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All Reviews 44th
Festival
Cante: Pansequito, Aurora Vargas. Guitar:
Diego Amaya. Palmas: Rafita, El Eléctrico.
“Alma vieja”. Dance: Juan Manuel
Fernández “Farruquito”, Antonio Fernández
“Farruco”, Pilar Montoya “La Faraona”,
Juan Montoya “Barullo”, Antonio “Polito”,
Adela Campallo, La Hachara. Cante: Encarna Anillo, María
Vizárraga, José Valencia, El Canastero. Guitar:
Román Vicenti, El Perla. Guest artist: Manuel Molina.
La Unión’s
concert series opens with a splash
After two days of preliminaries and presentations
of all sorts, the traditional “trovos” celebration,
the performance of last year’s winners and a keynote
speech given by Felipe Benítez Reyes, the mother of
all flamenco contest-festivals clicked into high gear on Friday
with the first gala program of five that serve as prelude
to the actual contest.
 Flamenco’s
perennial renaissance man, José Luis Ortiz Nuevo, offered
the conference “Enrique Morente: Un puente para unir
dos siglos”, thus centering our attention on the man
from Granada to whom the festival is dedicated this year.
Sporting a T-shirt with the logo of the Bienal 2004 he declared:
“anyone who hasn’t got his feet firmly grounded
in the past, is not going very far in the future”, words
which made a fitting presentation for the tsunami of top-notch
flamenco talent that followed just one hour later in the festival’s
opening concert.
A flamenco universe doled out
in neat capsules of three or four lines
José Cortés Jiménez “Pansequito”
was in charge of opening the evening. From the moment he set
foot on stage it was clear he had come to conquer these eastern
lands where the fandango family of cantes has a much greater
following than the repertoire he specializes in. Alegrías
in “A” position tasting of Cádiz and of
Pansequito, made a delicious appetizer. Soleá “por
medio”, the less common “A” position again,
with the solid, expressive and extraordinarily flamenco guitar
of Diego Amaya highlighted the fact that the format of “one
voice, one guitar” is far from passé, and the
audience, despite their extreme fondness for mining cante
above all else, reacted enthusiastically to those impossibly
lengthened measures which always have a happy ending with
this singer. The taranto and cartagenera were lovely though
less impressive – in the free-form cantes Pansequito
is deprived of his most efficient weapon: compás. The
singer closed with bulerías…such an exquisite
sense of musical composition that each verse is a perfect
work of art complete with introduction, development and powerful
resolution, a flamenco universe doled out in neat capsules
of three or four lines.
Aurora Vargas, the usually spectacular forty-something rustic
beauty, had an off night. She appeared distracted and almost
bored at times with her own shtick. But even on a mediocre
night, Aurora is a force to be reckoned with. She opened,
as always, with alegrías, and Diego Amaya, admirably,
managed to give an ambience that was completely different
from that employed for Pansequito. As laidback and down-to-earth
as always, flamenco’s most photogenic lady joked with
photographers in the front row that she never gets copies
of the pictures. Tientos tangos was followed by taranto and
levantica clearly calculated to win over the locals, but mining
cante has a different flavor in western Andalucía and
spectator reaction was tepid. Bulerías should have
saved the day but Aurora failed to unleash the full force
of her talent for the somewhat reserved but respectful audience.
Mining cante has
a different flavor in western Andalucía
 After
a brief intermission excitement was running high as always
occurs wherever Farruquito and company perform. The work “Alma
Vieja”, just one year old this month, continues to evolve
and find itself, much tighter now, yet with no loss of spontaneity.
Manuel Molina’s introduction, guitar in hand, in which
he recounts the family saga in poetic terms, works well. The
fandangos which follow, with more compás than any fandango
has a right to enjoy, is the perfect calling card where each
member of the group shows off what he or she is capable of,
with special mention for the two female voices, those of María
Vizárraga and Encarnita Anillo. Pilar la Faraona’s
bulerías teaches us once again that you don’t
need to be a fashion plate to express all the intensity and
power of flamenco…then Barullo’s soleá,
firmly within the family line, yet very personal.
The shrieking of adolescent females, a new phenomenon unfortunately
becoming common at flamenco shows, was, throughout the night,
for Farruco, the young man who’s growing up fast and
who risks absolutely everything when he dances. The occasional
movement…no…many of his movements that were far
from serious and clearly calculated to please admirers, was
the only discordant element in this dancer who wins audiences
over with just a flash of his smile.
Farruquito, an imposing shadow,
more intense and controlled than ever, darker
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| Farruquito |
Farruco |
By contrast, Farruquito is an imposing shadow, more intense
and controlled than ever, darker, lines worthy of the most
trained classical dancer, feline bearing, elegant and polished
without being mannered. And always, that astonishing compás.
Farruco once again for a taranto, the young man is masculine
beyond his years, surprising, audacious. The dance finishes
out with Pilar in a charming rapport that seems to aspire
to that shared by Antonio el Pipa and his aunt Juana, falling
only slightly short.
Farruquito’s siguiriya, Manuel Molina’s lengthy
epilogue to the family saga, and security agents line the
edge of the stage for the bulerías closing to prevent
impetuous female teens from taking it by storm.
At just past four a.m. we were able to have nightcaps with
a cante recital by Antonio Ortega Hijo at the outdoor stage
called “Escenario Bienal” within the series “Trasnoche
flamenco”….this must be La Unión…
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