Amancio Prada:

Amancio Prada is a legend in Spanish music. With a career spanning more than half a century, inspired by the lyrical grandeur of Spanish poets, he continues to work tirelessly on his recordings, the latest of which (for the moment) was the 2024 album “Prada Prada”. This year, 2025, will mark the start of the fourth edition of the Pepe Romero Guitar Festival Málaga, with an opening concert on Friday 5 September in which he will perform his masterpiece, “Cántico Espiritual” by San Juan de la Cruz, in tribute to his dear friend and son of Málaga and its people, the much-missed Rafael Pérez Estrada, on the 25th anniversary of his death.

We chat with Amancio Prada about the value of the guitar in his artistic career, the value of poetry in dark times and the emotion of remembering Pérez Estrada in his homeland, in such an appropriate setting as the Gibralfaro Castle, ‘with the air rushing between its battlements, a privileged space for reciting the verses of San Juan’.

What has the guitar meant for your artistic career?

It is my companion, my crutch, the source of my inspiration along with poetry. It helps me to give wings to poetry and to my voice, as Rafael Pérez Estrada would say.

In this edition of the Pepe Romero Guitar Festival, you will once again perform San Juan de la Cruz's “Cántico Espiritual”, one of his most emblematic works. What can the audience expect from the concert?

The first part will feature a very varied repertoire, and the second part will be dedicated to the “Spiritual Canticle”, accompanied by two great cello masters, Ángel Luis Quintana and Rafael Domínguez. I decided to dedicate this canticle to the Malaga poet Rafael Pérez Estrada. I met him in Alhaurín el Grande, at a tribute to Gerald Brenan organised by the Malaga Provincial Council. It was Pérez Estrada himself who suggested to Pilar Oriente, the then Deputy for Culture, that they call me to perform the Spiritual Canticle in tribute to Gerald Brenan, who dedicated an entertaining biography to San Juan de la Cruz. Rafael Pérez Estrada passed away 25 years ago, and it seemed to me a fitting and fitting way to remember him and thank him for my first performance in Malaga.

Does performing this concert in Malaga, the land of Rafael Pérez Estrada, have a special emotional significance for you?

Yes. Rafael became a great friend, and when I went to Malaga to perform at the Cervantes, Echegaray and Alameda theatres or at the Conservatory, we always saw each other. When they paid tribute to him in 1999 at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, I remember that I premiered a song based on one of his poems, “El muchacho masai”, which I will also sing in Gibralfaro.

You are tireless in your recording work, your latest release to date being last year's “Prada Prada”. Any other releases in the pipeline?

Yes, but let's leave it at that (laughs). I still don't know how those loose ends will come together.

I have a habit of making almost all my albums monographic, almost always based on the work of a particular author or a specific theme, such as the early Galician-Portuguese troubadours. But this time I think it's going to be a very varied album. “Prada Prada” is also monographic, as they are my two surnames, suggesting that both the lyrics and the music are my own.

What is your process when it comes to tackling a new album? What is the spark that gives rise to your albums?

Falling in love: when a poet makes me fall in love, I feel the need to make it my own by singing it.

In these turbulent and certainly dark times we live in, what value does poetry continue to bring us?

No matter how dark the times may be, as I said in my first album “Vida e morte”, we must continue to sing to the men who fight for the sun to rise. And if we consider the conditions of physical and mental prostration in which San Juan de la Cruz lived, and specifically when he wrote “Cántico Espiritual”, imprisoned by the Calced Carmelites in Toledo, it is clear that, no matter how much darkness surrounds you, there is always an inner light waiting for you.

Leading figures in emblematic settings

Pepe Romero Guitar Festival Málaga is now firmly established in its fourth edition as a leading musical event on the international calendar of guitar-related events. Once again, its programme features some of the most important figures in this instrument, performing in emblematic settings around the city, such as the Plaza de Armas del Castillo de Gifralfaro and the Patio de Surtidores de la Alcazaba de Málaga.

The European Guitar Foundation, chaired by Vicente Coves, with the support and sponsorship of Málaga City Council, the Unicaja Foundation and the Alhambra Guitar Foundation, is organising this musical event, which this year is expanding its number of performances to a total of 16 concerts.

