The world of flamenco is celebrating, because the iconic and centenary tablao Rose village, the oldest in Madrid (and the world for many), has restarted the machinery after its closure was confirmed last year.
It was last February 2021 when the owners of this Madrid jondo temple notified that they were closing forever. It was not the only blind that the pandemic lowered. We also say goodbye to Casa Patas or Chinitas in the capital.
However, this is a story of second chances. businesswoman Ivana Portoles , owner of the tablao Cardamom , she picked up her legacy to bring Villa Rosa back to life.
This reopening marks the beginning of a new stage "that aims to take the spread of flamenco to the highest level," says the official statement released on the occasion of the return of the tablao.
As a great novelty, the artistic direction has fallen to someone who knows the sector very well: the dancer Anthony Channels.
A mosaic from the tablao Villa Rosa.
The public that visits the new Villa Rosa will continue to enjoy a Daily programming , with flamenco shows by artists of recognized prestige, within the same iconic place that came to be known as the Cathedral of Flamenco.
HISTORY OF VILLA ROSA
It is impossible to walk around Santa Ana Square and not look at the delicate tiles that invite you to enter the tablao. A temple that, although opened in 1911 as Gran Colmado Villa Rosa, did not become a jondo stage until a decade later.
It would be in 1919 when the original tavern, located in an old chocolate mill, would change owners. with the businessman Thomas Pajares the music would come, as well as the Andalusian style decoration which it still maintains today.
Its coffered ceiling, columns and arches inspired by the Alhambra in Granada would premiere to the beat of the singer Antonio Chacon in 1921, in charge of bringing the best singers, dancers and guitarists on the scene to this new flamenco mecca in the city.
The stage of the tablao Villa Rosa.
In addition to Chacón and guitarist Ramón Montoya, greats such as Manolo Pavon , Juanito Mojama or Pastora María Pavón Cruz, known as the Niña de los Peines.
Later they would be followed by the Argentine Empire, lola flowers , Juanito Valderrama, Antonio Mairena, Pepe Marchena, Miguel de Molina, Juan Varea…
An endless list to which was added the presence of intellectuals, artists and celebrities in the flamenco gatherings and parties that were celebrated there. Since Ernest Hemingway or Ava Gardner until King Alfonso XIII, who is said to have visited him incognito through a underground passageway.
Facade of the tablao Villa Rosa.
MOVIE SET
111 years of history where time seems to stand still. Its original facade of painted tiles with colorful landscapes continues to illuminate the central Madrid square. In addition, the collective imagination will find the tablao in classics such as high heels of Pedro Almodóvar and the Queen of Spain of Fernando Trueba.
He was the painter and potter Alfonso Romero Mesa who in 1928 portrayed eight Madrid and Andalusian landscapes: La Cibeles, El Retiro and the Plaza de Colón in Madrid, the Plaza de España and the Murillo Gardens in Seville, the Alhambra in Granada, and panoramic views of Córdoba and Málaga.
Inside, polychrome tiles with Flemish scenes, the work of the Talavera potter Antonio Ruiz de Luna and Julian Santacruz , made in 1987, continue to illuminate a path that, surely, has much more to go.
The Villa Rosa tablao in Madrid.