Living in the epicentre of the known universe as I do, that is to say the Alameda, it´s difficult to visit every establishment on the block, and one place that I´ve failed to give the once over has been El Baron Rampante on a Sunday night. I´ve passed by numerous times with the intention of going in, but despite the inviting sounds of Flamenco emanating from within, it´s always been packed to the rafters, and I´ve walked on by.
But now the Baron´s Flamenco Sundays has moved down the road to Luxuria, the new incarnation of the much lamented and sadly missed Sala Malandar, and I thought I´d give it a whirl. I have to state I am not a Flamenco aficionado. It is an impossible dream for me to ever reach the dizzy heights of doing ´palmas´ to anything resembling the correct beat (that´s clapping to you and me). But with Anima out of action for pretty much the month of January, I was looking for somewhere to scratch my ´live music on Sunday evenings itch´.
And the whole experience was surprisingly good. Malandar was normally a late night venue (I have quite regularly stumbled out at 6am, having lost my coat after a few too many Ballentines and Coca-Colas). So arriving at 7pm felt a little strange, but the place soon filled up with an interesting crowd. Luxuria during nightclub hours, is the new gay club in town, but on Sunday evenings it caters for all sexual proclivities. In fact, it was the perfect polysexual mix for my ‘ambiente’ loving tastes.
The music was also astonishingly good. Playing were a Flamenco fusion group, I say fusion because with the little knowledge that I have, I know that if there are drums, a saxophone and a flute involved, it isn’t Flamenco for the purists. The two girls singing, were cool, the ubiquitous black shirts and trousers were replaced by harem pants style jeans and denim shirts. The music, was flamenco inspired, but with a bit of jazz, soul and shed loads of attitude. Towards the end a tiny woman took to the stage and who literally blew me away with a voice and passion that shook me to my core. Her name, I managed to glean from a stranger on the street was La Carbonera, and everyone apart from me seemed to know and love her, and rightly so. That woman can sing.
So if you find yourself on a cold January night, wanting to listen to quality live music that has a modern Flamenco twist, then the Rampant Baron is your man.
El Baron Rampante Flamenco los Domingos, from 7pm, Luxuria, Avenida Torneo 43, Sevilla
- Uniquely Seville - El Rincón del Buho - 25th January 2016
- When you need a bit of countyside in the city - 22nd January 2016
- Chi Kung - Get some balance in your life - 21st January 2016
