Rafael Riqueni — Flamenco Festival New York, 2023

This filmed live concert captures Spanish guitarist Rafael Riqueni at the Flamenco Festival New York, at the Roulette venue in Brooklyn, on 18 March 2023, for an evening presented by Robert Browning Associates. A master of the flamenco guitar and a native of Seville, Riqueni is renowned for playing of great harmonic richness that draws the flamenco tradition close to classical composition. This full concert highlights his touch and his command of colour, notably around his Latin Grammy-nominated album Herencia. On stage, alone with his guitar, he unfolds falsetas of great melodic finesse, between the rhythmic power of the compás and more contemplative passages. The spare capture places the instrument and the gesture at the centre, without distraction. Representative of 2020s live flamenco, this filmed live concert illustrates the learned dimension of an art too often reduced to cliché, and Riqueni’s place among the great voices of the contemporary flamenco guitar. A valuable document for lovers of guitar and concert flamenco.