The Leo Power Trio will be taking you on a voyage from Andalusia to South America through a range of sounds within which fit the incredibly passionate rhythms of the flamenco that pulses through Leo’s veins, and to which she has dedicated so much of her career.
A peppering of Cuban, Mexican, Argentinian and North American jazz standards will add spice to the flavour of the evening. Expect improvisational originality and spontaneity: no one show is ever the same as another, as these masters of their art dextrously weave in new and dynamic nuances and beats each time.
Leo Power, aka Leonor Iglesias Reyes, was born in Cadiz in the neighbourhood of La Viña, where flamenco floats about in the air whichever way you turn. From a very young age she listened to flamenco, in sessions known as “peñas” and in private parties… where she took part, in singing, dancing and clapping.
In 1996 she began to become interested in the guitar and she composed a few songs and formed the group Asu de Verde, mixing flamenco with rock, funk and African rhythms. With this group she began to work in various clubs, festivals and events in Cadiz.
In 1998 she set up with other musicians a collective from which emerged the group Aguatapa, still fusing flamenco with other music styles. She has combined collaborating with Aguatapa with her pure flamenco, and was a finalist in a national flamenco competition in 2001.
In 2002 she moved to London where for three years she was singer and percussionist in the flamenco dance company Alma, led by the dancer Felipe de Algeciras. The show toured many theatres all around England, Wales, and Ireland, including the Royal Albert Hall and Dublin’s Royal Theatre, Birmingham Hippodrome. She has performed at Glastonbury in 2003 and 4, and many other venues in and around London.
She then returned to Cadiz since when she has been incredibly active in the flamenco scene, for which she was awarded “Gaditana del año”, Cadiz Citizen of the Year, in 2017.
Malick was born in Cadiz and grew up surrounded by African and flamenco-influenced music. His self-taught cajon and djembe playing began at the age of 7 and it was at the young age of 12 that he and Leo Power, together with Nino Ruiz, formed a band, ‘Aguatapa’. Malick has studied percussion, drumming, classical and contemporary, in Cadiz and London. He’s played in Jazz bands and with the “Gaditano” (from Cadiz) band Tumbando a Monk, giving the music of Thelonious Monk a Latin jazz twist.
Tuned In London presents Power Trio: Flamenco from Cadiz
City Hope Church. The venue is a short walk from Bermondsey Tube Station. They will be running a cash bar.
Thu 27th Jan, 7.45pm (doors 7pm)
