In a concert of driving energy in Quito, Spanish singer Rosario Flores bared her Gypsy soul - this time more rocker than ever - and captivated an Ecuadorian audience that sang along and cheered the artist’s songs.
The legendary singer took the stage Friday night 20 minutes late with her new number “Gypsy Funky Love Me Do,” a tribute to the Beatles and their song “Love Me Do,” which has its 50th anniversary this year.
“Good evening, Quito. So many years without visiting you and now to see this auditorium so full, you make me feel great and fill me with love,” the 48-year-old, two-time Latin Grammy winner said in her first words to her audience.
Uninhibited, bursting with rumba energy, the artist sang “Al Son del Tambor” (To the Sound of the Drum), a number dedicated to her late father Antonio Gonzalez, knows as “El Pescadilla” (Little Fish), one of the founders of Catalan rumba.
For Rosario, there are songs that “I’ll always have to sing all my life because they touch people’s hearts and that is the best thing that can happen,” she said before singing “Agua y Sal” (Water and Salt).
All through the concert the artist’s fans accompanied her with applause, singing along with her songs, but during this number they remained silent as the artist’s powerful voice made them catch their breath.
The daughter of the late flamenco singer Lola Flores, known as “La Faroana” after the name given Gypsy chiefs, continued with the song “Con la Rumba del Bongo,” in which “Cuban and Gypsy rhythms in time make an explosive mixture,” as the lyrics of this number say that combines rumba and salsa.
Throughout the concert the sounds of a drummer, percussionist, electric guitar, flamenco guitar, bass and vocalist flowed with the artist’s voice in a river of impeccable harmony.
