It was advertised as a "sensory explosion" and the experience did not leave anyone indifferent. On the porches of the courtyard of the Llíria Conservatory, an orchestra. To the left, a kitchen. Above, a large video screen. Three such different elements merged at noon last Sunday to interpret, in a unique way, the Soundtrack of the Red Shrimp of Dénia.
The music was put on by the students of the Conservatory, the shrimp and the cuisine were the work of chef Jordi Andrés, from the El Tresmall restaurant in Dénia, and on the screen all the prominence was for the product: the capture, cooking and tasting of the Red shrimp. Two Valencian UNESCO Creative Cities, Llíria and Dénia, allied to highlight the best of their fields: music and gastronomy, respectively. The act was part of the FestIN festival organized by Turisme València and whose particularity is to connect gastronomic and artistic initiatives. In this case, the city of Llíria asked the organizers to include this collaboration with Dénia.
The orchestra of the Llíria Conservatory, directed by Vicent Carbonell, and made up of young students made a brilliant interpretation of the three parts of the symphony composed by the musicians Javier Pinto and Josep Pastor, trainers and members of the Dénia Musical Artistic Association. The Soundtrack of the Red Shrimp premiered on January 14, 2017, with a live performance by the Dénia band synchronized with an audiovisual that was also projected in Llíria on a large screen. In a forum held in the Brazilian city of Santos that same year, the audiovisual of the red shrimp was used as an example of the integration of three of the seven areas of the UNESCO Network of Creative Cities: Gastronomy, Music and Cinema.
live cooking
In Llíria, on Sunday, the live intervention of a cook who prepared a recipe with red shrimp in front of the public was added. While the music played, Jordi Andrés, from the El Tresmall restaurant, cooked step by step in front of the public a shrimp stew with American sauce and had reserved for the final tasting of those attending a delicatessen that retained all the flavor of the sea: marinated shrimp with salt. Without going through the fire, without more additions. Natural, which is the better a shrimp tastes, as Jordi Andrés insisted in his speech. When it comes to strengthening cultural ties between the regions of Camp de Turia and the Marina Alta, the final tasting, in addition to the shrimp, included two dry muscatel wines made in the region: Les Freses by Mara Bañó and Nimi by Joan de la Casa.
On the screen, meanwhile, images of shrimp fishing were seen, of its use in an avant-garde restaurant like the one in Quique Dacosta, and the pleasure of eating it. In each of the three movements, its composers, Javier Pinto and Josep Pastor, explained how they had set it to music and turned the entire gastronomic process surrounding Dénia's red shrimp into a score. In front of them, Jordi Andrés cooking, and on the table the cook doll of the artist from Fallas Enric Ginestar watching. The cuisine, the image and the taste in the sea of Dénia, the Valencian Creative City of Gastronomy, and the sound, sensitivity and good work of the young musicians of Llíria, the Valencian Creative City of Music.
The mayor of Llíria, Juan Manuel Miguel, and members of the Edetana corporation, as well as those responsible for the Conservatory and the acclaimed musical societies of the city, were present at the performance and subsequent tasting. The representation of Dénia was headed by Floren Terrades, director of the Office of Innovation and Creativity, given the impossibility of attending at the last minute of the mayor, Vicent Grimalt, as planned, and the manager of the Musical Artistic Association, Maite Agulles, on behalf of the Dénia band.
