Born in 2021, Flamenco Criollo is a project conceived by Cuban pianist, composer and scholar of musical cultures Aruán Ortiz.

Thanks to his breadth of vision as a jazz pianist, Ortiz has formed an ensemble capable of presenting the wonderful colours of this powerful musical language, flamenco, exploring its varied roots and trying to imagine its further development in Afro-Cuban music.

The musicians and dancers - from Morocco, Palestine, Cuba, the United States and Spain - combine melancholic Andalusian sounds with energetic rhythms from the Caribbean, resulting in surprising contemporary compositions in which dances and music dialogue and merge.

Flamenco Criollo tells a complex story that includes Persian music, North African influences in Andalusia, exchanges between the port cities of Cadiz and Havana, and echoes of West Africa in Afro-Cuban music.

All this coagulates into the music that is referred to as Cantes de ida y vuelta, songs of travel, that have moved from Spain to America and vice versa.