The Cante de las Minas Festival’s contests have launched the career of many flamenco artists through its 61 years of history in the disciplines of singing, dancing, guitar and other instrumental playing
Flamenco bass player Yusuke Morita (Nishinomiya, 1988) has been selected to play on August 4th at the semifinals of the Cante de las Minas International Festival, the world’s largest flamenco event that takes place in the Spanish town of La Unión.
Yusuke Morita started playing flamenco on his electric bass on 2017 and has since toured around Asia and Europe.
Since its creation, the Festival has combined live concerts of some of the biggest flamenco stars in the scene with the celebration of its own contests, with a focus on discovering and launching the career of the most talented flamenco artists from all around the world.
There is a strong emphasis on the international approach of this event that goes two ways: on the one hand, the Festival’s magnitude allows it to export traditional flamenco culture to countries all over the world; and on the other hand, the contest signing up process is open to people from all nationalities, and the process is fully online in the discipline of flamenco instrumental playing, the one that Yusuke Morita participates in.
The Festival will celebrate the semifinals of its contests on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of August 2022, having the performances of a total of 30 selected contestants on all categories.
Yusuke Morita is among the few competitors chosen in his category: only 6 flamenco instrumentalists will travel to La Unión to try and get the ‘Filón’ Award in the Grand Finale of the competition.
This is not the first time that the contest received international enrolment. In 2021, this same award was won by Canadian-Japanese flamenco flute player Lara Wong. Contestants spend years preparing themselves for this occasion to give their best in a competition that will guarantee them recognition and relevance as an artist in Spain and internationally.
World’s biggest flamenco festival discovering flamenco talent
This year’s event marks the 61st edition of this prestigious flamenco Festival that was founded in 1961 in La Unión, a town in Murcia with deep flamenco roots. Traditional Spanish flamenco music merges here with a profound mining past, resulting in a cultural history that puts flamenco in the spotlight.
The biggest flamenco artists have performed on the scenario of this Festival, most of them trying their luck in the contests and having their career launched by winning some of the biggest awards in the flamenco scene: the ‘Lámpara Minera’ award (given to the best singer), the ‘Bordón Minero’ award (to the best flamenco guitar player), the ‘Desplante’ award (given to the best male and female dancer) and the ‘Filón’ (given to the best flamenco musician).
For more information and details, check the Festival’s website: https://festivalcantedelasminas.org/
Yamato Magazine 