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, Amancio Prada will open this year's festival on Friday 5 September in the Plaza de Armas of the Castillo de Gifralfaro, returning to the “Cantico Espiritual de San Juan de la Cruz” in tribute to the Malaga poet Rafael Pérez Estrada.

On 6 September, in the Surtidores courtyard of the Alcazaba in Malaga, Marcyn Dilla, considered one of the most important guitarists on the international scene, will perform music by Joaquín Rodrigo, Tárrega, Manén, Sanchez-Verdú and Piazzolla.

On 7 September, at the Unicaja Foundation Cultural Centre, Mirta Álvarez will showcase her virtuosity on the guitar and with her voice, performing the immortal tangos of Carlos Gardel and Astor Piazzolla.

On Thursday 11 September, in the Plaza de Armas of the Castillo de Gifralfaro, Daniel Casares, one of the great names in flamenco guitar, will offer a new programme for two guitars, entitled “El poder de lo sutíl” (The Power of the Subtle).

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Daniel Casares. Lucía Rivas, Alejandro Hurtado and Patricia Guerrero will take to the stage at the María Cristina Hall of the Unicaja Foundation on Friday 12th, a combination of talents that will be a real highlight of the festival.

José Miguel Moreno, a master of historical plucked string instruments, will dedicate his concert to the baroque guitar and baroque lute in Spain and Germany on Saturday 13 September at the Alcazaba in Malaga.

On Sunday 14th September at the Unicaja Foundation, the festival will take on an international flavour with the presence of Sohta Nakabayashi, winner of more than 20 international awards and considered one of the young talents of Spanish guitar.

On Thursday 18 September, the festival's “Trasnoches Flamencos” (Flamenco Nights) will continue with the presence of guitarist Joni Jiménez, winner of last year's prestigious Bordón Minero prize at the Las Minas Singing Competition, and singer Antonio Reyes.

Álvaro Toscano will be another of the young Spanish guitar talents present at the festival, with a performance at the Alcazaba in Malaga on Friday 19th, in which he will take us on a journey “From Iberia by Albéniz to Ojos Verdes by Quiroga”.

The Orquesta Plectro de Córdoba will continue the festival on Saturday 20th. Made up of around thirty young musicians, their concert will feature the great flamenco guitarist Paco Serrano as soloist in a programme that, in addition to flamenco, will include pasodoble and tango with arrangements of unique beauty and exquisiteness. Soprano Nerea Elorriaga will perform as a guest artist.

Igor Klokov, winner of the Andrés Segovia International Competition in La Herradura, will continue the young guitar masters section on Sunday 21st September at the Unicaja Foundation.

On Thursday 25th, the Madrid Guitar Orchestra will offer a beautiful programme in which the guitar will reach its maximum beauty, combining the sound of each instrument into one great guitar at the service of the music of composers such as Mozart, Handel and Sakamoto.

The brilliant career of guitarist Fernando Espí is based on an innate musical sensitivity combined with solid technical training. In his concert on Friday 26th at the festival, he will perform works by composers such as Rodrigo, Turina, Falla, Torroba and La Traviata.

On 27th September, we will experience a special evening. Segundo Falcón, known as ‘the Pavarotti of flamenco’; Manolo Franco, one of the most important guitarists of the last 50 years; Paco Jarana, one of the most important figures in flamenco for his wonderful playing and compositional mastery; and Luisa Palicio, one of today's most important dancers, will star in a show to remember, specially prepared for this edition of the IV Pepe Romero Guitar Festival Málaga.

Ozberk Miraç Sangül will close the section on young Spanish guitar masters on Sunday 28 September, showcasing his virtuosity, sensitivity, verve and sweetness.

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Pepe Romero. Lucía RivasAnd the stellar closing of the festival will, of course, be performed by Pepe Romero, the living legend of the guitar who gives his name to the festival. On Tuesday 30th, he will star in a historic concert at the Cervantes Theatre, celebrating the centenary of “El Amor Brujo” alongside the singer Esperanza Fernández, the tenor Jakob Romero Kressin, and the Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by José María Moreno. A fitting finale for a memorable edition.