Fosforito / Milagros Mengíbar
Tuesday, September 26, 2006. 9:00pm. Teatro Lope de Vega

Special 14th Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla. Reviews, programa, photos...

Text: Estela Zatania

Fosforito

How do you review that which cannot be reviewed? A cantaor for all seasons, universal and absolutely essential to this art-form takes his seat in the middle to the stage of the Lope de Vega Theater. He is accompanied by two of the most noteworthy guitartists of the current scene, Manuel Silveria and Antonio Soto. A beautiful theater, a full house and an audience thoroughly predisposed to love every single moment.

The old maestro longs to express his vast knowledge of an art he has lived first-hand since childhood and which he has dignified and enlarged in a thousand ways, and not the least, he intends to do it with all his heart. At this stage of the game no one needs to be explained the kind of singer Fosforito was, deserving holder of the last Llave de Oro del Cante and inspiring guiding light to an entire generation of singers.

With soleá apolá, cantiñas, peteneras, tarantos and bulerías there are brief flashes of former grandeur. He skipped the tientos and malagueñas that were listed in the program because he knew what no one present could possibly overlook, that his voice was failing by the second and it made no sense to continue.

There is nothing left to say except “thank you maestro”.

Other journalists will write that he ought not sing any more, and surely they’re right. Personally, I thank Antonio Díaz Fernández for allowing us to participate in that internal struggle carried out by every singer, dancer or guitarist, indeed any artist in any branch of the arts, be it musical, visual or other, to express that which he or she carries inside, and do it to the utmost limits of their personal possibilities. Fosforito reached his physical limits many years ago in countless appearances at summer cante festivals where he always topped the bill, never holding back or reserving himself, in hundreds of recitals and in the best dance companies, most notably that of Manuela Vargas where, in collaboration with the dancer and her magnificent guitarists, he created authentic works of art in flamenco forms previously little developed in the cante specifically for dance.

There is nothing left to say except “thank you maestro”.

Milagros Mengíbar

Dance: Milagros Mengíbar, Luisa Palicio. Cante: Manolo Sevilla, Emilio Cabello. Guitar: Rafael Rodríguez, Pedro Sánchez.

Milagros Mengíbar has more to answer for than the singer from Puente Genil in this nostalgic shared recital. We don’t mind her age. On the contrary, it is individuals like herself we must admire and learn from. Like fine wine, the best flamenco, when it ages, may reach its finest moment, and many dancers far older than her, with a few simple gestures, open the floodgates of the most authentic art, the “essential yeast” Antonio Mairena always went on about.

Therefore, it is with even greater respect and dignity the Seville dancer is obligated to take on the venerable stage of this prestigious festival. Milagros is the most experienced and faithful exponent of the essence of the “escuela sevillana”, the Seville style of dance, Matilde Coral’s pride and joy, which finds continuity in this dancer who continues to sell it with authority and credibility, even when the current dance trend is stongly avant-garde.

The Seville style of dance which finds continuity in this dancer who continues to sell it with authority and credibility

A murky collage of Caracol style zambra she uses to open, is unpresentable and inexcusable. The two singers, one of whom is off-tune even when he breathes, were partly to blame. Also to blame is the strangely unflattering winged dress the dancer wears. But the weight of responsibility must be assumed by Milagros Mengíbar, for having departed from what she has always done best: her classic dances with bata de cola, without which she is like Samson deprived of his hair, and the exquisitely impeccable image she presents of the model Andalusian woman.

Luisa Palicio takes the stage. Young hopeful, a disciple of Milagros’ and competent dancer. Without being extraordinary, she clears the air with her classic soleá receiving applause and cheers of approval that should have been for her maestra. She wears the first bata de cola of the evening, recreates the Eva Yerbabuena slow-motion camera effect and represents the Seville aesthetic with affection and respect.

Mengíbar finally assumes her proper dancerly personality and is fascinating in alegrías, this time with her dance partner, the bata de cola. She ends with a long bulerías de Cádiz, and the singers wrap it all up singing together in harmony. Rafael Rodríguez is noteworty on the guitar, incorporating bits and pieces of famous melodies, the way jazz musicians sometimes do, without losing the essential feeling of the forms.

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Special XIV Bienal de Flamenco. Program, reviews, photos