Duende Flamenco Festival at Aga Khan Museum

The Aga Khan Museum auditorium becomes the venue for the third annual international Flamenco Festival, a lively three-day weekend of contemporary and classical Flamenco.

The Duende Flamenco Festival, through performances and film, allows the audience to experience the soulful expression and contagious energy of emerging and established local and international flamenco artists.

Symbiosis

• On Friday, October 20 at 8 pm. Buy tickets.
• Showcase performance with Adrían Santana.

Making his Canadian debut, Spanish master Adrián Santana showcases Flamenco’s passionate and symbiotic relationship between cante (song) and dance. At the heart of Symbiosis is the pure pleasure of sharing different yet intertwined impulses. The call and response of musicians joins the give and take between dancers to produce a powerfully expressive performance. Fueled by harmony and the desire to create, Flamenco dancers sketch distinct emotions to the music of drums and guitar.

This double bill includes Toronto-based Compañia Carmen Romero, known for their high-energy performances.

Latcho Drom

• On Saturday, October 21 at 2 pm. Buy tickets.
• A documentary directed by Tony Gatlif, France, 1993, 103 minutes.

Follow the dramatic migration of the Romany people from northern India to Spain in this watershed ethnographic documentary. Narrated by musicians and dancers, the film takes viewers from India through Egypt and on to Romania, Slovakia, and France, with stops in Hungary and Spain. Meanwhile, on the soundtrack, the sitar and tabla give way to the acoustic guitar and accordion. As Latcho Drom (“safe journey”) so evocatively shows, no matter the location or the instrument, the melodies retain their core spirit.

Corazón de Granada

• On Sunday, October 22 at 4 pm. Buy tickets.
• Flamenco Joven y Jondo with Pablo Giménez.

Pablo Giménez, who thrilled audiences at the Aga Khan Museum during his 2016 performance Two Views of the Alhambra, returns to play Flamenco guitar steeped in the classical traditions of Granada. Joven y Jondo means Young and Deep and, during this performance, Giménez is joined by two young Flamenco artists, dancer Victoria Macias and singer Alejandro Luján. The product of a rich heritage and years of study, these artists prove flamenco music and dance are in capable hands with a new generation.

Also during this evening, members of the Toronto-based group Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company in a performance that embodies the essence of Flamenco.