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The legendary Candela bar opened its doors in 1982 in the Lavapiés neighbourhood to become the epicentre of Madrid‘s flamenco scene. For almost forty years, it hosted endless nights illuminated by stars, maestros, cantaores and tocaores (flamenco guitarists) such as Paco de Lucía, Camarón, Enrique Morente and Pepe Habichuela.
The magic and fervour of this haven for artists, intellectuals and aficionados, which sadly faded away in 2022 after its closure, is now coming back to the fore in this new phase in which Candela will reinvent the tradition to connect it with the new generations. That is precisely what the partners behind its reopening are achieving: the artist Piro, the DJ Amanda Portillo, the restaurateurs Neus Cerdà and Edu Por las Noches, the chef Ángela Gimeno, the actor Unax Ugalde and the producer Enroque López Lavigne, among others. Because, as Jacobo Rivero says in the book ‘Candela, Memoria social de un Madrid flamenco’, flamenco singing is born, lives and survives.
A collective tribute to Candela
All of them have joined forces to revive the bar and establish it as a new cultural reference point for flamenco and other disciplines that will end up resonating in the history of music. To achieve this, they decided to collaborate with the Hello Vebena team of interior designers and architects, with whom they restored some of the original elements of the bar, such as Miguel and his father’s iconic bulrush chairs, the green and white checkerboard floor and the walls full of old photographs that make up a generational portrait of the era.
This combination of Madrid tavern, Andalusian tablao and cave is also decorated with works of art, sculptures and carnations that encapsulate its romantic and traditional aura; and visually stimulate its design that harmonises tradition and modernity. The acoustics of the venue have also been improved so that the music can be heard and felt better. So that it reaches the public more quickly.
Inside the room located at street level, the bar has been reinterpreted by the artist Amanda Portillo, who wanted to illustrate the history of the Candela by joining its decorative tiles together with an Andalusian plinth that includes details such as Zippo lighters that evoke the name of the bar.
Flamenco in the heart
In the meantime, the cave has remained intact as a sacred place in which to relive those unforgettable nights of the past that are already taking place in the bar through different shows that are somehow resignifying flamenco in the current era. And they are doing so with spontaneous encounters like the one that happened between Ibero-American artists like Carlos Canela and Incós; where musicians like Yamandu Costa, Karaí Guedes and Yerai Cortés connected Brazilian music with flamenco.
Following in that footsteps, from Tuesdays to Thursdays -from February onwards- intimate, acoustic performances will be offered, creating spaces where established and emerging artists come together to experiment freely through improvisation, and glimpse their shared love of flamenco.
On Tuesdays, in particular, ‘Café Canela’ will take to the stage at the Candela as a weekly event in which a flamenco artist invites other artists to play or sing with them. The first will take place on 21 January, the day on which Paco Soto kicks off this new flamenco series.
In the evenings, the Candela will be transformed into a club, with a new sound system and a DJ table to mix flamenco roots with contemporary genres.
Cuisine with a traditional soul
What used to be the backstage and storeroom of the bar has now been converted into a dining room and a kitchen that, from February 2025, will delight diners with its culinary offerings with a traditional and traditional essence.
The executive chef, winner of Masterchef 2024, Ángela Gimeno, has been in charge of designing the bar’s entire menu based on national and seasonal produce. It will include everything from dishes such as homemade pickles to preserves, spoon dishes or reinterpreted stews such as meatballs of old matured cow or chickpeas with trotters and prawns. All this combined with a classic vermouth on tap, a palo cortado, a manzanilla or one of its signature cocktails inspired by the history of the Candela, which is now forever.
