This is how it was...El Águila Suena 2021. Swing, jazz and cabaret in Madrid in the 30s

Let's enter the time machine to go back to the Madrid of a hundred years ago. Imagine, in the first decades of the XNUMXth century, the bars, cafes and social gathering places where, perhaps around an El Águila beer and other drinks, music played for the amusement and enjoyment of the locals. And it is that, although for centuries the word cabaret was synonymous with tavern, at the end of the XNUMXth century the expression artistic cabaret it already implied an offer of cultural leisure in France, its original cradle. But, that spicy mix of varied entertainment, musical numbers, dance, and theatrical skits with satirical and political content, how did it land and live in our country? How did the repertoires imported from France, Germany and the US coexist with our popular entertainment, essentially scenic, of the variety theater, the magazine, the operetta, the café-concert, the zarzuela or the cuplé? The show Mom, I Wanna Make Rhythm he discovered for us how foreign hits were adapted into Spanish, sometimes with totally changed lyrics to mislead the censors. To such an extent that today a smile or even a laugh is inevitable, when learning the local versions of those foreign melodies: a good example of this is the classic of the dixieland qualified Yes, Sir, That's My Baby !, Castilianized in Mama buy me some boots. Together with her Hot Band, Pía Tedesco showed us the findings of these "dissident music" after more than a decade of work on musical archeology on the popular song of the XNUMXth century, thanks to which she has recovered, for example, the image of Rina Celi , the first Spanish swing singer.

Artist born in Argentina and living in Spain since 2001, Pía Tedesco is currently recognized as one of the stars of the cabaret in Spain. Surrounded by an artistic team made up of first-rate musicians, regular from the best stages in Spain and the world, her shows combine an aesthetics and a rabidly contemporary concept with elements of the most classic and rogue cabaret from the early twentieth century. According to the newspaper El Mundo, «Pía Tedesco plays to seduce, interacts with the public, confesses and draws confessions. All this, with the cabaret as the common thread of a story that makes people laugh and cry, full of irony and magic. That of music that transcends time and space to be today and here something as real as in Berlin or Paris between the wars. Pía has also been the promoter of such unique projects as The floating cabaret, created together with Raúl Márquez, a jam session aquatic that has had several annual editions in the Casa de Campo lake in Madrid.

Pia Tedesco, voice and ukulele
Nestor Ballesteros, Piano and musical direction
Joshua Diaz, clarinet
Alexander Ollero, double bass
Gonzalo Master, drums

More information on the official website of Pía Tedesco

Voice Against is a proposal by jazz intimate and unique of Marina Lledó, Hispanic-Brazilian singer and songwriter, and Reinier Elizarde, El Negrón, renowned Cuban double bass player. From the apparent nakedness of the single voice accompanied by the double bass, the fusion of latin jazz, world music, jazz Contemporary and the musicians' own personal roots make this rare and beautiful combination difficult to label and easy to enjoy. A true journey between land and air, in which both give free rein to the imagination and show the love and work that this project carries with it.

Marina Lledo, voices
Reinier Elizarde, The Negrón, double bass

Further information:
Marina Lledó (facebook)
Reinier Elizarde, El Negron (facebook)

During the show Swing for Kids it is very, very difficult to keep your feet still! In the voices of the British singers Tara Lowe and John O'Brien and produced by Noa Lur, this concert adopts the playful and pedagogical formula of jazz for kids, which has achieved enormous public success. Conceived for family audiences, this show full of fun and creativity recreates a wide repertoire that ranges from the classics of the history of the swing to the latest hits from Disney and Pixar, in a comedic and creative show that will appeal to young and old. Swing for Kids It is an experience designed especially for the little ones. Always with a comical tone that makes it easier to capture the attention of children, the show integrates explanations about instruments, melodic, harmonic and rhythmic aspects, as well as their musical history. An entertaining and fun way for children to acquire tools to access and enjoy the benefits of a live concert, through a repertoire made to measure.

