From India to Spain and El Libertador A showcase of new works in progress by North East based artists. From India to Spain From India to Spain explores the encounter between two musical cultures. Through diaspora there were people who left India and settled in the South of the Iberian Peninsula, having a vital influence not only on Flamenco music but also Flamenco palos and dances.The project features Nick Able (sitar) who has travelled the world with Anouska Shankar, Mayte Beltrán (Flamenco dancer) who performed in the Carlos Saura film Flamenco-Flamenco, Spanish ethnomusicologist/guitarist, Paco Bethencourt and multi-talented musician/percussionist Jeremy Bradfield. Co-commissioned and supported by GemArts and ¡VAMOS! El Libertador Simón Bolívar was the seminal, influential and contradictory figure behind the independence of Latin America from Spanish colonial rule. He liberated Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Peru and fought to establish a unified republic in the form of Gran Colombia. Ultimately his vision and dream was rejected and it withered away and he died a bitter and lonely man. This monologue performance with actor Alex Elliot is presented as a work in progress in both Spanish and English. It has been written and directed by Nikolas Barrera and Alex Elliot. With elements of the script based on Bolívar’s speeches, the work mediates on universal themes of ambition, dreams and failure. El Libertador is supported by Arts Council England