\u201cFlamenco is very old, and it evolved in some really interesting ways,\u201d said Liza Malamut, Newberry\u2019s artistic director, who curated the offering with Spanish-born percussionist Jes\u00fas Pacheco. \u201cWhat\u2019s really cool is that it has overlap with a wide range of traditions, everything from Roma folk music to what we think of as \u2018traditional\u2019 Spanish polyphony. You hear a lot of the same sounds even when you are listening to a Renaissance chant as you will hear in a flamenco melody.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The unusual program, which will be presented Dec. 5-7 in three locations around the Chicago area, is built around the zambomba tradition in Pacheco\u2019s hometown of Jerez, Spain, one of the birthplaces of the art, where neighbors old and young gather around a fire to sing Christmas \u201cvillancicos\u201d or carols to the rhythms of flamenco.<\/p>\n
\u201cA Flamenco Christmas\u201d continues a series that Newberry began in 2018 as an exploration of centuries-old Mexican Christmas music and later expanded to include examples from other parts of Latin America.<\/p>\n
These Latin-themed concerts have quickly become an annual tradition and have allowed the nationally known early-music group to reach beyond its usual audience base.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s really exciting about it for us, and the reason we\u2019ve kept doing it, is its really strong tie to the Chicago community,\u201d Malamut said, \u201cWe tend to get extremely large and really diverse audiences for this show. People come out who normally don\u2019t even go to early music concerts.\u201d<\/p>\n
After performing on Newberry\u2019s last two sets of yuletide concerts, Pacheco began discussing with Malamut possible ways they could further collaborate, and he proposed a flamenco concert.<\/p>\n
\u201cOriginally, we were not thinking it would be a Christmas program,\u201d Malamut said, \u201cbut the more we talked about it, the more it made sense. There are a lot of traditions in flamenco music that are related to Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n
The concert combines traditional selections played by flamenco ensembles today with music from the 16th to 18th centuries from Spain, Portugal and Latin America. The performers \u2014 15 in all \u2014 are divided into two groups, which will perform independently and together. One, assembled under the auspices of Arte Puro and co-directed by Pacheco and his wife, mezzo-soprano Cecilia Duarte, is a traditional flamenco ensemble or \u201ccuadro flamenco.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pacheco will play percussion on the piece alongside vocalist Celia Corrales, guitarist Misael Barraza-Diaz and Houston-based Ana Mar\u00eda Barcel\u00f3, a Puerto Rican flamenco dancer who has studied extensively in Spain and regularly appears across Texas and the surrounding region.<\/p>\n
Barcel\u00f3 will perform on a traditional raised wooden platform known as \u201ctablao,\u201d which provides the kind of resonance needed for the rhythmic stomping that is an essential part of flamenco dance. \u201cWe are not only dancers, we are also musicians,\u201d Barcel\u00f3 said. \u201cWe do music with our footwork, with our bodies as instruments of percussion.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Flamenco](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/e25a5b0\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/980x1225+0+0\/resize\/840x1050!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fad%2F45%2F0d6f5f4a47998a0219451f530d1c%2Fana-barcelo1.jpg\")
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