Rockin' around Torremolinos

Complete with toupees and cat-eye sunglasses, the Rockin' Race Jamboree music festival took place in Torremolinos last weekend. With non-stop rock and roll music and dancing, the festival, at the Hotel Barracuda and the Príncipe de Asturias auditorium, was like taking a time machine back to the 1950s and the lifestyle that went with the rock and roll and swing genres.

This year marks the festival's 28th anniversary, although it could not take place last year due to Covid-19. Despite operating at reduced capacity celebrations were in full swing last Friday. The festival's director Guillermo Jiménez Pou said the preparations had been "very crazy".

Eva from Barcelona told SUR in English that this was the last festival she had attended before the pandemic hit and was the first one she's returned to. She was running a 1950s clothes stall called Kalypso for revellers to buy any last-minute accessories.

For others, such as Leah and Kirsty from the UK, this was their first time at the Torremolinos event and they fully embraced the 1950s style in their pin-up girl outfits and the traditional pool party.

Sipping a drink on a sunbed while admiring the sea view, Elske from Amsterdam described the experience as "paradise".

Marie Jo from Belfast has been coming with her husband for five years: "What we like most is the sun, the sangría and the dancing," she said.

While many revellers were from beyond Spain and Andalucía , the 'Made in Malaga' group also made their yearly appearance. As members of the Sun Coast Rocking Club, they have been an integral part of the festival since it began. "The atmosphere is amazing, as it always is, seeing the friends who come back every year," they explained.