Just can’t seem to keep away from Jamboree at the moment. After the Kurdish party last week, the club hosted a flamenco evening with Leo Power accompanied by guitarist Ramon Ruiz, joined by dancer Alba Heredia Villalobos.

Leo Power (website; YouTube)—based in Cádiz before settling in London—is a commanding presence on stage, while Ramon Ruiz (website; YouTube), guitarist of choice on the London flamenco scene, is a truly creative musician, his reflective, nuanced explorations balancing Leo’s more earthy, driven style. Here they are with Anita La Maltesa:

Emerging naturally from the cante was the passionate dancing of 19-year-old Alba Heredia— who, coming from a distinguished flamenco family in Jerez, has been dancing since she was a toddler.

Like Indian raga or Middle-Eastern maqam, flamenco is a miraculous microcosm. No longer aspiring to even a basic grasp of the palmas metres and rhythms, instead I just bask in the endless adaptability of the performers—the guitar harmonies and timbres, along with the singing, all urging the dancers to respond with the endlessly varied percussive barrage of hands and feet.

I may relish the anguish (aka “posturing, self-pitying machismo”) of the slower cante jondo genres, but as is clear from the great cantaores of yesteryear, lighter genres like bulerias and alegrias can also be intensely expressive.

On a rainy evening, the gig had a certain informality reminiscent of the juerga, with friends and aficionados among the small audience—clapping out the patterns, joining the musicians on stage towards the end for some festive dancing.

Here’s Ramon in Granada with a gifted young local singer:

My flamenco series is based on the remarkable documentaries Rito y geografïa del cante; cf. Flamenco in Chiswick.