XLVII Festival Internacional
del Cante de las Minas.

• Special XLVII Festival Internacional del Cante de las Minas. All the information
• Photo Gallery

Text: Estela Zatania
Photos: Rafael Manjavacas

The first Saturday of the Festival de la Unión and of August, and people from all over Spain, as well as abroad, keep streaming into this small town on Spain’s southeastern coast.The day’s schedule began at eight in the evening with the presentation of the book “Tomás Pavón, El príncipe de la Alameda” by journalist and critic Manuel Bohórquez who highlighted anecdotes from this interesting work.José Manuel Gamboa, writer and critic, was awarded the festival’s highest cultural award, the Castillete de Oro. Later on at the theater, a rich and varied line-up of artists meant another packed house at the “cathedral of cante” that holds nearly a thousand spectators.

You can take the guitarist out of Jerez, but you can never take Jerez out of the guitarist

Gerardo Núñez, the most international Jerez flamenco artist, opened the long program with his beautiful piece, full of sweet mystery, composed for the work Yerma. For many, Núñez is the best guitarist of his generation, but his composing ability even surpasses that; he is a flamenco guitarist, but above all else, a true musician. The group is rounded out with Pablo Martín on upright bass, Cepillo’s percussion, the flamenco voice of Jesús Méndez and Carmen Cortes’ dancing, and they dive headfirst into a long soleá por bulería, a form that identifies Jerez almost as much as bulerías. Gerardo has it structured in a jazz format: after an initial guitar interlude, each member has his bit in the spotlight, and that’s when I remember how much I dislike drum solos, not to mention bass solos, quality of the interpreters notwithstanding. Blessed is the voice of Jesús Méndez when it finally arrives to redirect us to the color of flamenco. The young man offers a modest tonás solo, followed by the temperamental dance of Carmen Cortés por soleá. This woman always lets her hair down leaving the audience agape and wishing for more. Gerardo announces bulerías to end. Despite his extreme abuse of repeated fake endings and other effects like his lethal jackhammer thumbwork that brings surefire applause, this is high-quality guitar-playing with a Jerez flavor: you can take the guitarist out of Jerez, but you can never take Jerez out of the guitarist.

The second part of the first part (with four major stars, the bill had nothing to envy of festivals in Andalusia), opens with Antonio Suárez Salazar “Guadiana”. Born in 1955, his formative years fall squarely in the Camarón era, as is perfectly reflected in his singing, along with an obvious predilection for the Extremaduran sound and delivery, always welcome. His warm voice has many levels of color, intensity and flamenconess, a very appropriate sound for cante.He begins singing Levantine forms which is interesting, because despite the geography of it all, people from Extremadura have long and lovingly cultivated mining cante with a personality of their own. The soleá also reveals some of the flattened notes which this part of Spain is so fond of without departing from classic styles of Alcalá, Cádiz, Marchena... It makes you realize the splendid structure of traditional cante: any given style of soleá is sung one way in Utrera, another in Jerez, another in Lebrija, Cádiz, Madrid, Barcelona and even Badajoz, but in the hands of a knowledgeable singer, the form nevers loses track of its identity.

Diego del Morao who accompanied Guadiana, returns to the stage to back up Jerez singer Luis el Zambo who last year sang in La Unión for the first time thanks to the initiative and personal invitation of Miguel Poveda who said at the time that he wanted “to give something special to the people of La Unión”. This time el Zambo had come, as is only fitting, by his own rights, standard-bearer of the best his town has to offer. He begins with soleá por bulería, and his voice, natural and sincere, envelops you like a great flamenco blanket. His siguiriyas are powerful and moving, and for the obligatory fiesta finale, Guadiana returns with Diego de la Margara and Rafa to provide the traditional dance bits.

José Domínguez “El Cabrero”, profession: social phenomenon

The full responsibility of sustaining the second half of the program fell upon one single person: José Domínguez “El Cabrero”, a social phenomenon if ever there was one, permanent fixture on the cante festival circuit, anarchic and rebellious without it seeming like a commerical affectation. Just what is a “social phenomenon”? It’s not necessarily directly related to fame. Paco de Lucía is, without any doubt, the most famous flamenco artist the world over, but he’s not a “social phenomenon”. In the first place, it takes charisma. In second place... charisma. The power to connect with people at a gut level, spontaneity, knowing how to act adequately even within a completely irreverant projection, the admiration of individuals who would not have the least interest in flamenco were it not for El Cabrero, and the geographical scope of his followers: he fills theaters equally well in Jerez, Pamplona or La Unión. Therefore it behooves his detrators to accept him as is, and actively seek out his merits. El Cabrero, like all big personalities of any artform, cannot be compared to any other artist, because he, and he alone, defines himself. El Cabrero is the person who best does El Cabrero, and seventeen successful records say so.Rafael Rodríguez takes on the difficult task of accompanying him at the breakneck tempos that taste of yesteryear and which this singer loves so well for soleá, siguiriya and abandolao cantes. The velocity of the guitar doesn’t speed up the cante, but rather gives it a different feeling. In reference to the political content of the verses Cabrero comments: “if you think I’ve changed opinion, then it’s not one of my verses!”Rustic and earthy, with his cowboy outfit that doesn’t seem like a costume, he sings Caracol’s Carcelero, and goes on for quite a long time, one cante after another.When his voice begins to show signs of conking out: “I’m just going to sing a couple of fandangos and I’m outta here, I don’t want to make a fool of myself in front of you all”. But it comes out okay and he decides to continue with tonás which frankly sound very good. “You have to have lots of health and no dirty dealings” advises the singer who still finds his voice good enough to interpret some tasty fandangos de Alosno “por medio” (A position), with traditional meandering falseta included. And he wouldn’t want to leave out the long bulerías song in minor key.And outside in the plaza people are lined up at three o’clock in the morning, quickly depleting the stocks of recordings of José Domínguez “El Cabrero”, profession: social phenomenon.

• Special XLVII Festival Internacional del Cante de las Minas. All the information
• Photo Gallery