“Authentic is that there are cafes that are not copies of others”

Fernando Pessoa said that Madrid is a city of cafes: it was the lion where José Bergamín founded the magazine Cruz and Ray; the one from Hora, the sun cafe in which Valle-Inclán came by losing his free forearm by a hair; el Pombo, recovered from the members of Gómez de la Serna in Calle Carretas; el Comercial, mesa fija de Umbral y Ferlosio; and Gijón, which has not yet recorded the echoes of great literary terms.

Of these places, with the exception of Obchod and Gijón, which will reopen next April 1st, only this is a plaque. “If Pessoa visits the city now, it will be ready,” assures Juantxu Bohigues, a worker at Café Central for more than a decade. The historic Plaza del Ángel jazz club announced in July 2025 that it will open its doors for more than 40 years.

“Those who work with us, we enter every two weeks. We know that we keep some stones, subidas de alquiler … the dueña from the Café always wants to win more. We hope that we have a 15 or 20-year contract so that we can continue, unfortunately, but if they bought our contract for five years and they just did not want to contact us.” They don’t want to negotiate, they want us to be”, complains Bohigue El Cultural.

The sky was first expected to be in October 2025, but predictions vary sustained local life until April 16, which turns into the lower floor of the Ateneo de Madrid, which is practically on the corner of the street. In this new place, bautizada like Café Central Ateneo, They will continue with their regular program: two concerts every day and, in parallel, concerts will be held every 15 days in the University Cathedral, one of the largest auditoriums of the institution (300 people).

Since the announcement of the definitive death, the nights in the Plaza del Ángel passed with extraordinary normalcy, between celebration and expedition, during the calls of “conciertos de la resistance”. It’s not easy, but Bohigues knows very well how to move to Central – it will be that after 24 years working at Café Comercial – it represents a difficult balance to become careful, discreet and attentive in such a reduced space.

Faced with the impersonal aesthetics of el Central specialty cafes preserves the classic air of old European cafes. On your side, you will also hear the piano notes of Tete Montoliu – which he played every night in August 1994 to save the fire place -, the saxophone of Bobby Watson and Pedro Iturralde or the flamenco flute of Jorge Pardo.

Just like the music of thousands of artists who have gone through this scenario if condensed en los more than 14,000 concerts to those who do pleitesia Cafe Central. History of Jazz (2025), a book that Bohigues started writing before the sad news, but which now functions as a homecoming for the artists who gave light to the local.

“For musicians from Madrid, the history of our lives is at the center”, The Cultural Joaquín Chacón, a guitarist who has been playing since it opened in 1982, tells the story of Joaquín Chacón. He especially remembers the first few steps of the Café, when the same group could play all week. “It was an opportunity to set up projects and present records, a very good presentation escape, because at that time there was a lot of cultural excitement and the place was full every day. He was a person who no longer existed in any part of the world.”

American saxophonist Bobby Martínez, who will be one of the last musicians to perform at the Plaza del Ángel, likes to compare Central to “Blue Note from Madrid”. The environment and its location mean that it is a place that is always full, “with a Spanish audience all the time and many tourists, but it always works for people who like what they have going on. It’s not as strong as pop, but jazz has a huge audience“.

Throughout its 43-year history, Central’s folders have changed. “There used to be a lot of strangers and elderly people, and now they live in families with children and young people trying to find something new. It’s wonderful to see how jazz is rejuvenating. He’s a guy the whole world has always loved,” Bohigues explains.

Quizá por el, en esteño encontrar un nuevo hogar, los dueños del Central hcieero a lalamamiento al la la la la public y posible empresarios. A call for help to the one heard by Luis Arroyo, president of the University of Madrid, who is coming to this union “a wonderful opportunity to save decades of musical tradition in Madrid”, Asegura El Cultural.

“We’re connected with an interesting story for both sides. It’s not about a guy, it’s about cooperation agreement between two institutions“. The agreement, which can be revoked with a six-month notice in case of non-compliance by one of the parties. “This should include a guarantee that no one will borrow who becomes a burden to me,” warns the president of the university.

