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Text: Estela Zatania
Photos: Paco Sánchez
HONORARY CITIZENS OF CÁDIZ FOR A DAY
Dance: Juan José Jaén ‘El Junco’. Patricia Ibáñez, José Manuel Álvarez. Beatriz Morales. Carlos Carbonel, Zaida Pérez, Francisco Martín, Claudia Vázquez, Javier Sánchez. Guest artists: Ma. José Franco, Ana Salazar, Rosario Toledo. Cante: Mariana Cornejo, Emilio Florido, Carmen de la Jara, David Palomar, Miguel Rosendo. Guitar: Keko, Ricardo Rivera. Special invited artists: José María Acosta, José Ramón and Castro “Ramoni”. Choreography: Juan José Jaén “El Junco”. Music director: Faustino Núñez. Script: Selu Cossío, Faustino Núñez, Juan José Téllez. Staging: Pepa Gamboa.
High expectations, months of preparation and rehearsal and no small amount of money all reached fruition with the premiere performance of the mega show “Cádiz”, a tribute to flamenco from that part of the world one year after the centennial of singerEnrique “El Mellizo”, the great historical father of Cádiz cante.
 The debut of this show, produced by the Agencia Andaluza para el Desarrollo del Flamenco, was scheduled so as to coincide with the thirty-fifth Congreso Internacional de Arte Flamenco in the provincial capital of Cádiz. “The moment has finally arrived for Cádiz flamenco to stand up and be counted”. Those are the words used by Bibiana Aído of the Agencia at the work’s presentation days earlier, reflecting decades of outright neglect when the flamenco atmosphere of the city known as the Tacita de Plata, or little silver cup, formerly a hotbed of flamenco activity, nearly dried up. But these are dynamic times for flamenco, and Cádiz has accepted the challenge to revive and cultivate past glory in order to participate in a market whose appetite for flamenco shows no signs of abating.
What the show “Cádiz” is not: contrary to what many people thought, there was no intention of creating an updated version of the legendary 1932 show “Las Calles de Cádiz” created by Argentinita which brought together artists like Ignacio Espeleta, El Gloria, Juana la Macarrona and la Malena among others. Nor was there any didactic inclination, nor were the people in charge aiming to present an anthology of Cádiz cante. “Cádiz”, the show, is a mirror in which this luminous city on the Mediterranean views itself, and above all, it’s downright good theater.
And the sea is the focal point that dominates every scene in the form of a backdrop where steamers come and go from exotic places leaving on shore a diversity of characters, from oriental actresses to African dancers or Italian opera singers, a great soup of humanity that pulses to the beat of cantiñas and tangos that characterize the city. Another day there will be time to follow the trail of el Viejo de la Isla and his tortuous siguiriyas that gave birth to a universe of “black sounds”: today, the sun is shining with that special light that only exists in Cádiz, and the chilled manzanilla is flowing freely
A great soup of humanity that pulses to the beat of cantiñas and tangos that characterize the city
The laidback feeling of the work ends up seducing and entertaining the whole audience throughout two lengthy parts, about two and a half hours of Cádiz, Cádiz and more Cádiz, by three star dancers, Rosario Toledo, Juan José Jaén “El Junco” and María José Franco, a dancer who sings, Ana Salazar, and an excellent assortment of local artists, notably veteran singers Mariana Cornejo and Carmen de la Jara, young David Palomar (who recently won two important prizes at the Córdoba contest) and Miguel Rosendo, as well as the surprising guitarists Keko and Ricardo Rivera. “Cádiz” is the unabashed celebration of a character that is proud of its “mañana” attitude, something most of the world relates to Spain, but which is more lower Andalusia and specfically a Cádiz trait.
Comparison may be unfair, but one can’t help but compare this tourist attraction to similar products such as María Pages’ “Sevilla”, or Paco Mora’s “Málaga” that opened the first festival “Málaga en Flamenco” in 2005. Unlike those productions, “Cádiz” is an absolutely painfree coherent experience that leaves the cultural baggage at the office and lets the good times roll, because the bad times will come without even trying.
Exquisite hairdos, and most of the costuming enhance the strong flavor of the era in this celebration of identity. With Puertatierra, the entrance to the city, as backdrop, David Palomar sings the street-song of Macandé as the stars take turn with alegrías, offering a kind of flamenco which is both traditional and fresh. Brief contemporary incursions momentarily break the spell, but we are soon returned to the dream. In siguiriyas, one of the few serious moments of the work, Rosario Toledo sports a neckline that plunges to her waist which draws attention from her dance. Carmen de la Jara sings “ida y vuelta”, Miguel Rosendo does a bit of soleá de Cádiz, a pair of carnivalesque comedians tell the story of the sheet music for flamenco that arrived by boat in 1512, and a charming scene represents the oral transmission of cante, dance and guitar in the bustling port.
El Junco dances with great flamenco elegance, and the inevitable tanguillos appear with the members of the street band dressed up for carnival. Guajira, bamberas, tonás. . . The flavors are strong in this ambitious, ingenuously honest work which in the end fulfills the theatrical mission of keeping the audience entertained. And when the confetti falls from on high, the show could have ended right there, but there was still a second part with the scene of the tavern in the port, Palomar’s malagueña, tientos from Mariana Cornejo and when she asks for compás, who could possibly refuse?
Great investigative work on the part of music director Faustino Núñez is behind the show’s coherence and its intense aroma of Cádiz which never stops flowing. And it all wraps up when the comedians amble off idly singing a verse that sums it all up: “Cuando se entra en Cái por la bahía, se entra en el paraíso de la alegría” [When you enter into Cádiz, you enter the paradise of pleasure].
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