Free live music in Las Palmas, June 2021

Every June, our city celebrates the anniversary of its foundation in 1478. The programme of Fiestas fundacionales this year was very impressive and we were lucky to attend many cultural events. Unfortunately, there were no fireworks in Las Canteras on San Juan Night; that’ll have to wait till 2022.

• 5 June: Rocío Pozo Compañía Flamenca: «#Lorca. Federico García» @ Plaza de Santa Ana, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  Spectacular dance, excellent guitarist, quite satisfactory singing and incredibly annoying MC — I wish she stayed home and let the dancers and musicians do their thing.

• 12 June: Las Migas @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos, Parque Doramas
  The last concert of Musicando this spring season — and it couldn’t have been better! Alicia Grillo (guitar), Carolina Fernández ‘La Chispa’ (lead vocals, dance), Roser Loscos (violin) and Marta Robles (guitar), with Oriol Riart (double bass) and a surprise guest appearance of “our own” Hirahi Afonso (timple).

• 17 June: Rycardo Moreno @ Teatro Guiniguada, Plaza F. Mesa de León
  The last Mousikê masterclass till Autumn. It’s been ages since I held a guitar in my hands so maybe not immediately useful but I found Rycardo’s classification of guitar chords according to emotion (e.g. “feliz como un niño” or “triste, pero no tan terrible”) rather poetic.

• 17 June: Miriam Fleitas & D’Local Groove @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos
  The funky side of La Local Jazz Band: Miriam Fleitas (vocals) with Miqui Delgado (piano), Samantha de León (electric bass), Luis Merino (guitar), Ernesto Montenegro (trumpet), Miguel Ramírez (sax) and Suso Vega (drums).

• 19 June: Freedonia @ Parque Santa Catalina
  The line-up has changed dramatically since I saw them last time — three years ago already! Still, it was a pleasure to see Freedonia (a)live and kicking with Deborah Ayo (vocals), Israel Checa (drums), Álvaro Galera (guitar), Toni García (trumpet), Jorge Moreno (trombone), Dani Niño (tenor sax), Chavi Ontoria (keyboards), Fran Panadero (bass) and David Pérez (baritone sax).

  

• 20 June: Djazia Satour @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos
  Fantastic show of Djazia Satour (vocals, guitar) with Benoit Richou (guitar, vocals), Rémi D’Aversa (drums, keyboards, vocals) and Quentin Langlois Andréoulis (banjo, violin, percussion).

• 22 June: The Bootleg Beatles @ Parque Santa Catalina
  What an evening! Two hours of unadulterated Beatles fun, from It Won’t Be Long to Let It Be, courtesy of the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band consisting of, naturally, John (Tyson Kelly), Paul (Steve White), George (Stephen Hill) and Ringo (Gordon Elsmore), plus Mr. Tambourine-and-keyboard Man (Max Langley).

• 24 June: Sofiel del Pino and Pablo Milanés @ Parque Santa Catalina
  Pablo Milanés is kind of an institution in the Hispanic world; I was not about to miss his performance in Las Palmas. Accompanied by Cary Rosa Varona (cello) and Miguelito Núñez (piano) and only occasionally playing guitar, he revisited his vast repertoire, including Años, Días de Gloria and Yolanda. The supporting act, featuring Sofiel del Pino (vocals, guitar), Totó Noriega (percussion, vocals) and Yuniel Rascón Falcón (guitar, tres), was as great as expected and provided me with a glimpse of «Ya nadie toca como Matamoros», the only Musicando show that I couldn’t attend in April.

  

• 26 June: Sergio Alonso Quintet: «Tributo a Dave Brubeck» @ Edificio Miller, Parque Santa Catalina
  Sergio A. Alonso (piano), Neftalí Robaina (sax), Javier Montero (drums), Carlos Meneses (double bass) and Santiago “Chago” Miranda (guitar). The programme included such Brubeck classics as Blue Rondo à la Turk, Bluette, Bossa Nova U.S.A., In Your Own Sweet Way, It’s a Raggy Waltz, Kathy’s Waltz, Unsquare Dance and, of course, Paul Desmond’s Take Five.

  

Starting 26^th June, the face mask is not obligatory outdoors any longer, provided the safety distance, etc. etc. Looking forward to open-air concerts next month!