Denia’s red prawn delicacy inspire music

DENIA’S prized red prawns inspire music as well as palates.

They are the subject of ‘La banda sonora de la Gamba Roja de Denia,’ an 18-minute piece of symphonic music for wind instruments and percussion. 

Its principal composer is Javier Pinto, a member of Denia’s Agrupacio Artistica Musical, and his recently-premiered work is a soundtrack describing how the prawns are fished, prepared and eaten.  

For the first movement ‘Pesca,’ he went to sea with Mauricio Ripoll, skipper of the most important boat in Denia’s prawn-fishing fleet.  Quique Dacosta, Denia’s three-Michelin star chef, took him into his kitchens for the second movement ‘La Cocina.’

The third movement, ‘Degustacion,’ was composed by Josep Pastor, musician and president of the Agrupacio Artistica Musical, with background provided by food critic Jesus Terres.

UNESCO named Denia a Creative City of Gastronomy in 2015.  Its red prawns were one of the principal factors that earned Denia the distinction, according to the UNESCO jury.