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Contemporary flamenco had a pending matter. It has been
mixed with rock, pop, jazz... but it was still missing
a serious approach to electronic music. Just as traditional
Hindu music was fed and transformed with samples and
sequencers to give birth to ‘indian underground’,
Artomatico proposes a ‘plugged’ version
of flamenco.
Following several years of laboratory
work, Artomatico has forged a music project which leads
flamenco to the most extreme avant-garde sound, but
without giving up its tradition, its essence. All of
the sound elaboration stems from the genre’s rhythmic
body, from the soleá, seguiriya, tangos, bulerías.
And if even so the essence were questioned, there bridging
the gap between history and the future are the voices
of La Niña de los Peines, Rafael Romero, Juan
Talega... and even the footwork of Carmen Amaya and
other historic sounds treated, transformed, deconstructed...
and jondo. It will appear thus on a soon-to-be-released
album.
And the live show knocks the experiment
up a notch. Artomatico conceives the stage as a setting
where music happens. And that means freedom, improvisation,
a unique experience every time, every concert. The machines
pave the way for dialogue, an open dialogue in strung-together
jam sessions, participated in by the multicultural percussions
of Nacho Arimany, the avant-garde guitar of José
Manuel León and the prodigious contemporary flamenco
dancing of Rafael Estévez and Nani Paños.
And the thing is that Artomatico + Flamenco “is
a space for communication and improvisation based on
the rhythm of flamenco styles”.
The concert has been developed since
it was presented at the 2008 Ciutat Vella Flamenco Festival
in Barcelona, conversing moreover with the innovative
winds of the Bandaèria. It has already appeared
at different forums specializing in new musical trends,
among them, Madrid’s La Casa Encendida, which
opened White Night 2008 with the concert by Artomatico
+ Flamenco (which, recorded by i-tek, is broadcast on
the channel Myspace.tv/artomatico), the series Redes
Flamencas of the Caja Madrid Cultural Space in Barcelona
and the L’Escorxador Contemporary Culture Center
in Elche (Alicante), where Jorge Pardo performed in
the session as guest artist.
+ Group
- Artomatico
electronic music, bases, samples
- Nacho Arimany
percussions
- Rafael Estévez and Nani Paños
baile
Videos
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| Biographies
• ARTOMATICO
Artomatico is the electronic music project of Daniel
Muñoz (Madrid, 1970), musician, producer and
sound technician, graduated in Audiovisual Communication
by the Complutense University of Madrid. After being
in different rock groups, he founded the Spanish-British
group Monotone as its drummer and producer. He has also
participated as a drummer on the records of English
singer Emma McGlynn. At the same time, he worked the
live sound of leading Spanish music figures, besides
composing for movies and television (see IMBD). Since
1997 he has headed up online cultural coverage projects
like Flamenco-world.com, where he moreover acts as head
of photography (www.danielmpantiga.com). Following several
years of laboratory work with machines, he gives birth
to Artomatico, which blends improvised electronic music
with genres such as flamenco. Artomatico + Flamenco
was premiered live at the close of the 2008 Ciutat Vella
Flamenco Festival in Barcelona.
• RAFAEL ESTÉVEZ
Rafael Estévez (Huelva 1979), dancer & choreographer.
Rafael Estévez, pupil of Manolo Marín
and Merche Esmeralda, has worked as a soloist in the
companies of Manolete and Joaquín Cortés’s
Pura Pasión. He has shared the stage with top
flamenco and international dance figures. As a choreographer,
he creates together with Antonio Canales ‘Las
mil y una noches’, puts together a baile for ‘El
eterno retorno’ by Rocío Molina, ‘Suite’
for the Dance Gala at Madrid’s Teatro Real and
for the Spanish Dance Gala at Tokyo Forum Hall. He directs
and choreographs the show ‘De puertas adentro’
by the María Vivó Company. He is also
the artistic director of ‘Entre paredes’
by Rocío Molina and, together with Javier Latorre,
of ‘Homenaje a Fosforito’. Moreover, he
choreographs for dancers such as Daniel Navarro, Mayte
Bajo, Olga Pericet, Esther Jurado and Fuensanta la Moneta.
With Dospormedio & Compañía, which
he directs together with Nani Paños, he premieres
the shows ‘Suite de danza española’,
‘Muñecas’ and ‘...a piano’.
At Festival Málaga en Flamenco 2007, the company
which both direct presents the show ‘Flamenco
XXI’ within the ‘Siete producciones nuevas’
series. The show, which includes Antonio Ruz, Álvaro
Paños, Concha Jareño and Laura Rozalén
in the bailaor lineup, won the revelation prize at Festival
de Jerez 2008.
