🍸 The Tapa Weekend: August 4
Flamenco, zarzuelas and the verbenas in Madrid.
By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | August 4, 2023 | Madrid | Issue #19
🎉 Welcome to a new issue of The Tapa: Weekend Edition! An English-language newsletter about what to do this weekend in Madrid (plus memes because why the hell not).
🏖️ As we mentioned yesterday, we are going to be taking a much deserved summer break for a few weeks. So don’t despair when you don’t get this guide in your inbox next week. It doesn’t mean we’ve been deported—we’re just at the beach.
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Here are 4 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend
We know. Most of you are getting ready to go sunbathing on a beach somewhere in Spain and the last thing you want to read is about things to do in Madrid. But while most of you will delete this email without even reading it, at least one person will find comfort in reading this list about the non-beach events and activities taking place in the city this weekend (surprisingly, there are quite a few cool ones). Hang in there, buddy! Only 28 days until September.
So here are a few cool things for you, one person, to do this weekend.
1. Fiestas de San Cayetano
It’s verbena time! Which means that for a full month Madrid is celebrating a street fiesta every weekend and it starts with San Cayetano today.
You know what they say—you don’t really know Madrid unless you’ve experienced the three annual August verbenas: San Cayetano in the Rastro/Embajadores areas, San Lorenzo in Lavapiés and La Paloma in La Latina, the biggest one of all. During San Cayetano, the streets and balconies in Calle del Oso, in Embajadores, are decorated with Manila shawls, paper garlands, and flowers in honor of Saint Cajetan (apparently that’s his name in English). Musical and cultural performances take place in Plaza de Cascorro, with artists such as Lucrecia, Tito Losada, Atacados and La Pegatina. Oh, and of course, DJs.
So yeah, now you can make everybody who’s away jealous.
Fiestas de San Cayetano. Calle del Oso, Embajadores, Madrid. Through Aug. 7. Free admission.
2. Cakes da Killa
Cakes da Killa is a prominent figure of the queer hip-hop explosion that took place in New York in 2011 with a “witty rapping style” that “helped him position himself at the forefront as media interest in LGBTQ+ visibility and themes in hip-hop grew.”
In his latest album, Svengali, he opens a new chapter in the long-standing relationship between hip-hop and house music (check the video above), and you will be able to see him live in Madrid tonight. Get your tickets while they last.
Cakes da Killa. La Casa Encendida. Ronda de Valencia, 2, Madrid. Aug. 4, 9 p.m.. Tickets: €8.
3. Zarzuela en Verano: Agua, Azucarillos y Aguardiente
Do you enjoy a good old fashioned zarzuela? You’re in luck. The Amaya Theater and the L'Operamore theater company present a new season of zarzuela with a special program in which this Spanish traditional form of musical comedy is the protagonist. This weekend, the season starts with the classic “Agua, Azucarillos y Aguardientes”, by Federico Chueca (yes, that’s where the neighborhood’s name comes from). The video above is not from L’Operamore but you can pretty much see what it’s about.
This year marks the 125th anniversary of Agua, Azucarillos y Aguardientes’s premiere and its story brings together all kinds of typical characters from Madrid a century ago (vendors, nannies, and chulapones) who stroll through a very different city from what it is today. We recommend.
Agua, Azucarillos y Aguardientes. Teatro Amaya. Paseo del General Martínez Campos, 9, Madrid. Check website for hours. Tickets from €13.
4. Estampas Flamencas / El Sombrero de Tres Picos
Calling all flamenco lovers! If there are any of you left in Madrid this weekend, here’s a little something for you. The National Ballet of Spain, led by Rubén Olmo, will leave you asking for more after this (see video above).
In this edition of the Veranos de la Villa festival, the ballet company presents a program celebrating the Year of Picasso, with performances that include Estampas flamencas, featuring four pieces inspired by Antonio Ruiz Soler's style, and El sombrero de tres picos, a masterpiece with music by Manuel de Falla and choreography also by Ruiz Soler. The production also pays homage to Picasso's original costumes and set design from the 1919 premiere in London of Léonide Massine’s version with the Ballets Russes.
Estampas Flamencas. Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Patio Central, Calle del Conde Duque 11, Madrid. Through Aug. 5, 10 p.m. Tickets start at €24.
👨🏻💻 Viral Story of the Week: Estimado Pedro
PP head Alberto Núñez Feijóo wrote PSOE Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez a letter Sunday. The reason? To suggest they meet to discuss Feijóo’s super-unlikely-to-succeed plan to become PM via a deal with the PSOE.
That Feijóo would write is not a shock. The tone he took, after an incredibly negative campaign where he suggested among other things that Sánchez was a friend of terrorists (remember the famous chant, “¡Que te vote Txapote!”?), did surprise however. He addressed Sánchez as “Estimado Pedro”—and TwitterX had a field day with his switch of tone, as he switched from “Let Txapote vote for you!” to “Dear Pedro”.
🔔 A Message From Our Sponsor
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Find out more at www.thesecretkingdoms.com
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