La Banda Morisca comes from Cadiz carrying what they call música con esencia andalusí — music with Andalusian essence — which sounds abstract until you hear José Cabral reach between an oud and a banjo in the same set, or until Antonio Torres moves from a saxophone to a tarota, and you understand that the ensemble is doing something harder than fusion: they are tracing a civilization through its instruments. The six-piece arrives at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs on Saturday, March 6, as part of the Passport Series’ 2026–27 world music season.
About the Show
La Banda Morisca emerged from the world of Cadiz’s flamenco fusion scene, rising (as one profile described it) from the ashes of groups like Radio Tarifa and La Jambre and carrying forward their “unstoppable passion for musical experimentation.” The band’s project is precise: to evoke the cultural inheritance of ancient al-Andalus and trace its resonance across Andalusia, the Maghreb, and the Middle East, drawing on Andalusian moaxajas, Chaabi, and artists like Nass el Ghiwane alongside traditional flamenco and the Andalusian rock that followed. The full roster, with José Mari Cala on lead vocals, Cabral on Moorish guitar, oud, and banjo, Belén Lucena on violin, Torres on saxophones and reed instruments including the tarota and gralla, Jerónimo Melgar on electric bass, and David Ruiz on percussion, covers geography as much as it covers music. Their 2019 album Gitana Mora landed on several “best of 2020” lists despite the pandemic cutting off its touring life before it could properly begin. They have won the Jury Prize at the Sharq Taronalari Festival in Samarkand and performed at SXSW, the New York Flamenco Festival, the Arab World Festival of Montreal, and the Havana World Music Festival.
Venue & Logistics
The show is the fourth of five concerts in the Passport Series’ 2026–27 season, a Proctors Collaborative program that series curator Mona Golub describes as letting audiences “musically experience another culture for an evening and then return to the comfort of their home.” The series grows out of 36 seasons of the Music Haven Concert Series, which brought international music to the Capital Region long before it expanded year-round to Universal Preservation Hall, at 25 Washington Street in Saratoga Springs. The show begins at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets
No ticket price was available from sources at the time of publication. Individual tickets and the Passport Series Pass, which covers all five shows for the price of three, are available through Proctors Collaborative at (518) 346-6204. Buy tickets