Copla Night with Orquestina Iris of Altea la Vella

Copla is old-fashioned Spanish song at its most heartfelt: big melodies, dramatic pauses and lyrics about love, longing and pride that the audience tends to know by heart. Orquestina Iris come over from Altea la Vella to perform a full evening of it, and Finestrat puts them in the open-air auditorium up by the castle, in the maze of streets that makes up the old town.

It kicks off at 10pm, which is the right hour for this sort of thing. The night air is cooler, the small setting keeps everything close, and the singing carries well off the stone. You won't follow every word if your Spanish is shaky, but the feeling comes through regardless. It's part of the town's summer cultural run, it's free, and it's a gentle, local way to spend a June evening away from the beachfront.