CÁDIZ: SPECIAL REPORT

OPINION

CÁDIZ: an overview

A flamenco fan in love with his town summarizes the good, the bad and the mediocre

Cádiz has a very important place in flamenco: the city of a famous meat-processing center, today the Peña Flamenca Perla de Cádiz where the gypsies of the Santa María neighborhood used to try their luck with live animals before delving into bullfighting. A very worthwhile book to thumb through is Guillermo Boto’s “Cádiz, Origan del Toreo a Pie, 1661-1858” where we find Enrique el Mellizo and Curro Dulce on the bullfighting teams of Hermosilla and el Lavi.

The tradition of a link between the Santa María neighborhood and the slaughterhouse is comparable to that of the Jerez neighborhood of Santiago with surrounding large farm estates. But nowadays there are more differences than similarities: Jerez is larger, there are more employment opportunities, there are the famous wineries and many flamenco clubs and associations. But most importantly, they have a municipal government that recognizes the importance of flamenco, that it is an art of the people that attracts outsiders and generates income.

Cádiz, a finger of land that points to the open sea, has neither terrain nor work, and there are only three flamenco clubs or “peñas”. The town hall has little interest (the mayoress is from Santander in northern Spain), and the rest of the bureaucrats, even less: the celebration of the centennial of Enrique el Mellizo, our most representative figure, was organized by the private sector, performers and fans.

Yeyé de Cádiz	Mariana Cornejo	Juan Villar	Juan Ogalla

The flamenco associations of Cádiz (de la Perla, del Mellizo and Juan Villar) do their best: each one celebrates a cultural week, the la Perla club celebrates its important contest of alegrías dancing,and artistic agent Antonio Benítez organizes the Jueves Flamencos in August, an event comparable to the Viernes Flamencos in Jerez. Very few bars want, or are able to offer flamenco – we have only the Pay Pay and the Marqués de Cádiz.

Cádiz does have its recognized professionals: in addition to the venerable Chano Lobato, there’s Juan Villar, Mariana Cornejo, Carmen de la Jara, Juan Silva, Felipe Scapachini and José Millán, the latter who just made a solo recording shortly before suffering an important setback in his health.

Chano Lobato	David Palomar	Felipe Scapachini	María José Franco

It’s not easy to find young flamenco artists in Cádiz, but they’re there, and good ones too, much-admired in the flamenco trade for their rhythm and graceful wit. As far as singers, we’ve got David Palomar, Raúl Gálvez, José Anillo and his sister Encarnita, Miguel Rosendo, Yeyé de Cádiz (not exactly young, but not a household name either), Momi de Cádiz and May Fernández. In guitar we could name Román Vicente and his kid brother Raúl, Oscar Lagos, Kike Baldomero, Andrés Martínez, Juan Gómez, Juan Ramón Ortega, Ricardo Rivera and Niño de la Leo. We’re no shirkers in the dance department either: El Junco, Juan Ogalla and his sister Pili, Edu Guerrero and María José Franco, not to mention superstar Sara Baras. A rather discreet roll call considering what Cádiz once was, but promising if we know how to cultivate and encourage these people. Unfortunately most of them now seek their income far afield.

Flamenco in Cádiz is in dire straits: there is a shortage of professional opportunities, lack of interest at the institutional level and powerful competition from the carnival, but the city continues to be one of the birthplaces of this art form, worthy of admiration and study.

El Cabracho

• Cádiz: Special report