By Eileen Wingard
LA JOLLA, California — One of the top flamenco artists in the world today, Lakshmi Basile, “La Chimi,” will be featured in the Thursday, July 27, 7 p.m. Intersections Concert Series at Park and Market, curated by Yale Strom.
She will be joined by her quintet, Souls on Fire, and by Hot Pstromi, featuring Yale Strom on violin, Elizabeth Schwartz, vocals, Fred Benedetti, guitar.
La Chimi was born and raised in San Diego and began performing flamenco dance at the tender age of six. She attended the School of Performing Arts before entering the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she studied Classical Dance. At age 20, she traveled to Spain to complete her flamenco studies. There, she worked and performed with some of the greatest flamenco dancers of Spain.
In 2011, La Chimi was one of the first and only foreign artists in Spain to win the highly regarded national prize in “Concurso de las Minas de La Unión.” She also won the prestigious “Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco de Córdoba.” One critic called her dancing, “a heart wrenching homage to the romantics of pure flamenco.”
In 15 years, Lakshmi consolidated her career in Seville, the cradle of flamenco. She has finally returned to her hometown of San Diego. In addition to Lakshmi Basile’s quintet (from Los Angeles) artists Yale Strom, Elizabeth Schwartz, and Fred Benedetti will join the quintet as they interpret through dance and song Middle Eastern and Sephardic music.