Daniel Martinez Flamenco Company - Andalucia Usher Hall Edinburgh 5th February 2023 Review
Daniel Martinez Flamenco Company – Andalucia at the Usher Hall Edinburgh this evening was, as you might have guessed from the title of the show, a tribute to the many different sounds and colours of Flamenco music of the region and its people and their rich history. Bringing all of this to life in music was composer and flamenco guitarist Daniel Martinez who somehow wove together the many different songs, dance and flamenco styles of Granada, Huelva, Malaga, Almeria, Jaen, Sevilla, Cadiz and the city of his birth, Cordoba, into one show this evening.
I have been following the musical journey of Daniel Martinez ever since I saw him perform and receive the Herald Angel Award at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2019 for his show “Art of Believing”. Since then, Daniel Martinez and his music have travelled a long way and it was a pleasure to see that this new show, Andalucia, was a sell out at the Usher Hall (capacity 2,200 seated). It was also a pleasure to watch this evening how Daniel Martinez has expanded his abilities as a composer to also write the music for the 13 piece chamber orchestra that accompanied him onstage for much of tonight’s music.
There will no doubt be some Flamenco purists reading this review who prefer their music to be played in small traditional bars, and if you want that intimate setting then Daniel Martinez is equally at home there too, but this show was all about his dream, his passion to expand his music and present tonight’s homage to Andalucia and Flamenco music on a large stage to a larger audience. For some reason, watching Flamenco music and a chamber orchestra flow in and around each other musically on stage, I was often reminded of an old interview that I watched some time ago with Spanish classical guitar virtuoso Andrés Segovia Torres who said that with his guitar he had a whole orchestra at his disposal. He then went on to illustrate how every string of the guitar could, in the right hands, be made to sound like a different instrument. Daniel Martinez obviously understood that principle in his composition and guitar performance tonight. Obviously a fixed musical score for an orchestra on stage with him did mean that for some songs Daniel had to stay strictly within that music as written, and this is a little different from the improvisational style that Flamenco, is when the need requires, famous for.
Daniel Martinez always prefers to let his music speak for him, and watching his technical skills on guitar is always a little bit of magic to me. Superb technical skills are only a part of the equation though and to bring the music of Flamenco to life you need a passion and a love not only for the music, but for the people and the regions that the music comes from. It is from the Flamenco inside your heart, inside your soul, that the music truly becomes alive, and with Daniel Martinez, his music is simply an extension of his own passions and feelings.
When Daniel Martinez does decide to speak, it is usually with a few words, but they often too speak of his love of Flamenco, and he never forgets that Flamenco at its heart is the music of the people. Flamenco is a fusion of many different regions and cultures, and its songs and rhythms are the background to many people’s lives as they go about their daily work and lives.
Flamenco music is of course also about songs and dance, and singers Inma Montero (also choreographer) and Danielo Olivera were both vocally impressive with their interpretations of Daniel’s music this evening. Perhaps the most visual part of Andalucia though is dancer Gabriela Pouso who brought many different styles of Flamenco dance to stage tonight with expressive and emotive body language.
There is currently a CD of Andalucia being recorded in Madrid and it will be released very soon. For further information on this and more updates on Daniel Martinez Flamenco Company visit www.danielmartinezflamenco.com
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
I have been following the musical journey of Daniel Martinez ever since I saw him perform and receive the Herald Angel Award at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2019 for his show “Art of Believing”. Since then, Daniel Martinez and his music have travelled a long way and it was a pleasure to see that this new show, Andalucia, was a sell out at the Usher Hall (capacity 2,200 seated). It was also a pleasure to watch this evening how Daniel Martinez has expanded his abilities as a composer to also write the music for the 13 piece chamber orchestra that accompanied him onstage for much of tonight’s music.
There will no doubt be some Flamenco purists reading this review who prefer their music to be played in small traditional bars, and if you want that intimate setting then Daniel Martinez is equally at home there too, but this show was all about his dream, his passion to expand his music and present tonight’s homage to Andalucia and Flamenco music on a large stage to a larger audience. For some reason, watching Flamenco music and a chamber orchestra flow in and around each other musically on stage, I was often reminded of an old interview that I watched some time ago with Spanish classical guitar virtuoso Andrés Segovia Torres who said that with his guitar he had a whole orchestra at his disposal. He then went on to illustrate how every string of the guitar could, in the right hands, be made to sound like a different instrument. Daniel Martinez obviously understood that principle in his composition and guitar performance tonight. Obviously a fixed musical score for an orchestra on stage with him did mean that for some songs Daniel had to stay strictly within that music as written, and this is a little different from the improvisational style that Flamenco, is when the need requires, famous for.
Daniel Martinez always prefers to let his music speak for him, and watching his technical skills on guitar is always a little bit of magic to me. Superb technical skills are only a part of the equation though and to bring the music of Flamenco to life you need a passion and a love not only for the music, but for the people and the regions that the music comes from. It is from the Flamenco inside your heart, inside your soul, that the music truly becomes alive, and with Daniel Martinez, his music is simply an extension of his own passions and feelings.
When Daniel Martinez does decide to speak, it is usually with a few words, but they often too speak of his love of Flamenco, and he never forgets that Flamenco at its heart is the music of the people. Flamenco is a fusion of many different regions and cultures, and its songs and rhythms are the background to many people’s lives as they go about their daily work and lives.
Flamenco music is of course also about songs and dance, and singers Inma Montero (also choreographer) and Danielo Olivera were both vocally impressive with their interpretations of Daniel’s music this evening. Perhaps the most visual part of Andalucia though is dancer Gabriela Pouso who brought many different styles of Flamenco dance to stage tonight with expressive and emotive body language.
There is currently a CD of Andalucia being recorded in Madrid and it will be released very soon. For further information on this and more updates on Daniel Martinez Flamenco Company visit www.danielmartinezflamenco.com
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com