The City Council will recognize the cantaora Rocío Bazán as Favorite Daughter of the city

The Plenary has approved his appointment, which will be made effective on February 28th during the institutional ceremony for the Day of Andalusia.

The Estepona City Council will recognize the singer Rocío Bazán, considered one of the great young voices of the flamenco scene, as Favorite Daughter of the City. The plenary has today approved his appointment, which will take effect on February 28 during the institutional act on the occasion of the Day of Andalusia.

The councilor delegate of Citizen Participation, Maria Aguilar, has highlighted the qualities of this professional singer born in Estepona, who since childhood felt the need to express their feelings through singing, “as did both his maternal great-grandfather, Jose Fernandez, and his grandmother Manuela. “From them she learned, by oral transmission, her first fandangos and bulerías lyrics”. Rocío Bazán’s voice began to be forged in the flamenco peñas and festivals of her homeland, maturing over time, and little by little her singing began to resonate professionally in the flamenco circuits of Andalusia.

Today, this artist who has exhibited her singing, her versatility and her know-how in four of the five continents, has received important awards such as the ‘Jóvenes Flamencos’ Award of the Festival del Cante de las Minas de la Unión (1999), the XII Bienal de Arte Flamenco de Sevilla, or the ‘Giraldillo Jóvenes Intérpretes’ (2002). He has also participated in national programs as relevant as ‘Los Conciertos de Palacio’, in the Festival de Jerez; ‘Las Trasnoches Flamencas’ of the Festival de Música y Danza de Granada; the Festival Suma Flamenca de Madrid; and the Festival de Arte Flamenco de Cataluña.

Stages such as the Tower of David in Jerusalem, the Cairo Opera House, the Explanade Auditorium in Singapore, the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, the City Center in New York, the National Auditorium in Madrid, the National Auditorium in Buenos Aires, the Traversiere Theater in Paris, the Cueva de Nerja in Malaga, the Palace of Culture in Sofia (Bulgaria), the Beijing Opera, or the Sadler’s Wells in London have enjoyed the singing of this great figure of flamenco.

In addition, numerous institutions have chosen her to show the art of flamenco outside our borders, such as the Cervantes Institute and the Spanish Embassy, representing the Spain Brand in the European Parliament in Brussels.

“In love with other music, Rocío Bazán is a singer with a long career in and out of flamenco. One of those rara avis of the flamenco scene who knows practically all the palos of this mysterious art and whose suggestive voice, full of magnetism and power, has the evocative capacity of the most racial voices that could be heard during the last 20th century”.

Aprona Residence

The Plenary of the City Council has also given the green light to the final approval of the declaration of special interest of the construction of a building for residential housing that promotes the Aprona Foundation. This measure will allow it to obtain a rebate on the Tax on Constructions, Installations and Works (ICIO) of up to 95%. The Consistory has taken into account “the roots that has the Foundation in our town and the great work done for the integration of people with physical and / or mental disabilities,” considering that these works “have a special interest in concurring social and cultural circumstances,” which justifies the statement.

The Aprona Foundation’s project contemplates a residential building for people with disabilities on a 480 square meter plot of land that is annexed to the association’s current facilities.

It is a pioneering project proposing a new way of living where the user can develop and explore all their capabilities. The plot, ceded at the time by the City Council, is attached to the current occupational center of this group where they also have a day unit, special education center and adult residence. With this new initiative, they will add to the services they already offer to people with functional diversity and their families a Residence for the Seriously Affected (RGA), as well as Independent Living Housing (VVI).