I’m currently on a bus from Seville to Granada, Spain. So I feel more compelled than usual to mention the upcoming Flamenco Festival event taking place at Instituto Cervantes October 21-22.

Las Guitarras de España founder/guitarist Carlo Basile will be joined for performances of The Andalusian Trail Part 1: Jaipur to Granada on Friday the 21st, and The Andalusian Trail Part 2: Baghdad to Cordoba – Ziryab’s Journey on Saturday the 22nd. He will be joined by vocalist/oud player Ronnie Malley and Indian veena artist Saraswathi Ranganathan. Tickets for both events are available here.

Here’s a little taste of some of Las Guitarras de España:

Unrelated: Every time I think of Flamenco, I’m reminded of a conversation I had in Minneapolis with a guy I don’t know at 1:30 in the morning while we waited for Prince to take the stage at First Ave on the release of 3121. He told me that many times Prince would just show up at this Spanish restaurant in Minneapolis where they had Flamenco music, eat, and then play guitar for a couple hours while the restaurant was serving customers. So any random night at this Spanish restaurant, you could have been treated to Flamenco guitar by one of the greatest musicians of all-time. That seemed totally insane to me then, and it still seems pretty crazy now.