only a kid and was on a world tour with Master Paco de Lucía.

Chano Domínguez, piano

Chano Domínguez, a Cadiz pianist who has made significant contributions, Chano Domínguez, is a celebrated jazz pianist and composer known for his unique fusion of jazz and flamenco. With over 40 years of experience, he has captivated audiences worldwide, including fellow musicians from both genres. Chano’s music seamlessly integrates the traditions of jazz and flamenco, placing him among the top artists in this genre. Chano has collaborated with renowned musicians such as Paco de Lucía, Wynton Marsalis, and Herbie Hancock, showcasing his exceptional interpretive skills. Chano’s innovative approach has significantly impacted the history of flamenco-jazz.

Carles Benavent, electric bass

Is a Spanish bass player born on March 1, 1954 in Barcelona. He is widely recognized for his unique and distinct sound and is considered one of the world’s most talented and versatile bass players. His exceptional skills can be heard in various musical genres, including his collaborations with Paco de Lucia and his solo albums. Benavent’s most notable contribution to music is his pioneering role in introducing the bass guitar to flamenco music, which he accomplished with the Paco De Lucia Sextet during the 1980s. He has also played with renowned musicians such as Miles Davis, Chick Corea, and Camarón De La Isla.

Antonio Serrano, harmonica

Latin Grammy winner and Madrid-born Antonio Serrano started learning the harmonica from his dad at age 7. Already performing with Larry Adler at age 13, Antonio developed a unique playing technique that helped him easily transition from classical to blues, jazz, and pop music. Performing with Paco de Lucia established him as one of the most renowned Spanish musicians.

Antonio Rey, flamenco guitar

Rey was born in the Flamenco saga. The generational knowledge transfer begins at birth. Born in Madrid in 1981, he started performing at age ten with his father in the tablaos (Flamenco bars) of Mexico and was soon touring the world on his own. He has also worked with guitar legends Paco de Lucia and Vicente Amigo. Rey has backed famous singers such as Miguel Poveda, Diego el Cigala, and Estrella Morente and famous dancers such as Antonio Canales, Joaquín Cortés, and Farruquito. He has composed a lot of music for dance. For artists like Antonio Rey, playing is as simple and essential as breathing. He is known as a charismatic character.

Alain Pérez, bass

Cuban bassist Alain Pérez was born in Manaca-Iznaga, a town in the Valle de los Ingenios in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba. He bowed quickly to music, which is unsurprising because his father was a composer. His professional career began in large, thanks to the maestro Chucho Valdes. Alain Perez was part of the Paco de Lucia’s sextet since 2004. With Paco de Lucía, he worked continuously for ten years until Paco died in February 2014, participating in six albums. For its quality and expertise, Spain now recognizes Alain Perez today as a benchmark in Spanish folklore.

Perez also has worked with renowned artists and bands like Issac Delgado, Celia Cruz, Irakere, Diego “el Cigala,” and Enrique Morente.