Juanfe Pérez: Playing Prohibited (Prohibido el toque) - feat. Karen Lugo

The Noches de tablao series' final event features a project by Juanfe Pérez, a flamenco bassist, guitarist, composer, and producer nominated for a 2023 Latin Grammy. On his debut album, Pérez pushes the classical vocal and guitar tradition into new dimensions, anchoring it in the old flamenco rhythms but with a vital, contemporary signature. Prohibido el toque unveils stunning soundscapes that take listeners from subtle, gentle melodies to the ecstasy of avant-garde contemporary flamenco. Juanfe Pérez combines heartfelt creation with deliberate craftsmanship – his music leaves nothing to chance. He respects tradition while passionately advancing into modernity, seeking authenticity and natural artistry through masterful improvisation. At Cankarjev dom, his stellar team, including vocalist Alicia Morales and percussionist Kike Terrón, will be joined by Karen Lugo, one of the world’s most renowned contemporary flamenco dancers. 

Juanfe Pérez studied classical and flamenco guitar at the Huelva Javier Perianes Conservatory, flamenco guitar at the Superior Rafael Orozco Conservatory in Córdoba, as well as world music at Codarts DMWC in Rotterdam. He honed his flamenco skills as a bassist-guitarist with stars such as Farruquito, Duquende, Montse Cortés, Rosario La Tremendita, Javier Ruibal, and Turkish guitarist Çenk Erdogan, as well as in the jazz-flamenco bands of Alfonso Aroca, Sergio de Lope, Antonio Lizano, and Raúl Rodríguez. He has developed his own guitar language and technique, a signature flamenco idiom reflected on his energetic debut album Prohibido el Toque (Playing Forbidden), for which he wrote the music and arrangements and produced all the tracks. In addition, he is also the producer and musical arranger of the award-winning albums Mar de Cobre by singer Cristina Soler and Ser de Luz by flautist Sergio de Lope. As a composer and guitarist he collaborates with the dance companies of Olga Pericet, Rafaela Carrasco, Sara Calero and Ana Pastrana.

His artistic journey unfolds on stages worldwide with renowned performers such as Farruquito, Diego Amador, Duquende, Rosario la Tremendita, Jorge Pardo, Montse Cortés, Olga Pericet, Belén López, José Manuel León, Raul Rodríguez, Çenc Erdogan, Jose Antonio Rodríguez, Javier Ruibal, Antílopez, Diego Guerrero, Canteca de Macao, Antonio Mesa, Juan Pérez, Sergio de Lope, Alfonso Aroca, Antonio Lizana, Karen Lugo, Robertinho Silva, Daniel Navarro, El Junco, Eduardo Trassierra, Mario Díaz, Manuel Malou, and others.

Karen Lugo is a Mexican dancer known for her creative restlessness and innovation. She has performed as a soloist at the Festival de Jerez, the Sangre Nueva Jóvenes Flamencos Festival at Teatro Espanol in Madrid, the Flamencos y Mestizos series by the SGAE Foundation, the Flamenco Ibérica Contemporánea Festival, the Concierta Independencia series at Lunario del Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, the Flamenco Festival in Vancouver, the Flamenco Festival in Montreal, the Flamenco Festival Ciudad de Jaén, the Flamenco Madrid Festival, and the Flamenco de Saintes Festival, among many others. In collaboration with the Casa Patas Flamenco Foundation, she premiered three performances: Flamencura, Flamenco Territorio DeMente and Flamenco Frequencies, with tours in the Middle East and the United States. As a choreographer, she has received several awards, including Best Choreography at the Spring Film Festival in Barcelona, First Prize for Flamenco Dance at the International Festival in Almería, First Prize for Choreography at the Contemporary Flamenco Festival in Finland, and Third Prize for Choreography at the XVII Certamen de Danza Espanola y Flamenco in Madrid. Under the direction of Javier Latorre, she participated in Carlos Saura’s film Flamenco Flamenco and in the performances FLAMENCONAUTAS and Lorca x Bach. Her latest performance, titled Golpe de Tierra, was nominated for the Premis de la Crítica d’Arts Esceniques award for Best Solo Performance. She is currently collaborating as a choreographer and performer in the productions Caminos by Juana Gómez Chicuela, Cant Espiritual by Carlos Denia, CAYANA by Anna Colom, El Amir Ensemble by Amir Haddad, and Por Bach (GEMA 2020 Innovation Award) with the Hippocampus group featuring Jorge Pardo.

The Noches de tablao series presents fresh artistic initiatives in the field of contemporary flamenco that intertwine the disciplines of live music and dance, with an educational and theoretical accompanying programme. The series builds an intercultural arc between foreign and local creators, who establish a dialogue between flamenco and other artistic genres, and tap into new creative approaches to music, dance and performance art. Since its launch in 2017, Noches de tablao has served as a platform for new artistic projects based on genre intersectionality, running through a wide gamut of contemporary forms of expression. It features a series of concerts and dance performances that marry tradition with innovation in fascinating new ways.