Institut Ramon LLull

Almadraba by Oscar Peñas, world premiere at the BAM

Music.  New York, 03/10/2018

Barcelona-born guitarist and composer Oscar Peñas and his quartet combine piano, bass, and drums with a string quartet in this classical-jazz suite inspired by the 3,000-year-old Andalusian fishing tradition known as the almadraba. Borrowing sounds from Cuban and South American folk music, as well as from Peñas’ own Iberian heritage, the composition pays poetic tribute to this age-old ecological technique for sustainably trapping bluefin tuna. A musical narration of this arduous process—from the labyrinthine formation of boats to the dramatic hoisting of nets—Almadraba is both a lush melding of sonic styles and a celebration of ancient wisdom.




After two years of hard work, Alamadraba, Oscar Peñas’ new composition has seeing the light. The piece is an ode to the Andalusia’s most environmental and sustainable fishing trap known as almadraba.

Almadraba (2018) is an intriguing new composition where the jazz, classical and popular driven styles, interact with Iberian traditions composed by guitarist Oscar Peñas.

Almadraba provided Peñas with the opportunity to work and share experiences with a jazz and classical quartets, for the first time, as well it also help raise the awareness of an environmentally friendly trap-fishing method, which is one of the oldest in the world that has not changed since its inception.

BAM Fisher

Part of the 2018 Next Wave Festival

Wed, Oct 3 at 7:30pm

Thu, Oct 4 at 7:30pm

Fri, Oct 5 at 7:30pm

Sat, Oct 6 at 7:30pm

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