John Lempka

Halfway through the set, the petite flamenco singer Buika dressed in black comes on stage, beaming. She starts out saying, ‘I’m a shy person. I go to a lot of countries where things are difficult, but what I love when I come to New York is, you are free! You can say anything. I can speak!’

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Spanish Flamenco singer Buika wows Carnegie Hall in concert with Chucho Valdés

I was at this show, and, actually, she said that in other countries people, “find my innocence offensive,” which is, like, the crux of the social commentary of that statement BUT WHATEVER, she’s great, I wish they hadn’t cancelled her Carnegie Hall show and then haphazardly tacked her onto a pretty traditional jazz set for three measly songs, but this is the world we live in, etc.

John Lempka

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