Flamenco Jazz Artist Antonio Lizana Makes His India Debut This Week

Prior to the pandemic hitting, Antonio Lizana and his band had played 300 shows in the span of three years across 30 countries. Looking back at that streak, the flamenco jazz artist says, “We can say we have recovered almost completely, and the last year has been with no stop of traveling and musical activities, which has felt as a bless, after this time of complete uncertainty.”

The artist is now in India, making his debut as a performer with his band. Joined by jazz guitarist Nico Gómez, bassist Jesús Caparrós and drummer Shayan Fathi, the quartet will perform at Bengaluru venue Windmills for two consecutive nights, on December 16th and 17th.

Lizana, born in 1986 in the Spanish city of San Fernando in Cadiz, is among the few artists in the world who artfully combines flamenco and jazz styles. It’s taken him to festivals around the world, allowed him to be invited to perform alongside the likes of Snarky Puppy, Marcus Miller and Chano Dominguez (the duo released the album Estandares in early 2022), plus appeared on acclaimed series like NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert in 2017. He says about the album with Dominguez, “That album was for us like a meeting point. Each one of us we have our projects with our compositions, but also both of us love jazz standards and flamenco. So we try to do an album just with standards, but passing them through the filter of the flamenco perspective.”

Interestingly, Dominguez has performed in India before, as has Lizana’s friend and flutist-saxophonist Jorge Pardo. “I suppose there is some knowledge about the style [of flamenco-jazz and Spanish music]. But also I’m aware that India has infinity of different styles and most people won’t be familiar with flamenco or flamenco-jazz,” Lizana adds.

At Windmills, Lizana and the band will perform songs off of the handful of albums part of the saxophonist’s repertoire. “And also some jazz standards that we do in our way,” he says. Lizana has been exploring India on his own prior to the performance. “I came ten days before the shows, to travel a bit around the south and learn as much as I can about this amazing country,” he says. Once the shows are done, there’s more in store for Lizana in 2023. He says, “I’ll be recording a new album, and at the same time, have already the schedule super tight with concerts, so next year, god willing, is going to be a beautiful one.”

Antonio Lizana performs at Windmills, Bengaluru on December 16th and 17th. Entry: ₹2,119 (seating) and ₹1,271 (standing) excluding taxes. Get tickets here.