XI FESTIVAL DE JEREZ

Text: Estela Zatania
Photos: Paco Sánchez

In the intimacy of the Palacio de Villavicencio, the venue reserved for acoustic recitals of young or little-known artists, guitarist Daniel Méndez made his debut in Jerez as concert guitarist.

Born in Morón in 1981, with great knowledge of the Morón school of guitar-playing – only in Morón and Jerez can you really speak of a well-defined school – the young maestro decided to follow other more contemporary paths appropriate to his generation.But even taking this into consideration, and despite his clean technique and command of the instrument, Daniel’s compositions overdo the use of harmonies rendering the pieces formless and short on musicality.The best interpreters are not always the best composers.Nor was it a good idea to use an aggressive cajón in the intimacy of such a small room.

Miguel de Tena took charge of the second part of the recital. The young man from Extremadura, winner of the Lámpara Minera in 2006, with a clean sweet voice very apt for the cantes of eastern Andalusia, came accompanied by guitarist Antonio Fernández from La Unión.Malagueñas with abandolao ending, mineras, solea and the fandangos of Vallejo with brisk rhythm as is the custom, all in his line.

Pastora Galván “La francesa”
Sala La Compañía. 9.00 pm

Dance: Pastora Galván. Guitar: Pedro Sierra. Cante: David Lagos, Juan José Amador. Acordeón y zanfoña: José Manuel Vaquero “El Pájaro”. Double bass : Álvaro Ramos. Percussion : José Carrasco. Xylophone and percussion : Manuel Vergne.

Long lines outside the Sala La Compañía, and many more people at the door seeking to buy a ticket at any price, shows the level of excitement generated by this show and its star, Pastora Galván.

“La Francesa”, with choreography by Israel Galván, Pastora’s brother, premiered last September at the Seville Bienal.At that time, in the beautiful and well-equipped Teatro Central, both the show and the dancer managed to connect with the audience in a sublime symbiosis that lasted from beginning to end.The Galván brother and sister team had achieved the goal of all performers: theatrical and artistic (near) perfection.

So the disappointing balance of the presentation in Jerez, and the audience’s reserved reaction, obliges one to analyze what went wrong.It is to be assumed that a show opens, is presented over and over and becomes more polished with each performance.Due to its nature (delightfully bizarre, like everything Israel touches), this is not a work that can be programed in just any theater – in fact, it wasn’t offered at the Villamarta precisely for this reason – there have been few performances since the debut and it hasn’t had the chance to mature, or may even have become diminished.The same splendid music of Pedro Sierra, the same exemplary singers (David Lagos and Juan José Amador), the same motif (the image of the “femme fatal” flamenco woman, and by extensión, all Spanish women, conceived by the French) and the same extraordinary (make no mistake, she is extraordinary) dancer.

The worst enemy turned out to be the theater itself, in particular the hideously deficient lighting that prevented some of the most ingenious touches from being seen; grimaces, finger and eye movements, Pastora’s pasted-on moustache, it all had meaning in this work born of Israel Galván’s fertile imagination.As a result, audience complicity was absent from the beginning, and people seemed baffled by the clever choreography, the unconventional wardrobe, the international retro music, the staging... In fact, there was nothing to grab onto, and despite Pastora’s admirable work, it just didn’t come together.

All the same, a certain portion of the audience seemed to understand the intent, or remembered the debut in Seville, and was able to appreciate the quality of the work. In order to understand the disappointment, have a look at the previous detailed review of the same work ( http://www.deflamenco.com/especiales/bienal/16i.jsp ).We can only hope that this show continues to be presented (in better-equipped theaters) and to mature.

Also...

 At 12 midnight, at the Bodega Los Apóstoles, and within the series humorously titled “Flamenco por un Tubo”, fans of flamenco jazz were able to enjoy Madrid sax and flute-player, Jorge Pardo. With the complicity (more than collaboration) of guest artist Tomasito and his customary compas-soaked personality, the sweet guitar of Juan Diego and the percussion of El Chispa, the atmosphere at the bodega was cooking on high heat.

Also noteworthy are the afterhours flamenco shows of the series “De Peña en Peña” prepared by the festival. At the venerable flamenco organizations of Jerez such as Los Cernícalos, the Centro Don Antonio Chacón, La Bulería, the Asociación Fernando Terrremoto or the Peña Tío José de Paula among others, they’re offering shows of interesting artists like Manolo Simón with Pascual de Lorca on guitar, Lorenzo Gálvez “Ripoll” and Joaquín “El Zambo” with Domingo Rubichi, in addition to dance programs.

All information:

• Special XI Festival de Jerez
• Photo Gallery XI Festival de Jerez