The passion of flamenco

You won’t find acoustic flamenco more innovative, entertaining or inspiring.

The Chris Jácome Flamenco Ensemble will perform flamenco music and dance at the Crescent Elk Auditorium on April 26 at 7:30 p.m. for the final concert of the Del Norte-Curry Concert Association’s 2011-12 season.

Jácome is one of the most in-demand flamenco guitarists in the U.S. Rarely is an artist capable of touching the hearts and souls of people of all ages, cultures, and diverse backgrounds.

He studied flamenco in Seville, where he learned how to accompany flamenco dance and singing from the best-known names in Spain.

Jácome’s ensemble includes flamenco singer Olivia Rojas, flamenco dancers Martín Gaxiola, Bernadette Gaxiola and Lena Jácome with electric bassist Adrian Goldenthal and percussionist Kris Hill providing the rhythmic foundation.

His group is one of the most innovative and inspiring new acoustic flamenco groups in the U.S.

The ensemble provides the best of the art of flamenco with each performance. The “true” art of flamenco can’t be achieved as a soloist. The art of flamenco is born through collaboration.

With the haunting songs and beautiful melodies of the flamenco singer, the dancers find movement and rhythm, the guitarist finds harmony and dynamics, and in turn each artist inspires the other, creating a twisting tornado of duende (magic, inspiration) of intertwined artistic spirit.

Flamenco is choreographed energy, and as the ensemble’s haunting songs and beautiful melodies combine with the awesome movement and rhythm of dance, the art of flamenco explodes into the passion of flamenco.

With such collaboration and improvisation the artists themselves find every performance to be a completely new interaction with each other.

“It’s always exciting,” Jácome said. “Although we know each other like family, we are all constantly surprised and genuinely intrigued by what happens once we get on stage. We are so in tune with one another’s thoughts and yet there are always new aspects of each artist that come out every night.”

For more information, call 465-6572 or go to liveonstage.biz.