🦓 The Tapa Weekend: December 1
A different kind of zoo, a gospel music festival and more flamenco. ¡Olé!
By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | December 1, 2023 | Madrid | Issue #32
🎉 Welcome to a new issue of The Tapa: Weekend Edition! An English-language newsletter about what to do this weekend in Madrid (plus memes!)
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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend
It’s Friday again!
And if there’s one thing not to do in Madrid this weekend is heading downtown to see the Christmas lights. Seriously, it’s madness. If you’re not into large crowds, this is your worst nightmare. Last week it was justified, there was this big ceremony with the mayor and everything. And sure, the Puerta del Sol Christmas tree is really pretty and the market at Plaza Mayor is definitely worth a visit. But do it on a Tuesday at 3 p.m. or you’ll just be elbowing people left and right with every step you take.
(If you are into that, then by all means head over there on Saturday at 8 p.m. so you can get the real large crowd experience.)
But we digress. Here are five things to do this weekend that can help you avoid the crowds like the plague.
1. Madrid Craft Week Christmas 2023
Madrid Craft Week (the Christmas edition) started a week ago and ends this Sunday so if you’re into it, better hurry up. In case you’re wondering, MCW is a week dedicated to “celebrating quality, authenticity, and handmade work in a selection of city shops offering a complete program of activities related to the world of craftsmanship”. This is your chance to recreate that scene from Ghost, only in Spanish!
You can check the activities available on the official website, but they are Christmas-themed activities for all sorts of audiences. There is a metal workshop with an introduction to jewelry-making processes, an initiation workshop to Sashiko embroidery, an ancient Japanese embroidery technique, and a bicolor lamps workshop.
During Madrid Craft Week, you can discover the best fashion, decoration, art, and gastronomy shops, “showcasing their artisanal products through workshops, exhibitions, collection presentations, and other activities”. Merry Early Christmas.
And yes, we know, the video above is from 2021 but it’s not our fault that there’s no updated version.
Madrid Craft Week Christmas. Multiple locations around Madrid. Through Dec. 3. Check website for more information.
2. 3rd Festival de Raíz Flamenca de San Blas-Canillejas
Just because it’s Christmas it doesn’t mean we have to listen to Christmas carols 24/7. In fact, this is your last chance to enjoy some good, old fashioned (and off-the beaten-path) flamenco before it ends.
The third Flamenco Roots Festival, in the San Blas-Canillejas nrighborhood on the outskirts of Madrid, started last week, and it features some of the most prominent voices in contemporary flamenco — including Águeda Saavedra, Antonio and Remedios Reyes, and the Fernando de Rúa Trío.
The festival concludes this Sunday with the Fernando de Rúa Trío's performance of “Entre dos aguas”, featuring Fernando Rúa's Brazilian guitar, which blends bossa nova and samba in perfect harmony with the flamenco roots, Edimundo Santos on voice and percussion, and Leticia Malvares on voice and flute.
Admission is free but you need to get your tickets in person at the Centro Cultural (they will be available two hours before the show).
III Festival de Raiz Flamenca. Centro Cultural Antonio Machado, San Román del Valle 8, Madrid. Dec. 2, 7 p.m. Free admission.
3. Tick, Tick… BOOM!
You’ve probably seen it on Broadway. Or maybe on Netflix, starring Andrew Garfield. But Tick Tick… BOOM!, a modern classic of musical theater, is back in Madrid for little less than two months—and performing only on Fridays.
Actor and singer Daniel Diges stars in this adaptation of the musical drama that narrates the story of Jonathan Larson, an aspiring composer in the 90s who works as a waiter in New York while writing what he hopes will be the next great American musical. However, as he finishes his piece, he must also endure pressure from his girlfriend and his best friend, who try to convince him that perhaps, as he approaches 30, it might be too late to achieve his longed-for dream.
You may not know this, but Larson was a real-life playwright and musician known as the author of RENT, the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning show that ran on Broadway for twelve consecutive years.
Diges is a celebrated performer who won National Theater Award for Best Musical Actor in 2009 and 2010 and has starred in Les Mis, Mamma Mia! and Beauty and the Beast among others.
Tick Tick… BOOM! Gran Teatro CaixaBank Principe Pío, Cuesta de San Vicente 44, Madrid. Through Dec. 22, Fridays 7 p.m. Tickets start at €18.
4. Madrid’s Grandes del Gospel festival
If you’re a fan of gospel (like we are) then you don’t want to miss this one. Grandes del Gospel returns for its 29th edition this year, with a program featuring some of the greatest voices of American gospel.
There are many options this weekend, so check out the official website for additional info, but you’ve got the Harlem Gospel Choir celebrating 60 years of Whitney Houston; Gospel4Kids by the Joshua Nelson Gospel Singers; and the Chicago Mass Choir presenting B.B. King Spiritual.
In this last production, the Chicago Mass Choir “revives the purely gospel music recorded by the blues legend in 1959 on the album 'B.B. King Sings Spirituals.' An emotional return to the songs of his childhood churches in Mississippi” and the “old hymns that return to us the fire and beauty of the past”.
Festival Grandes del Gospel. Centro Cultural de la Villa, Plaza de Colón 4, Madrid. Through Dec. 10. Check official website for schedules. Tickets start at €7.
5. Brilla Madrid Zoo:
It’s all about immersive experiences these days—and this one is no exception.
Welcome to the largest (fake) zoo in the world, in which over 500 lit up animal sculptures “create a perfect natural space for nighttime walks with your family or as a couple”. Located in the Juan Carlos I park, the zoo is “divided into 30 scenes representing different moments from the animal world”.
There are zebras, lions and panda bears that will definitely look good on your Instagram. And what’s even cooler is that there will also be animals that have gone extinct and also mythological creatures (like dragons!).
Before you ask (because we knew you’d ask), yes, there will be food trucks offering delicious warm food in a large dining area outdoors—with heating. Don’t forget the kids (if you have any)!
Brilla Madrid Zoo. Parque Juan Carlos I, Barajas. Through Jan. 14. 5:40 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets: €20 (children), €25 (adults).
👨🏻💻 Viral Stories of the Week
🎷 Those dulcet tones…
We all knew that the Spanish National Anthem didn’t have lyrics—but we didn’t know it didn’t have a tune! As King Felipe VI and family (and PM Pedro Sánchez) rolled up to the opening of parliament this week, the official band kicked off a rousing rendition of the national anthem. But…oops!…someone forgot to tune beforehand. The pained face of KF6 is priceless!
🎄 Long live the Christmas sweater
Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso gave a speech at the unveiling of traditional Christmas belén/crèche/nativity scene in the Puerta del Sol. Starting with “one of the world’s most beautiful births” it ranged into Christian theology and…children who had their throat slit (among other things). Oh and, in case you want it, she was wearing a Christmas sweater that you can buy for €24.95 in Metro de Madrid stores.
🔔 A Message From Our Sponsor
Secret Kingdoms is your English bookstore in Madrid. It specializes in Spanish history and literature, contemporary and classic novels, books for children and young adults of all ages, history and historical fiction, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, poetry, biographies and much more.
Located on Calle de Moratín 7 — a few blocks away from the Prado Museum — and with over 20,000 new and used books, Secret Kingdoms has something for everyone.
Find out more at www.thesecretkingdoms.com
🙏 Once again, please remember to share this newsletter with your friends on social media. The more we grow, the more information we’ll be able to offer each week.
We’ll be back next week with more.
Can you guys please move to Barcelona so you can tell me what to do with my life?!