This alliance, as it turns out, raises certain expectations – “The programming of concerts in the diary throughout the year will bring success” – but it was also recognized with “great illusion” by part of the Madrid community and members of the university, who will benefit from the important success in Enter and you will have access to the Salón de Actos de la Cátedra Mayor several times a year.

Next to Arroyo, the cafe will be installed in what used to be a university basement. “They provided the music and we provided the space: we serve drinks and food. We will not interfere with your program or ours“All we want is to work and continue to provide jazz to the people of Madrid,” assures Bohigues.

One of the artists to showcase this new development will be Sheila Blanco, singer, pianist and composer, who will join pianist Federico Lechner in May. Blanco lost the story of the time he played at Central — “a calculus that 40 nights in 14 years and with various projects” — which is a very significant place for the artist because “It makes you feel like you belong to the music community what they only have in this city,” explains El Cultural.

From the Central, he admits, it will be less “a wonderful escape to the best place on the paseo de Madrid and be able to see how old it is and the light of the place changed while the music played”. However, he is confident that this new scene will “gain the public’s loyalty and evoke the warmth that was breathing in the Plaza del Ángel”.

Optimism to which Chacón summarizes: “This site has a very magical energy, imbued with many concerts and many public ones. Another reason to build it: it’s like a tool that lasts for years to fill with sound, voice, vibration…”.

Bohigue also agreed that the essence of the Café is being transferred to the University: “It will be different, but the good thing is that we want to keep the same things: the same programmer (Javier González), the same two people (Jorge González Iglesias and his partner Guillermo Ramos) and the same team.” At the end and at the end think: “this is a wall, it is a place that is built and will disappear, places are people, they are the ones who keep a place alive and loving“.

The closure of Central led to articles from a Paris periodical Le Mondewhich I see in him as “an indication that Madrid is in full transformation”. Writer Pedro Bravo describes this global phenomenon well in a published article Before that, it was all a city (Debate, 2026): “The commercial market in cities around the world seems to be repeating itself. Specialized cafes, second-hand stores, grocery stores hemp, hostels y hotels etc. If you are in Madrid, Barcelona, ​​​​Berlin, Amsterdam or Paris; They are the same stores with similar decorations and warm communication.”

“It is very sad that people do not rebel against the darkness of literary and musical cafes. The truth is that there are cafes that cannot be a copy of the otherssuch as Café Belén, Barberi…And when everyone disappears, we want to eat less”, laments Bohigues.

PUSH the loss of the cultural tejido of cities If in the last decade it has accelerated by huge steps and in the case of Central, it is unfortunately not an exception: in Barcelona this year there will also be the music bar Karma, open since 1978, and Deskomunal, a concert hall that was born with the mission It will be an alternative for cultural diffusion in the city.

For Chacón, we are in a very different cultural paradigm that gives rise to the splendor and excitement of places like Central. In the case of jazz, however, I do not believe that the problem is the genre’s generational issue. A jazz professor at the Vasco Country Center of Excellence claims that, in fact, “too many musicians for such a small room”.

“The number of rooms is the same or even less, and yet the musical offer of musicians and artists is greater. In Spain there are now many centers of official jazz studios, which generates a supply of artists with a lot of preparation that they want to place directly on their projects. But there are often fewer places that welcome them.” It’s hard to find anyone in a store of this type“.

“Todas artes necesitan sus spaces where they can developand funding and promotion so that artists can develop their projects and communicate with the public”, agrees Sheila Blanco, for this reason the problem is that “no one should care about culture or appreciate it as much as they should. Culture is for all and for all and we must protect it at all costs, keeping in mind the huge legacy and talent that exists in this country.”

Since 2006, the Madrid City Council has brought home to the city’s century-old businesses by awarding a plaque that is placed on a public road near a major store. worker Headquarters.

From time to time, this legendary coffee shop will take care of the shipment you need. On April 16, your dance at the University will be the same a solemn New Orleans-style funeralwith a parade open to all musicians who wanted to admire all the old people in town. The resistance, noted by Bohigues, is also an act of calling, “tell the people: we care.”