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CONTACT Tablao Cardenal Tel: +34 957 483 320 www.tablocardenal.com

La Buleria

Tel: +34 957 433 889

Mesón Flamenco La Bulería

Tel: +34 957 483 839

Dubbed Spain’s City of Romance on account of its sensual music and dance tradition, Cordoba’s flamenco scene is firmly entrenched in the city’s cobblestone old quarter, Juderia. Daytime Cordoba is a relaxed affair of pigeon-scattered plazas, pavement cafes and snoozing street-corner traders. It is after dark that the city truly bursts into life as restaurants and bars fill and music begins to flow as freely as the wine. Vibrant, passionate, intense and flamboyant Cordoba celebrates the riches of everyday life with the evocative flavours of food, dance, art, rhythm and song. As befits a city of romance, lyrics of lost love – the heart of Cordoba’s spirit – emanate from dozens of cosy bars, cafes and terrazas to tug at the heartstrings. Conversation and dance are both engaged in with passion, but rarely without liquid accompaniment in the tabernas (traditional style taverns), cervecerías (speciality beer bars), cocterlerías (cocktail bars) and bares de copas (serving speciality spirits) city-wide. Unassuming, dimly lit doorways reveal stunning traditional tile-work, boldly painted ceramic murals, scrubbed wooden floors and lime-washed walls.

There is a joke in Cordoba that the day begins at 10pm when the lights dim, clubs open and crowds swell into the city. Traditional flamenco has its time now, stirring Cordoba with an intoxicating energy of whirling colour and the firecracker sound of heels on tile. Young and old radiate to the short, sharp claps as soulful cries rise above the music with a resonance that burrows deep into night. A dance of exuberance and intensity, the gypsy-originated flamenco rejects formality, preferring the freedom of improvised movements to mirror the mood of the moment. A strumming guitar follows the rhythms as dancers take to the floor with chins perfectly poised and arms aloft. A dance genre characterized by rapid passages and audible footwork, flamenco is thought to derive from the Arabic music traditions of Moorish times. In Cordoba, flamenco is the dance of the people with visitor participation welcomed by encouraging stamps and shouts. Simply allow your body to feel the compás (rhythm) rather than mechanically counting the beats. Close your eyes and yield to the escalating syncopated tempo of raw emotion, joy, passion and mournful lament.

Dancing the sevillanas in Cordoba – a whirl of colour and energy.