Pasion Vega at Cante de Las Minas

Consummate showmanship closed the gala performances at this years Cante de Las Minas

Ana María Alías Vega, known better by her stage name of ‘Pasión Vega’, closed the week of gala performances at La Unión with a two hour performance of sweet, rich melodic coplas and canción española, delivered with verve and panache, leaving no-one in any doubt why she acquired the word pasión in her stage name.
Born in Madrid, and raised in Málaga, she first came to public notice in 1993, when she won a competition organised by Cadena Ser, the prize being her first single, “Estos detalles". Following this, she won a National Spanish Television show for young talents, which set her off on a professional recording and performing career.
Her first album came out in 2001, gaining her a gold disc, followed by a platinum disc in 2003 for " Banderas de nadie " and another gold for “Flaca de amor” (2005)
Since then, she has continued to produce best selling albums and tour, achieving particular success in Latin America, both Argentina and Mexico proving receptive markets for her personally feminine blend of modern ballads and contemporary woman about town look.

Her latest album is entitled, SIN COMPASIÓN, produced by  Jacob Sureda, with 13 songs, many of which she performed last night:
Manuel Carrasco (Rincones Oscuros), Pedro Guerra (No hay fracaso), Jesús Bienvenido (El flamenquito que perdió las botas, Historia de un fado, Los últimos, Bolero con ron, Habanera Postal), Paloma Ramírez (Y nunca te olvido), Ricardo Rivera (Eso no es amar, Qué fue de ti) and Antonio Romera (A la hora de soñar, Esta eternidad sin ti, La niña Candela) a blend of sweet sentimentality and feminine  sensitivity, modern ballads, all delivered in her rich, warm voice, trembling with sensuality.

From the onset she filled the Catedral del Cante with her presence, delivering a characterful performance demonstrating a flair, showmanship and attention to detail which left the group of her fans clutching flowers she had flung into the audience in a tearful state of satisfaction after the show , "what a woman, " they said afterwards, "such a beautiful woman.....!"
Following the presentation to the American Ambassador, washing lines were strung across the stage, draped with sheets, opening with one of her best known numbers, “El corazón al sur”, followed by one of her major hits “María se bebe las calles” . Have a listen, this is Maria se bebe las calles.

Throughout the evening she blended copla and canción española, switching the pace and rhythm of the performance with a number of costume changes, each entering a new phase in her career, setting the scene for a series of numbers which filled the Catedral del Cante with sumptuous spectacle and colours.

With each re-birth of her personality she varied the pace, sensuously crushing a silken cushion as she slid across a rustling bed of undulating satin, bathed in sensual purple lighting, languously draped in a wicker chair with wide brimmed hat, evoking the sweet caress of saharan winds in a summer landscape, vibrant in aqua blue through a flirtatious series of upbeat numbers, provocatively draped in a veil as notes of arabic melodies intertwined with the warm spanish guitar, and dangerously feminine in the number " El flamenquito que perdió las botas" which had temperatures rising throughout the Catedral del Cante with the appearance of a magnificently muscled flamenco dancer, clad in gold flecked black, who dropped a shower of sand from his hands, before embarking on a hair raisingly sensuous display of flamenco, silhouetted in the semi light, wet hair clinging to straining sinews as fans flapped their fans faster in unashamed appreciation throughout the audience.

She concluded the evening by throwing flowers to the audience, leaving the air warm with the trace of her presence, a sweet perfume filled evening, calming the senses, a pleasurable sensation of well being and saturation lingering at the end of a long and beautifully delivered set.

Having caught her breath and donned yet another figure hugging outfit, she unveiled her name, set in stone outside the Catedral del Cante, a luxurious gala, closing this first stage of Cante de Las Minas.

Tomorrow the competitions begin, the search for the stars of the future, in its final stages.

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