BARBIÁN: ZARZUELA – CABARÉ CON RODRIGO CUEVAS

Zarzuela / Cabaret

Between the market garden and cabaret, between the traditional and the cosmopolitan, this programme proposes, from a contemporary prism, a heterodox journey through the thousand and one faces of zarzuela, courtesy of Asturian artist Rodrigo Cuevas, who has been making waves in Spanish folklore and popular music for some time now. Which explains why the musical playwright and curator Fernando Carmena, who is in charge of the direction and the musical selection, thought of him.

Although zarzuela was primarily performed in the cities, it often borrows motifs and rhythms from the countryside, becoming the rural dream of those who have relocated to the city. If in its syncretism zarzuela was able to embrace the jota, the chotis and the cuplé, there’s no way it will now be able to resist the voice, grace and wooden clogs of Rodrigo Cuevas, an authentic contemporary Braveheart who has managed to combine popular music with cabaret and who in the last three years has progressed from singing in bars for a few dozen people to presenting his sexy and pheromone-loaded shows in the largest auditoriums in the entire peninsula. By the way, the title, ‘Barbián’, is a word that comes from the Romany word ‘barbán’, which means ‘air’, and which is used in Castilian Spanish to denote someone carefree, gallant and daring.

Project curated and directed by Fernando Carmena