Flamenco OFF-BEAT

On Sunday 17 November, the Amsterdam Muziekgebouw turns into a free haven for flamenco. Two performance routes, designed by the Spanish artist Ernesto Artillo, guide you through the building, taking in previews by a new generation of dance makers and musicians who will be presenting their work at the 10th Flamenco Biennial in October 2025.

The Flamenco OFF-BEAT routes are freely accessible, and are complemented by a programme of documentaries, a public rhythm and dance workshop, and a flamenco yoga session to kick off the day.

Programme

12:30 Flamenco yoga
15:00 Performance route 1
16:00 Rhythm and dance class
16:30 Performance route 2
15:00 – 20:00 Documentaries

LINE-UP

Route 1
Start 15:00

Sara Jiménez (dance)
Ave de Plata

Ángeles Toledano (vocals)
Special guest Raúl Cantizano (flamenco guitar)
Sangre Sucia

Romance de Granada
The fall of the last Moorish king in 1492
Maarten Ornstein (bass clarinet), Mike Fentross (theorbe, lute), Beatriz Lafont Murcia (vocals) – work in progress From Cairo to Sevilla
(Beatriz Lafont replaces the Libanese singer Rima Khcheich)
*flamenco&orient

Rául Cantizano (guitar) & Los Voluble (DJ-VJ)
Zona Acordonada – Carta flamenca a Sabicas / Letter to Sabicas
*flamenco electrónico

Route 2
Start 16:30 

Tatiana Koleva (marimba)
Soleá for Marimba Solo – 2015, Florian Magnus Maier

Martí Corbera & Ernesto Artillo (dance, performance)
Un beso blanco – work in progress, world premiere

Aart Strootman & Raúl Cantizano (guitar, flamenco electrónico)
Maelstrom – new work by Aart Strootman, world premiere

Luz Arcas (dance)
Special guest Tomás de Perrate (vocals)
Mariana

Flamenco is not a crime
Los Voluble (DJ-VJ)

Extra

12:30 – 13:30
Flamenco yoga
Antje Herber

16:00 – 16:30
Open rhythm and dance class
Claudia Karapanou (dance) & Lucas Arango (guitar)

15:00 – 20:00
Documentary films
Zambra – José Sánchez Montes (2024, Spain)
Riqueni – Paco Bech (2023, Spain)

ARTISTS ROUTE 1

Sara Jiménez – Ave de Plata

Sara Jiménez takes flight with ‘Ave de plata’ (Silver Bird): a solo dance performance set to a soundscape by sound artist Miguel Marín `Árbol, exploring the duality of life. Comedy is tragedy. Death is rebirth. When a hunter shoots down a bird, does the hunter become the hunted? Pushing flamenco to the cutting-edge of the artform, Sara Jiménez (b. 1989, Granada) dances an excerpt from this performance during Flamenco OFF-BEAT, a preview to the Flamenco Biënnale 2025.

Ángeles Toledano + special guest Raúl Cantizano  – Sangre Sucia

Flamenco singer ÁNGELES TOLEDANO recently launched her first album, Sangre sucia, on which she explores flamenco without limits. She has toured internationally for many years, accompanying innovative dancers such as Patricia Guerreo, Alfonso Losa and María Moreno. With the latter she performed at the previous Flamenco Biennale in o../o../.o/o./o. (soleá). During Flamenco OFF-BEAT, Ángeles Toledano (b. 1995, Jaén) will be accompanied by guitarist Raúl Cantizano and perform music from her new album.

Maarten Ornstein, Mike Fentross, Beatriz Lafont
Romance de Granada. The fall of the last Moorish king in 1492.
Work in progress ‘From Cairo to Sevilla’

Romances, verses from the Iberian and Latin literary tradition, were performed at medieval courts by troubadours and minstrels, who toured villages to sing of legendary exploits. Mike Fentross (bass clarinet) en Maarten Ornstein (theorbe, lute) explore to which extent the music and lyrics of the flamenco repertoire have their origins in early romance. Beatriz Lafont Murcia, who replaces Lebanese singer Rima Khcheich, performs a number of 16th-century romances, including Luys Narvaez’s romance about the fall of the last Moorish king: ‘Paseábase el rey moro por la ciudad de Granada’.

Rául Cantizano & Los Voluble
Zona Acordonada – Carta flamenca a Sabicas / Letter to Sabicas

Raúl Cantizano is one of today’s most creative flamenco guitarists. Having thorough knowledge of traditional flamenco styles in the fingers, he doesn’t cease to explore the boundaries of flamenco in the spirit of John Cage and Fred Frith. During Flamenco OFF-BEAT he accompanies singer Angeles Toledano, showcases a new project with guitarist/composer Aart Strootman, and presents an excerpt of Zona Acordonada, a concert for prepared guitar, with Los Voluble.

ARTISTS ROUTE 2

Tatiana Koleva – Soleá for Marimba Solo (2015, Florian Magnus Maier)

Bulgarian percussionist Tatiana Koleva gives her interpretation of the ancient and venerable palo of Soleá, “the mother of all flamenco styles”, a preview for a future project with her Youth Percussion Pool.
Florian Magnus Maier: “Soleá for Marimba solo, written for and dedicated to Tatiana Koleva, is inspired by my years as a flamenco guitarist. This solo piece strives to prove that flamenco can be played just as well on a marimba as on the traditional flamencoguitar, since, much like the guitar, the marimba can become a miniature orchestra in the hands of a skilled player.”

Martí Corbera & Ernesto Artillo
Un beso blanco – work in progress

Ernesto Artillo calls himself an undisciplinary artist. In works on religion, the body, folklore, and traditions, he explores identity through countless genres. He recently created the installation performance Tablao with flamenco artists Rocío Molina, Andrés Marín, Niño de Elche, and Yerai Cortés/Raúl Cantizano. For Flamenco OFF-BEAT, he designs two performance routes taking you along an impressive line-up of artists, including Martí Corbera, with whom Artillo made the performance Un beso blanco, about a fallen pigeon who makes a living dancing in the street.

Aart Strootman & Raúl Cantizano – Maelstrom

Two guitarists/composers who dare to colour outside the lines, Strootman and Cantizano meet for the first time to create a new project commissioned by the Flamenco Biennale Nederland. Maelstrom (Whirlpool) not surprisingly takes its name from David Toop’s book ‘Into the Maelstrom Music, Improvisation and the Dream of Freedom’. Strings and tubular bells – made by Strootman himself – improvise with flamenco guitar during Flamenco OFF-BEAT. World premiere.

Luz Arcas – Mariana
Special guest Tomás de Perrate

Luz Arcas, winner of the Spanish National Dance Award 2024, has been creating performances with her company La Pharmaco since 2009, and performing on stages worldwide. Arcas (b. 1983, Malaga) approaches flamenco as a contemporary dancer and draws inspiration from southern Spanish folklore and traditions. In Mariana, a sweeping solo staging the female body as beast of burden, she is accompanied by master singer Perrate. ‘As we speak of the deep song (cante jondo) in flamenco, there is also a deep body in dance that radiates energy, life and death.’

Los Voluble – Flamenco is not a Crime

Los Voluble consists of brothers Benito and Pedro Jiménez. In their VJ acts, they throw flamenco samples, electronic music, and flamenco video footage in the mix. There’s no escape from these flamenco activists’ critical but ever-playful view of political and social history and events. During OFF-BEAT, they accompany guitarist Raúl Cantizano in an excerpt from Zona Acordonada, and play their own show ‘Flamenco is not a crime’, inspired by the ‘free party is not a crime’ movement. Flamenco heterodoxy as live cinema, come join this rave!