Sowelu Theater
Portland, OR
503.730.9066

What Others Say About Us

Reviews: An Evening of Flamenco and Ballads, 2006

Juliet Cardinal

The Oregonian says: "This show of flamenco song and movement is a knockout. For anyone enamored of flamenco music in its purest form, Sowelu Theater’s exciting performance An Evening of Flamenco and Ballads is a must see.

"For an hour, guitarist Stan Olmsted, actor/singer Joaquin Lopez and the amazing flamenco vocalist Juliet Cardinal take us in spirit to a Gypsy café in Seville, where all that’s needed to create Iberian magic is a table, some candles, a couple of chairs, a bare floor, a guitarist and a singer or two.

"This intimate, highly concentrated evening of Spanish soul music, which also includes poetry by Pablo Neruda, features traditional sorrowful and passionate song styles such as the alborea and the solea, plus stunning selections by Federico Garcia Lorca.

"Olmsted is a distinguished guitarist who has studied with various flamenco masters in Granada, and trained formally at the Nerudy Music Academy in Prague. Lopez is a versatile actor, musician and dancer who with Olmsted founded the flamenco rumba group Jinete. But it’s Cardinal who really provides the knockout with her proud, swirling dance numbers and her cante hondo or "deep song" style of complex flamenco vocals, often performed improvisationally. Cardinal creates an ascending torrent of guttural, vibrating notes, for which she sits ramrod straight, legs slightly apart, hands on her knees, pushing out the notes from deep in her solar plexus. Strong stuff." Holly Johnson