Diego ‘el Cigala’ & Diego del Morao & Ramón Valle & Yelsy Heredia
Flamenco & Tango
He has been dubbed ‘the Sinatra of flamenco’: Diego ‘el Cigala’ ’s gravelly voice has captured the souls of people all over the world.
The gypsy singer from the Lavapiés district in Madrid is one of the great interpreters of the classical, profound flamenco song – the cante jondo – subtly forging unrivalled musical worlds of his own.
Cigala – literally: ‘norway lobster’, Ramón Jiménez Salazar’s stage name – recently broke through internationally with his take on traditional Cuban songs on the album Lagrimas Negras, recorded with pianist Bebo Valdés. In the same way, he recently fused Argentine tango and flamenco into a new style on his latest CD Cigala & Tango. In Spanish flamenco circles, this has given rise to the verb ‘acigalar’. In Cigala’s hands, flamenco, tango, Latin jazz, bolero and son meld into a warm musical universe without boundaries, accompanied by the swinging guitar of Diego del Morao, the son of the recently deceased maestro Moraíto Chico. The Dutch-Cuban pianist Ramón Valle and his compatriot Yelsy Heredia add a subtle Cuban touch.
On this opening night of the IVth Flamenco Biennial in Amsterdam, El Cigala and his musicians take us on a journey and will make the Carré stage morph into a square in Buenos Aires, Andalusia or Cuba.
Diego El Cigala Soledad