• NANI PAÑOS
Nani Paños (Córdoba 1976), dancer &
choreographer. Nani Paños, pupil of Javier Latorre
and Araleo Moyano, joined the Compañía
Andaluza de Danza (Andalusian Dance Company) after he
completed his training. Following dancing in companies
such as those of José Antonio, Blanca del Rey,
Antonio Márquez, Aida Gómez and Manolete,
he joins the Ballet Nacional de España (Spanish
National Ballet) from 1998 to 2000. Endorsed by prizes
such as that of ‘outstanding dancer’ at
the Spanish Dance and Flamenco Choreography Contest,
he performs in the shows ‘Rinconete y Cortadillo’
and ‘Triana. En el nombre de la Rosa’ by
Javier Latorre. He dances at the 2005 International
Dance Day, as well as at other galas with leading baile
figures. As a choreographer, he creates ‘Córdoba’
for Lola Greco and other pieces for María Vivó,
Mayte Bajo and Esther Jurado. With Rafael Estévez,
he puts together ‘Suite’ for dance galas
each at Madrid’s Teatro Real and Tokyo Forum Hall.
He takes part in the close of Bienal de Sevilla 2006
with Merche Esmeralda. In 2007, he joins the show ‘Los
grandes’ by Antonio Canales. With Dospormedio
& Compañía, which he directs together
with Rafael Estévez, he premieres the shows ‘Suite
de danza española’, ‘Muñecas’
and ‘...a piano’. At Festival Málaga
en Flamenco 2007, the company which both direct presents
the show ‘Flamenco XXI’ within the ‘Siete
producciones nuevas’ series. The show, which includes
Antonio Ruz, Álvaro Paños, Concha Jareño
and Laura Rozalén in the bailaor lineup, won
the revelation prize at Festival de Jerez 2008.
• NACHO ARIMANY
Nacho Arimany (Madrid, 1976), percussionist and composer.
Nacho Arimany begins his classical piano studies at
the age of six. As a soloist, he sings in Italy at the
23rd International Congress of Child Singers, while
in Spain he performs at the Palacio Real (Royal Palace)
and Teatro de la Zarzuela. At the inauguration of the
Auditorio Nacional in 1988, he shared the bill and stage
with Montserrat Caballé in ‘La Atlántida’
by Falla. At the age of thirteen he breaks off relations
with vocal music, but during a trip to Paris in 1992,
he discovers the world of African percussion. He starts
as a professional percussionist by presenting the show
‘Txalaparta y Percusiones del Mundo’ (‘Txalaparta
and World Percussions’) at Madrid’s Ateneo
in June 1997. In 1998, he founds and directs the ethnic
percussion quartet Al-Khabir Café. Also in 1998,
he takes up vocal music once again as tenor of the vocal
chamber group Camerata Renacentista. His work as a flamenco
percussionist begins in 2000 with the company Ibérica
de Danza. Since then, he has collaborated with different
companies and flamenco artists such as Joaquín
Cortés in his shows ‘Live’ and ‘De
amor y odio’, presented in a world tour in 2004.
He also works with Gerardo Núñez and Carmen
Cortés, Rafaela Carrasco, Rocío Molina,
Manuel Liñán and Olga Pericet, Nuevo Ballet
Español and María Juncal. In autumn 2004,
he starts collaborating with saxophonists Perico Sambeat
and Jorge Pardo. And he collaborates with Simon Saheen
and Gerardo Núñez at New York’s
City Center in January 2005. Beginning with his encounter
at Madrid’s Café Central with saxophonist
Javier Vercher and guitarist Lionel Loueke, he starts
a new musical search. Following several collaborations
in forums such as European Jazz Festival 2005 in Athens
and the Vitoria Jazz Festival, in March 2005 at New
York’s King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, Nacho
Arimany presents a concert - on the occasion of the
presentation of the film ‘El milagro de Candeal’
by Fernando Trueba -, from which the project Nacho Arimany
World Flamenco Sextet is born. The group takes shape
a year later in Gran Canaria at the inauguration of
the 7th Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Film Festival, for
which he also composes a piece for the inaugural gala.
The sextet takes a definitive step forward in spring
2006 in New York upon recording the album ‘Silence
Light’, with the participation of flamenco artists
such as Antonio Campos and Concha Jareño, released
at the end of the year. As a composer, he also works
for theater. In 2000, he wins the prize for best original
composition for dance at the 10th National Spanish Dance
and Flamenco Choreography Contest. His studies in Philosophy
and his Degree in Pedagogy at the Complutense University
of Madrid have also led to intense work as an instructor.
Links
• Offcial website
www.artomatico.com
• Youtube Channel
www.youtube.com/artomaticotv
• Myspace
www.myspace.com/artomatico
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