I bought the tickets for Diego El Cigala based on his reputation as flamenco/tango fusion performer. The same was in Town Hall advertisement. However, when I came in and got the program it turned out he would be performing salsa instead.
I do not deny the artist’s (or anyone’s else) rights to step out of their boundaries, explore new genre and bring the personal touch to that. However, it still has to be done professionally and with care to audience expectations.
In this case it was absolutely ignored. The audience was loaded with loud screaming pipes of Cuban jazz and periodic flamenco style voice on background. I suspect many people did not even bother to read the program, so based on the public reaction it was a bit of shock as after several songs you could hear: “Flamenco!” from audience.
It seemed Diego picked the tune of something going wrong. However, his attention turned to audio engineers and other members of the band - he was giving them the looks and signs. Still after every new salsa word “flamenco” from audience was heard louder and more often. Finally, he took a pause, led the band out from podium and showed back only with the keyboard player. Diego gave him pompous presentation and let him play for a while.
In meantime Diego got another glass of something pink. He dipped his fingers in glass, then shook them, then sipped, then cleared his voice several times. Finally he started to sing. Still he was not happy with audio engineers turning his head to them between songs.
He performed several hits accompanied only by piano that apparently comforted the audience. The band returned and there were several nice soft jazzy flamenco songs. However, by the end it came back to where it started and I left without any regret at the moment the show formally ended.