This Is Gladys Palmera

Dance On!

Friday, 11 October 2024 - Check programme
Organised by
Museo Reina Sofía
Collaboration
Gladys Palmera Foundation
Sponsor
Estrella Damm

To celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Gladys Palmera, the Museo Reina Sofía organises, in collaboration with the Gladys Palmera Foundation, a day which spins around African-influenced dances and rhythms, for instance danzón, chachachá, mambo, rumba, cumbia, salsa and ballenato, genres which have shaped Latin American cultural identity, from the Caribbean islands to the Southern Cone.

Behind Gladys Palmera is Alejandra Fierro Eleta and her passion for preserving and disseminating the Afro-Latino music legacy. The Gladys Palmera Foundation project came into being twenty-five years ago with Radio Gladys Palmera, the first radio station in Spain to specialise in Latin and Caribbean music and which today still inspires and champions musical diversity in its different formats. In parallel to the radio project is the Gladys Palmera Collection, set up by Fierro Eleta, a major archive assembled in San Lorenzo del Escorial and comprising over 55,000 vinyl records and 25,000 CDs of Latin music past and present, in addition to a valuable collection of graphic art, posters, photographs, sheet music and magazines — a cultural legacy kept alive by the Gladys Palmera Foundation to enhance, restore, digitise and catalogue its holdings for consultation on the project’s website

The event begins with a music-based conversation with curators from the Foundation, José Arteaga and Tommy Meini, and continues with a dance workshop by Cuban dancer Claudia Valdivia, culminating in a vinyl session and dancing, where records past and present will be played from the Collection.  

Participants

José Arteaga is a writer and journalist from Pasto (Colombia) who is based in Spain. He is an expert in preserving music archives and the history of Caribbean music, which is the subject of different books he has written. A part of Radio Gladys Palmera since it was founded, he has produced different programmes, among them La Hora Faniática, a documentary and testimonial review of the history of the New York label Fania Records. His work also encompasses the online edition of gladyspalmera.com and coordinating the Gladys Palmera Collection, as well as his publications, among them Cha-Cha-Cha: un baile y una época (2020) and Música con nombre propio (2022).

Tommy Meini is a music lover and researcher who studied Fine Arts at Luminy University (Marseille). Noteworthy is his work as an exhibition producer, a curator of the photography festival Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles (Arles) and a specialist concert photographer. His fascination with music led him to study Music History in Santiago de Cuba, before joining Blue Moon Producciones in Barcelona, where he re-released Cuban sound archives and oversaw an editorial imprint. Since 2014, he has worked as a researcher and curator in the Gladys Palmera Collection.

Claudia Valdivia is a Cuban dancer who graduated from the Instituto Superior de Arte de La Habana and the Escuela Nacional del Ballet de Cuba. For over twenty years, she has been part of the illustrious dance company Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba (LADC), where she has worked with instructors such Fernando Alonso and Lizt Alfonso, sharing the stage with figures such as Misty Copeland and creating different pieces for the company’s repertoire, and for the production Habana Fénix (2023). Further, she has performed on different stages worldwide and has directed international tours as a choreographer and dance and fusion dance instructor.

Collaboration
Sponsor

Programa

Actividad pasada 6pm
25 Years of Gladys Palmera
— A music-based conversation with José Arteaga and Tommy Meini

The curators of the Gladys Palmera Collection, José Arteaga and Tommy Meini, embark on a sound journey through the arc of the project, which began in 1999 as the prime radio station in Spain specialising in Latin music — still the case today — placing the stress on its valuable and diverse cultural legacy.

Nouvel Building, Protocol Room

150 people

Admission

Free, until full capacity is reached. Tickets may be collected at the Museo’s Ticket Offices or on the Museo Reina Sofía website from 10am on 9 October (a maximum of 2 per person). 20% of the visitor-capacity will be reserved for attendance without ticket collection on the day of the activity. Doors open 30 minutes before the activity

Actividad pasada 6:45pm
Dance Workshop in the Salón Gladys Palmera
— Dance workshop with Claudia Valdivia

This dance workshop led by Cuban dancer Claudia Valdivia sets forth a trip through the Afro-Latin rhythms that have sculpted the musical landscape from the early twentieth century to the present day. The first part of the activity, entitled Vintage (Danzón, Chachachá and Mambo) focuses on these genres, while the second Romantic Salsa, Cumbia and Salsa Brava is devoted to more contemporary sounds from the world of Latin music. The musical selection will be hand-picked by Tommy Meini and José Arteaga.

Nouvel Building, Rooftop Terrace

250 people

Admission

Free, until full capacity is reached. Tickets may be collected at the Museo’s Ticket Offices or on the Museo Reina Sofía website from 10am on 9 October (a maximum of 2 per person). 20% of the visitor-capacity will be reserved for attendance without ticket collection on the day of the activity. Doors open 30 minutes before the activity

Actividad pasada 8:30pm
Salón Gladys Palmera
— Vinyl session and dancing

In this vinyl session, the curators of the Gladys Palmera Collection set off on a journey of dancing and listening through the musical landscape of the Caribbean and its influence on other continents.

Nouvel Building, Rooftop Terrace

250 people

Admission

Free, until full capacity is reached