Free live music and dance in Las Palmas, January 2020

This month, I attended several events of Festival ...en paralelo. But en paralelo to what? To the 36^th International Music Festival of the Canary Islands (FIMC). All performances en paralelo were free of charge, featured Canarian artists and took place on more than one island. I, naturally, went to those in Las Palmas.

• 16 January: Sinakt/Teresa Lorenzo/Paloma Hurtado @ Plaza Jardines del Atlántico, Las Canteras, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  Included Ephímera by Paloma Hurtado (modern dance), Pájaro by Teresa Lorenzo (modern dance) and Fly on Fire by Sinakt (aerial acts and fire twirling).
• 19 January: Coro Ainur and Ensemble OSLP - Réquiem de Fauré @ Iglesia San Francisco de Asís
  Timur and I went to see the Chamber Choir Ainur and a group of musicians from Orquesta Sinfónica de Las Palmas performing in the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. My, it turned out to be unexpectedly crowded. The concert started straight after Mass and I guess some Mass-goers just stayed there. The programme included
  • Francisco Guerrero: Trahe me post te
  • Melchor López: Ave Regina caelorum
  • Franz Biebl: Ave María
  • César Alejandro Carrillo: Salve Regina
  • Urmas Sisask: Seisab valurikas Ema
  • Anon., arr. S. Class: Maria durch ein Dornwald ging
  • Philip Stopford: Ave Regina caelorum
  • Gabriel Fauré: Réquiem, Op. 48 (1893 version)
• 20 January: Cuarteto Ornati @ Conservatorio Superior de Música de Canarias, calle Maninidra, 1
  On occasion of the 250^th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth, Cuarteto Ornati prepared the programme of string quartets that was performed on all seven eight Canary islands — although with island-specific differences. Featuring Sergio Marrero (violin), Adrián Marrero (violin), Adriana Ilieva (viola) and Carlos Rivero (cello), all musicians of Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria.
  • Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4
  • Fragments of quartets of the “intermediate period”: Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 and Quartet No. 10 in E♭ major, Op. 74 (the full versions of these two quartets were played on other islands
  • Quartet No. 13 in B♭ major, Op. 130
  • And Polka by Shostakovich (from The Golden Age) for an encore!

And the other stuff this month was not bad either.

• 23 January: Bandolero @ Teatro Guiniguada, Plaza F. Mesa de León
  The 2020 season of Mousikê La Laguna was opened by José Manuel Ruiz Motos aka “Bandolero” with a masterclass of flamenco percussion, with a nice little jam of “masterstudents” (guitar, flute, cajón, vocal...) in the end.

• 24 January: Supernatural @ The Paper Club, Calle Remedios, 10
  What a night! Our Canarian Santana tribute band with, unfortunately, not-so-original name played hits such as Black Magic Woman, Oye como va, She’s Not There, Africa Bamba, Maria Maria, Una Noche en Nápoles, you name it — and encore of Corazón Espinado/Guajira!

• 25 January: Benito Cabrera @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos, Parque Doramas
  Musicando is back! Benito Cabrera presented his new programme Canarias: vino al mundo, with participation of the dancer, choreorgapher and body percussionist Jep Meléndez and singer Jose Manuel Ramos.

  

Looking forward to more music in February.