| Guitar:
Vicente Amigo. Second guitar: José Manuel Hierro.
Percussion: Patricio Cámara, Paquito. Cante: Rafael
de Utrera Murcia Symphony Orchestra conducted by José
Miguel Rodilla
Text: Estela Zatania
Special "46th Festival
Internacional del Cante de las Minas" - program, reviews,
photos, news...
After the official inauguration on August 3rd of
the 46th Festival Internacional del Cante de las Minas,
with keynote speech by dancer Milagros Mengibar and the
performance of last year’s winners of the contest,
the first gala show of the week got underway with a bang.
First Prize at the Concurso Internacional de la Guitarra
Flamenca de Badajoz in 1988, Guitar Prize at the Festival
del Cante de las Minas of 1989, the “Ramón
Montoya” prize at the 1990 Córdoba Contest,
the prestigious Music Prize in 1998 and 1999, Latin Grammy
for Best Flamenco Record of 2001… Vicente Amigo, born
in Seville, raised in Córdoba, Paco de Lucía’s
alter-ego although his professional formation took place
with Manolo Sanlúcar, is currently a major international
star of guitar. His fame is not only linked to flamenco,
but thanks to an inquisitive personality appropriate to
his generation, he has shared vibes with relevant figures
from other musical genres such as John McLaughlin, David
Bowie, Stanley Jordan, Al Di Meola, Keith Richards, Bob
Dylan, Alejandro Sanz, Milton Nascimento, Joao Bosco and
Phil Manzanera among others.
Vicente Amigo (photo: Rafael Manjavacas)
The stage of the large theater of La Unión is full
of music-stands, chairs and instruments through which Vicente,
slim and fragile-looking, must navegate, guitar in hand,
to reach his seat for a program that includes, in the first
half, a selection of previously recorded compositions of
his own, and in the second, “Poeta”, the work
by Leo Brower interpreted by the Murcia Symphony Orchestra
with Vicente as soloist.
The first part began with that amorphous, ethereal, free-style
music that prologues most flamenco guitar compositions ever
since Paco de Lucía set the fashion over thirty years
ago. A couple of notes and phrases seem to announce taranta
or malagueña, but when the rhythm finally takes shape,
it’s soleá. You immediately notice how the
musician carresses his instrument, how he lovingly strokes
the strings, begging them to obey and finally dominates
them with ease, pulling out notes with all their resonance,
contrasting intensities with absolute command, exquisitely
painful phrasing, and always the guitar as an extension
of his physical being.
Beautiful places that smell
of sea, salt spray, seagulls and sunsets over southern shores
inhabited by the spirits of Aurelio, Manolo Vargas, Pericón
and la Perla...
Three ‘palmeros’ arrive on the scene (percussionists
and electric bass player later on), and the heat gets turned
up when the second guitar and singer Rafael de Utrera join
the group for fandangos de Huelva and other compositions
which more often than not dissolve into bulerías,
and everything it implies. It was Amigo who popularized
the concept of using voice as a complement to his solos,
a format which enjoyed great success in recordings with
José Mercé and Remedios Amaya. The presentation
suffers the auditory assault of the two percussionists,
but Rafael de Utrera, relegated to a dark corner for the
duration of the concert, and Vicente, manage to hold the
attention despite external distractions.
Vicente Amigo con la Orquesta
Sinfónica de Murcia (photo: Rafael Manjavacas)
After intermission the stage is readied for the Murcia
Symphony Orchestra under the direction of José Miguel
Rodilla to interprest “Poeta”, the tribute to
Rafael Alberti recorded by Amigo in 1997. For a dyed-in-the-wool
flamenco fan, it’s hard to convince oneself that anything
interesting can possibly come of so many people and instruments,
a guitar and a man with a baton pulling it together. Leo
Brower’s compositions are played, one after another,
punctuated by Amigo and his people, you look at the young
blond with the violin, the guy with the mustache and glasses
manning the cello, the conductor with his back to the audience,
and you struggle to find a flamenco feeling. No, you are
not transported to the barrio Santiago of Jerez, but the
powerfully evocative music envelops you and takes you by
the hand to beautiful places that smell of sea, salt spray,
seagulls and sunsets over southern shores inhabited by the
spirits of Aurelio, Manolo Vargas, Pericón and la
Perla. And you come upon a surprising realization: all that
percussion and contemporary guitar-playing of the first
part pales by comparision with the sheer auditory experience
of the second, underlining the universality of the attraction
of good music. The audience demands an encore and Vicente
and friends offer a long traditional bulerías, the
perfect ending to a superb concert.
 |
 |
Vicente Amigo (photo: Estela Zatania) |
Vicente Amigo con su grupo y el
maestro Rodilla (photo: Estela Zatania) |
The organizers have also scheduled afterhours flamenco
in the garden of a charming pub in La Unión. After
the “cast of thousands” at the theater, we were
able to enjoy the most intimate sort of traditional flamenco
with the singing of young Ezequiel Benítez accompanied
by the guitar of Manuel de María.
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46th Festival Internacional del Cante de las Minas
