News from Cordoba: Day 1 of the 30th Edition of the Cordoba Guitar Festival

Cordoba Guitar Festival - La Mesquita de Cordoba

Hola Paul y estimados amigos!I arrived in Cordoba yesterday with my friend and former student Hugo Aguayo (UCLA Graduate Student in Music Performance) and found the streets typically alive with energy, but even more so in anticipation of the 30th anniversary of the Cordoba Guitar Festival.The big surprise of the day was to learn that El Pele is the invited guest "canator" by The Paco Pena Flamenco Company to present "Missa Flamenca" in La Mesquita de Cordoba (The Mosque of Cordoba). The event is invitation only.... I am honored to be in attendance with the very nerve center of the flamenco world, many of whom will also be in attendance. Hugo and I are extremely grateful for the invitations.An exciting new feature in this year's edition of the Festival is a series of concerts at the Sala Orive called "Passaporte Flamenco" that is billed in the following way: (in English translation)"It is said today that Flamenco is a universal music, opening spaces for listening to the foreign flamenco guitarists in the same mode that it is made in the Classical guitar world, with jazz and rock, without prejudice and with respect. In this context, The Cordoba Guitar Festival breaks barriers and assumes the challenge of inserting, for the first time, a cycle of concerts of four flamencos born outside of Spain in order to give and to know how they feel flamenco, how they understand flamenco, and how they do flamenco" (from the official brochure of The 30th Edition of the Cordoba Guitar Festival)The artists in this series are Flavio Rodrigues (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Amir-John Haddad (Germany) Carlos Ledermann (Santiago, Chile) Raul Mannola (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and the Final Concert that includes foreign and Spanish flamencos and classical guitarists, "Concierto de Alumnos" in which I will be performing, being a recipient of "La Beca del Festival de la Guitarra Cordoba" chosen by Manolo Sanlucar and sponsored by the Junta de Anadlusia's Agencia Andalusia por Desarollo del Flamenco"I will send you an update each day.Stay tuned.... pun intended! Un cordial saludo, Corey Whitehead