The 6th Annual Bay Area Flamenco Festival presents Festival Flamenco Gitano on October 22-30 featuring performances by guitarist Diego del Morao, singer Diego el Cigala and dancer Jose Maya in various venues in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Santa Cruz.

The 6th Annual Bay Area Flamenco Festival will feature performances by visiting artists from Spain including guitarist Diego del Morao (on October 22nd at the Brava Theater in San Francisco), singer Diego El Cigala (on October 23rd at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley), and dancer Jose Maya & Company (on October 29th at Crocker Theater Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz and on October 30th at Cowell Theater Fort Mason in San Francisco). Visiting artists will also offer workshops and master classes.

The Bay Area Flamenco Festival is presented by The Bay Area Flamenco Partnership, founded in 2004 by Artistic Director Nina Menéndez. The BAFP presents world-class artists from Spain and facilitates cultural exchange opportunities and workshops with visiting artists from Spain as well as providing a forum for the rich pool of outstanding local flamenco artists.

The 2011 Festival has been made possible in part by a grant from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts in partnership with the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the James Irvine Foundation. Community partners include Amoeba Records, KPFA, Univision, and La Peña Cultural Center.

Festival Opening Night: Diego del Morao

On Saturday, October 22nd at 8pm at Brava Theater in San Francisco.

Born into one of the most important dynasties of the flamenco guitar, Diego del Morao is the grand-nephew of Manuel Morao and son of Moraíto, guitarists who developed the signature sound of traditional Jerez-style flamenco guitar accompaniment. He is one of the most sought-after guitarists on today's scene, recording and touring constantly with flamenco's most well-known artists such as Diego el Cigala, Niña Pastori, and La Macanita and many more. Guitarists around the world track down every bit of his music and learn his original material, emulating his technique. Even Paco de Lucía made a cameo appearance on his recent solo release Orate (2010 Cigala Music).

In his first Bay Area appearance, Diego del Morao plays a tribute concert to his father Manuel Moreno Junquera, the legendary Moraíto, one of flamenco’s most significanrt guitarists. Aficionados everywhere were shocked by Moraíto’s tragic death in August 2011 at only 54 years of age. Concert will feature a fin de fiesta with special guest artists including the fascinating singer Kina Mendez, niece of the legendary La Paquera de Jerez.

Featured Event: Diego El Cigala

On Sunday, October 23 at 7pm at Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus.

The Bay Area is thrilled with the news of Diego el Cigala's much anticipated debut here this Fall. Noted as a pioneer for his unique approach to Latin American music forms such as the bolero, tango and Afro-Caribbean jazz, Cigala has deep roots in the culture of Spanish Gypsy flamenco. As explained by Josh Kun in the New York Times, Cigala is able to "enter flamenco into conversations with other traditions without ever sacrificing its distinctive identity." He won his first Latin Grammy for Bebo & Cigala: Lagrimas Negras, hailed by critic Ben Ratliff of The New York Times as Album of the Year and "one of the great new cross-pollinating documents of Latin music." And then he went on to win another for a more flamenco-oriented CD Picasso en Mis Ojos, which featured guests such as the legendary Paco de Lucia and Latin jazz master Jerry Gonzalez. Returning to the bolero, his 2008 project Dos Lagrimas united him with giants of Cuban percussion Tata Guines and Changuito and established his ongoing collaboration with the musicians who will be appearing with him at Zellerbach: guitarist Diego del Morao, pianist Jaime Calabuch Jumitus, percussionist Sabú Porrina and Cuban bassist Yelsy Heredia.

Just nominated for yet another Latin Grammy, his latest album Cigala & Tango marries "Spanish flamenco with the equally gritty and powerful South American tango" (The Observer, UK). "It works effortlessly," says Felix Contreras of NPR who describes it this way: "it's a cross-genre type thing. It's as if John Legend made a blue grass album and killed."

Festival Closing Weekend: Jose Maya, Flamenco Gitano de Madrid

On Saturday, October 29th at 8pm at the Crocker Theater, Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz.

On Sunday, October 30th at 7pm at the Cowell Theater Fort Mason in San Francisco.

Jose Maya, also known as "Joselito Romero," one of the most explosive dancers in Spain today, is a powerful figure in flamenco's new generation. He comes from a family of Gypsy intellectuals in Madrid —artists, actors and writers, including painter Antonio Maya and dancer Fernanda Romero who helped introduce flamenco dance to US audiences in the early 1960s. Jose Maya has collaborated with many of the most well-known flamenco artists including Farruquito, El Güito, Manolete, Estrella Morente, Gerardo Núñez and Diego El Cigala, and has opened for pop stars Marc Anthony, Beyoncé and Björk. He was featured as the main dancer in Gypsy filmmaker Tony Gatlif's recent performance project Vertigo, which toured throughout Europe. As a member of Grammy-winning guitarist Tomatito's sextet he thrilled US audiences in an East Coast tour in 2008. Maya now returns to the US with his own company, hot off a busy year of performances including the prestigious 2010 Bienal del Arte Flamenco de Sevilla, International Flamenco Festivals in Brazil and Albuquerque, New Mexico and the 2011 Flamenco Festival de Jerez.

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