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Guest DJ Antonio Lizana: Flamenco Jazz On Voice And Saxophone

Saxophonist and vocalist Antonio Lizana mixes flamenco and jazz.
Juan Laguna
/
Courtesy of the artist
Saxophonist and vocalist Antonio Lizana mixes flamenco and jazz.

In this week's show we discover that jazz and flamenco have common roots. As Spanish saxophonist and vocalist Antonio Lizana explains, both forms of music have very deep origins in the pain and suffering of persecuted people and can be seen as expressions of that pain. Flamenco and jazz come to us by way of the persecution of Roma people in 16th-century Spain and slavery in America, respectively.

That, of course, is the Cliffs Notes version of musical history, but you can actually hear that history in the hands of jazz musicians from Spain. Musicians like pianist Chano Dominguez, saxophonist Jorge Pardo and now saxophonist and vocalist Antonio Lizana master both traditions.

You'll hear that history this week in English and Spanish in our first-ever fully bilingual podcast.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Felix Contreras is co-creator and host of Alt.Latino, NPR's pioneering radio show and podcast celebrating Latin music and culture since 2010.