LaFonoteca shows Spain’s rocking side
LaFonoteca London's Daniel Moody, Raul Alonso and Pedro Roman (left to right) Photo credit: Daniel Mayrit
Lafonoteca London is a project born with the aim of spreading Spanish music in Britain. If you are a Spanish band in London, there is no better deal than this: they pay for your low-cost flights, they host you in their homes and they find a venue where you can hold your concert.
If you are a Spanish indie band and you want to hold a concert in London, Raúl Alonso, Pedro Roman and Daniel Moody, two Spanish and one British promoters, are the people who can make it possible.
“Our idea has always been to make Spanish music more popular outside of the country. Nowadays with cheaper flights and the facilities that venues can offer us, we realised that it was possible to make it on the ground,” said Alonso who is also founder of Lafonoteca.net, the website supporting the music project from Spain.
Since Lafonoteca London has been in business, it has brought to London many of the most interesting artists on the Spanish independent scene. Among them are Francisco Nixon, Triangulo De Amor Bizarro, Wild Honey, Delorean, Big City and Remate.
“It started like a dream,” said Alonso. “At the beginning Pedro and me just decided that we wanted to see the band we like playing here in London. We started with less known bands, but quickly it got bigger and bigger and we realised it wasn’t so difficult to get in touch with the most popular ones”.
The gigs, held in different venues all over East London, usually consist of a Spanish band backed up by British groups selected from the London indie circle. At the same time, the audience of the concerts is made of people from all over the world.
“Basically we started with our friends, but little by little we have grown our numbers,” said Alonso.
‘Spain is not just Flamenco’
Delorean playing at The Legion. Photo credit: Daniel Mayrit
Even the British, who at the beginning seemed a bit more closed-minded toward Spanish bands, are now part of Lafonoteca’s community. “At our last gig, when Cuchillo played at the Stags Head was quite full of British who seemed to appreciate it,” said Alonso.
“At last they are taking the chance to discover that Spanish music is not just Flamenco,” he added.
However, making these gigs happen is not an easy job. “We work with a low budget,” said Alonso. “We founded the entire organisation with a small percentage of the bar sales of the venues hosting the gigs. So hiring the back-line of English groups is always a big issue”.
From the last week of September, London will host Spain NOW!, an annual four week showcase of the latest creative talent coming out of Spain. The aim is to export to Britain an image of Spain different from the conservative and outdated one still commonly held.
Lafonoteca is going to organise three gigs and three performances for the festival next Autumn. As Alonso said, it will be just the “next step” to “make people understand that Spanish bands can compete on the ground with any other ones from all over the world”.
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