Text: Estela Zatania
Photos: Paco Sánchez
Within the program of the Festival de Jerez, an interesting talk at midday was accompanied by the presentation of the book “El Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco de Córdoba” por Agustín Gómez at the bodega San Ginés.Presented by Manuel Ríos Ruiz, the book is a compilation of facts, figures and anecdotes from the half-century the venerable contest and festival has been celebrated.
Rubichi
Palacio de Villavicencio. 7:00pm
The first recital of the day within the Festival de Jerez, and the fourth of the discreet series titled “Los Conciertos del Palacio” devoted to cante and guitar, was in the person of singer Diego de los Santos Bermúdez, “Rubichi”, from the San Miguel neighborhood of Jerez. Related to the Agujeta family, he is an anachronism in current flamenco times: a singer who keeps to the traditional repertoire and whose only accompaniment is guitar.
At the previous day’s press conference, the singer was already seriously hoarse, and he was barely able to speak. But this does not necessarily keep a singer from satisfactorily breaking through in the strong register required by cante, and that’s how it was, more or less. In tientos tangos, soleá, siguiriyas and bulerías, with the accompaniment of Alberto San Miguel, Rubichi managed to trigger emotions with his warm-textured antique velvet voice, bruised by countless nights of cante and late nights. But his vocal insufficiency was such, that at times it kept him from drawing the melodies he had in his head, and only the most diehard fans were able to mentally fill in and repair the more complicated moments. Even so, he gave the longest recital to date within this series, 70 minutes.
Compañía Rafaela Carrasco “Del amor y otras cosas”
Teatro Villamarta. 2100h
Dance: Rafaela Carrasco, Daniel Doña.Cante: Miguel Ortega, Antonio Campos. Guitar: Jesús Torres. Cello: José Luis López. Flute and sax: Ramiro Obedman. Piano: Pablo Suárez.
Wonder woman Rafaela Carrasco has based her career on the use of elements taken from flamenco to construct a decidedly unflamenco message. In “Del Amor y Otras Cosas” she taps her feet, does deep turns, the typical armwork, there are flamenco singers and the occasional authentic cante, a guitarist, castanets and moments of compás. But thanks to the considerable intelligence of the woman from Seville, and her fertile choreographic imagination, anything which might remotely be contrived as flamenco is banished, and the result is arid and geometric. What’s unclear is why she doesn’t cut the umbilical cord and cast off the flamenco references in order to devote herself to modern dance which she clearly prefers.
Two Italian women next to me in the theater bought tickets for the show thinking the surname “Carrasco” would be a guarantee of good solid flamenco since it seemed to indicate family ties with dancer Manuela Carrasco, but left disappointed in the middle of the second number. Rafaela is an extremely well-prepared professional whose dancing goes as far as her imagination can take her. And her imagination takes her to places that are generally inhospitable for flamenco fans.
Despite everything, Granada singer Antonio Campos is noteworthy with his granaína and tonas, and in fandangos de Huelva the superimposed voice of Miguel Ortega is a rich flamenco moment that briefly raises the temperature to more comfortable levels. But it only lasts briefly because Rafaela, who spends most of the show in a beige satin nightgown, does not tolerate the indecency of emotions revealed. When she comes on wearing an enormous paper cape that seems to represent a love letter which she progressively tears up as she dances, it’s an interesting image, but again, the dance refers us to no recognizable flamenco form, and I start to feel that, like the youngsters who each night distribute advertising at the door of the theater, Rafaela Carrasco is taking advantage of my interest in flamenco to promote her own agenda which has nothing to do with flamenco.
The word “flamenco” is known all over the world, and is principally associated with a type of dance. If the term is abused, we all end up losing out. There must be festivals for this kind of show, but the one in Jerez doesn’t seem the most appropriate one.
Antonio Arrebola / Luisa Palicio
Sala La Compañía. 12 midnight
Dance: Antonio Arrebola, Luisa Palicio. Cante: Jeromo Segura, Juan Reina, Javier Rivera. Guitar: Pero Sánchez, Tino van der Sman, Mariano Campallo.
Two young dance hopefuls from Málaga had their opportunity in a shared recital at the Sala La Compañía.
Antonio Arrebola, 26, opened with farruca – lots of farruca has been surfacing in this festival – with its corresponding cante. Young Huelva singer Jeromo Segura is also in a lot of shows, almost the way José Valencia showed up so often in last year’s festival. Arrebola didn’t quite take hold of the situation with this first dance that came off as a studio warm-up.In his second dance however, he managed to find himself with soleá, letting himself go and showing what he was really capable of. The two guitarists toyed with an odd scale played over and over, just catchy and hypnotic enough to trigger a fashion.
Luisa Palicio, 23, disciple of Milagros Mengíbar, received the Giraldillo for dance newcomer at Seville’s last Bienal de Flamenco based on a performance with her mentor. Considered a continuance of the Seville school of dance with its corresponding use of accessories like the fan, castanets, shawl, or most especially, the bata de cola, the young woman was up to the task. In guajira, wearing a white bata de cola and large white bow in her hair, she was pure Mengíbar in all her elegant gestures and feminine swagger. The teacher should advise her charge on adequate stage makeup to emphasize the girl’s unexpressive features, but dance-wise, she’s on the right track. Her second dance was an genuine tour de force with the bata de cola, almost over the top, much more bata than dance, which seemed to miss the point of the bata in the first place.
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