José Luis Balao headlined the Con Nombre Propio: Vivencias cycle on the eighth of the Jerez Festival. At 71 years old, he is one of the great maestros of the guitar. He has taught for over 30 years in Jerez, his hometown, and his students include such exceptional guitarists as Javier Patino, Alfredo Lagos, Santiago Lara, Juan Diego, Pascual de Lorca and Bolita.

The eighth day also marked the end of the choreography workshop taught by Javier Latorre. Latorre has taught countless dance classes in other editions of the festival, and it was his idea to recover in some way the choreography competition aspect that existed during the Jerez Festival’s origins.

On the seventh day of the festival, the Mexican Dancer Karen Lugo and the dancer from Jerez Saray García graced the stage of Jerez’s Sala Compañía as part of the Los Novismos cycle. Lugo began studying flamenco in her home country and later perfected her craft in Madrid with the teachers at the famed Amor de Dios academy. García began dancing at seven years of age and studied at the Academia de Ana María López. Both dancers offered festival goers two solo numbers each. Of the two, Lugo’s elegance and style was most impressive, although García had such powerful footwork that it is worthy of mention.

On the stage of the Villamarta Theatre, the legendary dancer from Seville Antonio Canales and the Japanese pianist Mie Matsumura collaborated in the presentation of “Serenata Andaluza” (Andalusian Serenade) with a musical score by Falla, Albéniz and Granados. The show wasn’t an exercise in flamenco fusion, but rather “a true and respectful meeting of the flamenco world – dance, song and guitar – with the music composed by these geniuses of Spanish classical music history.”

Matilde Coral began a new cycle at the Jerez Festival: Con Nombre Propio/Vivencias. This cycle, which is open to the public and free, presents interviews with flamenco legends.

This event is similar to when maestro Juan de la Plata interviewed Matilde Coral at La Compañía on the 50th anniversary of the Cátedra de Flamencología, but this time, the legendary dancer from Seville and the “godmother” of the festival was interviewed by Jesús Vigorra...

The XIV Jerez Festival begins tomorrow, and La Vaca Lola will be covering the event for FlamencoExport. To see the festival program visit the fest’s Web site, and if you can’t swing by Jerez, follow the festival here with us.

In the meantime, enjoy Flamenco.TV’s video coverage of the XIII Jerez Festival. Click on the artist’s name to see the corresponding video:

Eva Yerbabuena & Moraíto

Juan Diego & María José Franco

Aida Gómez & Juan Antonio Suárez “Cano”

Anabel Rosado, Macarena de Jerez & Gerardo Núñez

María Pagés & Rosario Toledo

When Mayte Martin’s concert ended on the second night of the XVIII Caja Madrid Flamenco Festival, the Flamenco Calle de Alcalá 2010 Award was presented to the maestro guitarist Enrique de Melchor, whose concert ended the evening.

The son of Melchor de Marchena brought with him a large group of artists. Among those who shared the stage with Melchor, the most impressive were the excellent flamenco flutist Juan Parrilla and singer Chato de Vélez. I’d seen Juan Parrilla on several other occasions and admired his talent for a long time, but Vélez was a discovery. With a clear and strong voice, he soon won me over, becoming in a single night one of my favorite backing singers...