Feminist street carnival group Cadiwoman performed as the opening act for Colombian singer Shakira at her Madrid residence on Saturday and Sunday. The ensemble, led by Susana Ginesta, appeared under their 2026 performance identity Las Queen.
The performances took place on September 26 and September 27 in an area designated as Macondo Park within the grounds of the artist's home. The event represents a landmark moment for the Cádiz carnival, highlighting how female street groups have moved to the vanguard of the annual festival.
Cadiwoman is an informal street chirigota from Cádiz, an ancient port city in the Andalusia region of southwestern Spain. A chirigota is a traditional musical ensemble central to the annual Carnival of Cádiz, performing satirical songs accompanied by acoustic guitars and percussion. Unlike formal competition groups that perform in theaters, street groups known as callejeras perform informally in public plazas and alleys.
History of Cadiwoman
The group has built a reputation for irreverent and activist humor since making their festival debut in 2009 with Las bien plantá. In 2025, the group performed under the repertoire name Las Dolly me parton.
Although Cadiwoman represents the contemporary leadership of female street groups, their current standing follows pathbreaking work by earlier performers. Pioneer group Las Niñas de Cádiz, led by the López Segovia sisters, previously broke established molds for female participation in the festival.
Cádiz and International Music Stars
Shakira is not the first international recording artist to feature elements of Cádiz carnival culture. Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz previously performed lyrics written by Cádiz chirigota author Juan Carlos Aragón during his concerts.
Sanz covered a famous copla from Aragón's group Los Yesterday, in which the narrator cheekily admitted to leaving his company after recognizing that culture was the greatest wealth.
Uruguayan singer and Oscar winner Jorge Drexler also focused on Cádiz, often nicknamed the Tacita de Plata. Drexler delivered the official opening address for the city's carnival in 2013 and composed a song dedicated to the municipality, writing that while others think of Havana when looking at Cádiz, he thinks of Montevideo.
Magic Realism and Local Connections
The name of the Madrid venue, Macondo Park, references the fictional Colombian town created by Nobel Prize laureate Gabriel García Márquez in his classic magic realist literature. Mexican author Juan Rulfo similarly depicted imaginary rural settings such as Comala in his writing.
In Cádiz, however, local residents associate magic realism more closely with the dribbling skills of Jorge Mágico González, the Salvadoran footballer who became a legendary figure while playing for Cádiz CF in the 1980s.
For local observers, the appearance of a Cádiz street group at Macondo Park evokes Campo Hondo, the informal football pitch in the moat of the city's historic Puertas de Tierra gates where local children play. The event echoes a local literary verse stating that Macondo is Cádiz with vultures, while Cádiz is Macondo without the Aureliano family.
