| Cante:
José Menese, Manuel Agujetas, Nano de Jerez. Guitar:
Antonio Carrión, Antonio Soto. Dance: Antonio el
Pipa with Juana la del Pipa, Manuel de Tañé
and David Carpio singing, Pascual de Lorca and Pepe de Morao
on guitar and Ma. José Franco dancing.
Text: Estela Zatania
Photos : Rafael Manjavacas
Special "46th Festival
Internacional del Cante de las Minas" - program, reviews,
photos, news...
Within the cultural activities of the Festival
Internacional del Cante de las Minas, Saturday August 5th
featured the conference of Manuel Suárez Japón
“Imagen sucesiva de Cristina Hoyos”, the dancer
being honored in this edition of the festival. The conference
was followed by the wonderful interpretation of mineras
of singer Encarnación Fernández who specializes
in cante de levante, accompanied by her father Antonio Fernández.
At the Cathedral of Cante as the theater is called, the
night belonged in its entirety to Western Andalusia with
a bill of artists full enough to have been that of any summer
cante festival. José Menese, Manuel Agujetas and
Nano de Jerez, three much-admired stars of the most classic
sort of cante, and Antonio el Pipa with his complete dance
company. A program short on mining cante and long on the
basics. The mostly local audience could easily have been
less than happy with this combination, but in the end the
unquestionable quality of the artists won them over.
click for enlarge photos
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conference: Juan Manuel Suárez
Japón |
Nano de Jerez |
Cayetano Fernández “Nano de Jerez”,
the best-kept secret of Seville where this veteran singer
has lived for years. From a line of singers, Nano is often
unjustly written off as a “festero”, mostly
due to his tremendous capacity to entertain with the festive
forms of flamenco, but he is quite on top of a wide range
of heavy-duty cante. Honest, explosive at times, innocent
in his way, endearing, dynamic and charismatic. With the
admirable Antonio Carrión on the guitar, the singer
is visibly feeling his oats. Beginning with tangos, Triana
and Cádiz styles, straightforward and without theatrics,
he achieves the authentic flavor of traditional cante and
the audience is his. Soleá por bulería, and
once again the crowd responds, fandangos, soleá,
everything flows from the singer’s boundless natural
energy and it’s pure delight. The much-awaited bulería
where Nano serves up his instinctive compás, is dotted
with the kind of dance that used to be seen in the patios
of humble communal dwellings in Seville, Jerez or Cádiz.
He makes it look so easy and manages to get the audience
to their feet.
An anthological set of
soleá and siguiriyas, and Antonio Mairena smiles
from on high...
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José Menese & Antonio
Carrión |
Agujetas de Jerez |
A change of pace but not of quality. José Menese,
a major star since the sixties, dyed-in-the-wool Mairena-follower
but with his own personality, is received with warm applause
that reveals respect and admiration. His taste for arcane
or obsolete cante never flags, and he begins with nanas
and farruca. “Now let’s get down to some of
the cante from around these parts” announces the singer,
and he dives head-first into taranta and taranto, not in
the style of levante but of Manuel Torre, without melisma
or barroque decoration, releasing the full torrent of his
voice. The audience is tolerant and responds with educated
but reserved applause, that’s how it goes, each territory
defends its own heritage. Next, “a seldom-heard cante,
but don’t be alarmed”, counsels Menese who then
launches into guajira with short verses and a long “espinela”
with Carrión serving up a solid flamenco sound in
this form that always runs the risk of becoming cloying.
The singer has the hair and the voice of a much younger
man, and his strength and motivation are boundless. He interprets
a masterful excursion through the major styles of soleá,
and then does the same in an anthological set of siguiriyas
ending with the seldom-heard toná liviana, and Antonio
Mairena smiles from on high...
Those gripping, wrenching ancestral
sounds
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Antonio El Pipa & María
José Franco |
Domingo Patricio grupo |
Manuel Agujetas is in charge of closing the first part
with his powerful rugged cante. He is an uneven singer and
each performance is a new adventure for the audience. Master
of ceremonies Manual Curao summarizes his biography in a
few words, “cante just like his father taught it to
him”, and makes reference to the late maestro Antonio
Núñez “Chocolate” whom Agujetas
always names as the only singer in his same category (the
man is not known for modesty). With Antonio Soto’s
accompaniment, he begins with soleá, those tight
styles with unadorned lines, and you notice he’s at
ease, sincere and anxious to please. With siguiriyas it’s
clear he came to do his best and leave a good impression.
Fandangos, and the audience is warming up to his rough style.
The singer gets to his feet for tonás, his face knots
up in preparation and there’s a long pregnant silence
in the huge hall before the air fills with those gripping,
wrenching ancestral sounds. The taranto which follows is
an anti-climax, and when he tackles siguiriyas for a second
set, there’s a tonal confusion between voice and guitar
which neither the singer nor the guitarist manage to sort
out in time. The audience is left nonplussed but all is
forgiven when the veteran cantaor leaves the stage amid
emotional applause. Paraphrasing Bogart, “we’ll
always have Agujetas”.
It’s just the half-way point, and when the audience
returns from their cigarrete break the stage has been readied
for Antonio el Pipa’s group. The dancer delivers his
spectacular alegrías presentation and disappears
into the wings leaving the stage to his aunt Juana who is
received with enthusiastic applause and sings tientos with
popular tangos to end. Her impossible gravel voice fascinates
flamenco fans and gets them hooked immediately, and you
wonder how it’s possible to move people with those
harsh sounds she produces with such apparent ease. A duet
of soleá with el Pipa and María José
Franco is packaged and sold to the audience with panache.
The pièce de resistance however continues to be the
long soleá Juana sings for Antonio who on this occasion
sports a pristine white suit and day-glo purple suede boots,
or maybe it’s deep electric violet, hard to define,
and the rapport between aunt and nephew keeps us alert to
the very last drop.
The long evening started well and ended better, and not
a cajón in sight. For the bravest party-goers after-hours
flamenco got underway at half-past three with the flamenco
jazz group of Catalonian Domingo Patricio with flute, guitar
and percussion
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XLVI Festival Internacional del Cante de las Minas)
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