Ritmo y Compas: More than a Concert Venue

Set up in a residential neighborhood with no metro stops particualrly close by,Ritmo y Compas can be deceiving. You wouldn’t expect this spacious live music venue and bar to be some sort of mini music industry, but that’s what it is. Apart from bringing in bands from all over the world to perform, it also rents out rooms for practicing music or organizing parties, gives practice courses, offers managerial help and repairs instruments. Did we mention it has its own label and recording studio too?

There are a lot of people out there looking to record songs and albums, and Ritmo y Compas offers quality equipment and professional personnel. Apart from the main spaces on calle Conde de Vilche there are also rooms for rent on calle Thomas Redondo. One current offer:  If you rent the space and pay the first three months you get a month for free. For complete information, address and contact numbers click here.

As far as music lessons go the program is extensive: guitar, base, piano, voice, saxophone, drums and percussion lessons are all available, equipment included. Furthermore, there are courses that focus on other facets of music like handling multimedia and using computer music programs—click here for information, prices and offers. The recording studio is also first rate and they currently have offers for cheap recording, click here for complete technical information of the studio, as well as prices and conditions.

If you´re just looking for good live music and good drinking, never mind whatever else Ritmo y Compas offers and enjoy the scene. The acts that pass here are a mixed bag if there ever was one, with many local and international bands passing by. All kind of genres abound as well, though the place has got a tender spot for punk and metal groups. You´ve got nights where local and young bands—sometimes loud and crass—try out their stuff onstage, while on other occasions you´ll find a renowned guitarist that´s been doing the circuit for decades onstage. Ticket prices, of course, vary as well: while some nights its free entry, tickets for shows can range from 5 to 25 euros.

One kind of act that is customary at Ritmo are bands that are in middle territory—those famous in their local cities and with enough grub to make European tours but not known internationally. A good example of this was a Portugal The Man concert last December, an excellent rock band from Oregon releasing their new album. Every once and again you also get names of fame and talent that you´d be surprised to find here: Carl Verheyen, ex guitarist from Supertramp, and ex Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bayley have both done excellent concerts there in the past few months.

If you are looking to do anything at all with music you can find it here: from buying the instrument, practicing, playing, recording and then fixing it, Ritmo y Compas has it all. And if all you want is to groove to some tunes then this place works for you too!

Ritmo y Compas
Calle Conde de Vilches 22
913 552 800
Metro: Diego De Leon / Avenida de America / Cartagena / Parque de las Avenidas

By Daniel Sznajderman