Last night my roommate and I decided to checkout the Flamenco in Barcelona. Barcelona is mostly a tourist city and probably has the least spanish culture out of all of Spain, but we figured since we're here, why not?
The place we ended up going to was a Flamenco bar in Plaza Reial, a plaza just off La Rambla, and only cost 10 euro to get in. The other Flamenco places I had looked up going to cost a pretty penny to get in, so Los Tarantos ended up being our spot for the night.
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| Flamenco Stage |
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| Los Tarantos |
Walking down La Rambla on a Saturday was crazy. There were vendors everywhere and people were all dressed up to go to the theater or restaurants along the road. The street was lit up with bright lights and signs advertising the hottest spots to go out for the night, and the people were all awake and ready for the night to begin.
As we turned down our alley that lead us to Plaza Reial, we walked by several pubs and bars that bumping music from back home. I find it amusing that American Pop is the highlight of all the clubs and bars in Spain. The music followed us all the way to our bar, where we waited outside to purchase our tickets. Plaza Reial is filled with restaurants and bars, and people were drinking wine outside the restaurants and hanging around the fountain in the middle.
Once we had our tickets we entered the bar and grabbed two seats in the second row in front of the stage. We were some of the first people there, giving us the advantage of prime seating. Each row had its own mini table for people to place their drinks on, and the chairs were small black folding chairs comfortable enough to host someone for a 30 minute show.
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| The Bar |
Los Tarantos had a calm, relaxing vibe with low lighting and a dimming red hue that lingered over the room. It set off the perfect feel of Flamenco with a red theme prominent through out the bar. We put our stuff down and I went off to the bar to get us drinks before the show. While at the bar, I ran into one of the performers who was hanging with his friends before the show. He had been dancing behind me when the thud of his feet against the floor startled me.
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| Our Table |
We got to talking in Spanish for a few minutes before he switched to english after recognizing my accent. He introduced himself as Louis and bragged about how he loved to dance. His vocal coach was sitting with him, Ferran, and they talked about how they worked together. Louis was very animated during our conversation and had a lot of energy. He would wrap his arm around his friend every time he'd talk about him and do a mini-flamenco every time he talked about performing. It was a light-hearted pre-performance conversation to say the least.
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| Flamenco Dancers |
I left after I got our drinks and sat back down to watch the show. The performers: two guitarists, a drummer, two female flamenco dances, and the singer (Louis) all came on stage and took their position. Louis started off the set with his deep voice that echoed throughout the bar. His singing style was similar to that of the Arabic music, only a little raspier with Spanish flare. The flamenco dancers came on to the stage and started tapping their heels at a pace I had never seen before. Their faces were hard as they concentrated on the music they made with their feet.
The set was incredible and I caught myself saying "Oh my god," a few times. The singing added a dramatic flare to it and I instantly fell in love with the performance. With each dance the dancers moved their feet faster than the last, which I didn't think was possible, and they moved with such grace it was incredible. They wore long red and black dresses with their hair pulled back tightly into buns, and they knotted up the hem of their dress in their fists as they did the Flamenco.
It was a short performance and I could tell it wasn't as renowned as the original Flamenco in Seville, but it was definitely entertaining. It was a great kick off to the Flamenco I'll see this coming weekend when I travel to Seville, home of the Flamenco.
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