In the spring of 2024 it was felt on the Planet Flamenco from Madrid, where justice was finally done by scheduling a Guitar Festival in the Capital of Spain that fulfilled the desire of the artists flamencoin general and of guitarists in particular and because the Madrid people's fondness for flamenco sonanta is outstanding.
Both the artistic results and ticket sales exceeded all expectations.
Each year we will dedicate the Festival to a fundamental guitar master, his work and his artistic mark. From April 22 to 27, 2025, we will celebrate three parallel days with a round table, two presentations and three guitar concerts in the Sala Negra, and four galas around flamenco guitar in the Sala Verde of the Teatros del Canal. If in 2024 we dedicate the Festival to the Madrid master Ramón Montoya, in 2025 the image and the reference of this second edition will be the Navarrese master “Sabicas”.
In 2025, it will be thirty-five years since the death of one of the greatest exponents of flamenco guitar in the XNUMXth century: Agustín Castellón Campos, known by fans as You know.
You know He lived in New York from the 50s onwards, and from there he spread his art internationally. That is why we wanted to dedicate the second edition of the Guitar Festival of the Community of Madrid to him.
There is no doubt that today's guitarists have a mirror and inspiration in this master of guitar discipline. His example of rigor and absolute dedication, accessible in the records he left us, surely looms over the artists that the Festival has called this year, after its successful first edition.
This confirms our commitment to this flamenco discipline, an art that our region has also made its own, as confirmed by the fact that the Community of Madrid declared the flamenco last year it was declared a Site of Cultural Interest in its Intangible Heritage category.
Madrid calls the flamencofrom all over Spain because their own schools and traditions have taken root in their territory, such as the Caño Roto sound in Carabanchel, to which the Festival will dedicate one of its highlights this year.
There is a coexistence in the region between the legacy that represents You know and the new generations, which the Festival wants to treasure in order to establish the most accurate cartography of the current guitar.
The carefully planned programme of this event is dominated by the four galas around flamenco guitar that will be held at the Teatros del Canal, the epicentre of the festival. Guitarists from three generations will come together, from the veteran Paco Jarana, born in Seville in 1966, to the youngest David de Arahal, a twenty-something who has already made a name for himself among the most sought-after guitarists of the present.
In the middle are two figures born in the eighties and who arrive at the height of their art, Dani de Morón and Manuel Valencia. And together with them, at the same level of rigor and excellence that the Festival pursues, a representation of dance and cante most relevant of the flamenco Today.
It is enough to mention the names of Eva Yerbabuena, La Tremendita, Esperanza Fernández or Manuel Liñán to understand the dimension and artistic talent that will be concentrated in Madrid from April 22 to 27, 2025.
Who was Sabicas?
You know is the stage name of Agustín Castellón Campos. He was born in Pamplona in 1912 and left us in New York in 1990. He learned to play alone and made his debut at the age of seven in his homeland. At the age of ten he moved to Madrid, performing at the Teatro El Dorado as a concert artist and accompanying the famous singer The Chelito, achieving great success. He went on to participate in the festivities at the Colmao Villa Rosa, located in Madrid's Plaza de Santa Ana, causing the astonishment and admiration not only of the good fans, but also of the artists, among them the then most prestigious guitarist Ramón Montoya.
Between 1920 and 1930 he took part in various shows, touring Spain, accompanying Estrellita Castro, Niña de La Puebla, Niña de los Peines, El Cojo de Málaga, Pepe Pinto and other figures of the moment. In 1934, at the Maestranza Bullring in Seville, the public made him walk around the ring after his recital.
In 1936 he moved to America with Carmen amaya, making his debut in Buenos Aires and continuing throughout the American continent on successive tours until 1950. From that year until 1955, he remained in Mexico giving concerts and performing regularly at the El Patio nightclub. From 1956 he settled in New York and from there he programmed his recitals throughout the world, achieving great fame and notoriety.
The remembered teacher Juan Carmona «Bean» He told us one day that when he acted in the New York World's Fair In 1964, together with Fosforito, Fernanda de Utrera and Manuela Vargas, he bought the album Flamenco pure de You know and when guitarists in Spain heard this new sound, it changed the concept of playing and Sabicas' influence in the world of flamenco guitar grew.