An expert in the classical sound of the first decades of the XNUMXth century, the Welsh singer Tara lowe is considered by the international press as an artist at the head of the best discography of swing of 2020. According to Syncopated Times, "that fantastic voice that seems to be taken from an album from the 20s" and as The Jazz Room comments, Tara is the protagonist of Swing for Kids, "Where he dazzles with his voice, his dance and his vibrant energy."

Multifaceted actor, dancer, singer and showman, John o'brien he is a coveted showman whose talent is well known on BBC and RTVE television programs. A true connoisseur of the golden age of swing, John also displays his own creativity as a driver of his own shows, Swinging y jazzin. The show Swing for Kids is a unique opportunity to enjoy a dazzling John in all his talents as a singer, actor and dancer of tap dance or tap dance.

Tara lowe y John o'brien, voices
Tony pereyra, guitar, arrangements and musical direction
Jorge Castaneda, piano and keyboards
Ricardo Alonso, bass and double bass
David Fernández, drums
Mauricio Gómez, tenor sax
Juan Moreno, trumpet
Jorge Moreno, trombone

More information on their facebook page

Despite having been living for and for music for twenty-three years, Morochos' project emerged in the spring of 2020 during the confinement of COVID-19. Since then they have been acclaimed on social networks as "the twins makers of good vibes", thanks to an irresistible mix of flamenco and reggae that captivates with its fresh, beachy style and enjoyment of the little moments. His first album will be released in June 2021.

Ignacio García, voice, guitar and percussion
Juan García, voice, guitar and percussion
Michael Sempere, guitar
Carlos Good, low

See her Youtube channel e Instagram

What did the orchestras that revitalized and accompanied Madrid society play in the 1920s and 1930s? In the show Forbidden melodies, Swing Machine Orchestra pays tribute to those musical groups that secretly performed imported American hits, in a context of very fertile musical and cultural growth, although little known today. Despite the fact that the dictatorship explicitly prohibited the jazz, swing and any other "foreign word noise", these styles were cleverly adapted to Castilian to avoid censorship and to be able to be shown here. Swing Machine Orchestra will immerse us in that unique historical moment, making sound those disguised mixtures of foreign music disguised as “fandango-swing”, “fox-trot pasodoble”, “bolero-jazz” and other musical genius that otherwise would not have been seen light, with the aim of captivating the public and convincing them of the new era of jazz. Behind its irresistible rhythms and overflowing energy, Swing Machine Orchestra hides a work of recovering the practically forgotten musical heritage, which it enriches through its own arrangements for strings –since almost no original arrangements of the time are preserved–, with the aim of to keep this repertoire alive in the memory and reflect the musical and social reality of the moment.

Swing Machine Orchestra is the first string orchestra dedicated to this genre. A unique, genuine and crazy proposal with twelve musicians and dancers from different origins, Cuba, Honduras, Argentina and Spain, to dance to the frenetic rhythm of the 30s. According to Mundo Clásico, it is about «A very original proposal, a happy idea and a happy realization: these young people have studied their instruments profitably, and it is clear that they enjoy playing this music; in addition, they know how to communicate with each other and with the respectable. So, if not for Covidian prohibitions, it would have become a dance hall, because in faith it was torture to keep your butt bolted to the seat and not be able to move your legs beyond the locality.

Violins: Raul Marquez, Ernesto Galvan, Cecilia Begueria, Aldo Aguirre, Silvia Carvajal y Violet Ten
Violas: Lourdes rosales y Milena Milyutenko
Cellos: Jose Ines Guerrero y Blanca Garcia Nieto
Double bass: Gerardo Ramos
Percussion: Cesar Frías
Dance: Annalisa Mattioli
Voice: Arturo Zaldivar
Sound: Hector Tellini

More information on its official website

Songwriter of Cadiz origin, Paula Bilá offers a unique sound from the fusion of styles such as folk and soul. At the age of eighteen he laid his first musical roots in Ireland, recording his first album in Dublin, Love & Hate, work produced by Bill Shanley (Ray Davies) and where musicians like Liam Bradley (Van Morrison) or Binzer Brenan (The Frames) collaborate. After his participation in the Canadian Music Week Festival in Toronto, Canada, he returns to Madrid to present his latest single, Let me see.

Paula Bila, voice

More information on their page Facebook