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Estela Zatania
All this week the First
Dutch Flamenco Biennial is being held in the Netherlands,
a unique and historic event in the history of flamenco.
Far from being a purely institutional undertaking, the
fact that this festival is being celebrated at all is
thanks to the dreams and hard work of a small group
of individuals whose vision and dedication have not
wavered throughout the months and years of planning.
In other European countries, most notably France, there
has long been a cohesive community of flamenco fans
that made possible the organization of flamenco festivals
of international quality, but the development of this
art in northern countries has been decidedly more discreet.
For this reason the objective, in the words of the press
release, is “to establish a flamenco tradition
and spread the rich Andalusian cultural heritage from
Holland to neighboring countries”.
In the following interview Ernestina van de Noort,
who along with Maarten Rovers is artistic director of
the project, and whose enthusiasm shines through each
sentence, explains the background of this festival which
has come into being with the clear intention of continuing
and growing.
How did the idea for this
kind of festival in Holland get started?
When I attended Seville’s Bienal de Flamenco as
a journalist in 2002, I saw new developments in flamenco
and it made me think, Holland has many flamenco fans,
a tradition of contemporary music and dance…why don’t
programs of world music reflect the new fashion in flamenco?
And I wondered why Amsterdam doesn’t have a flamenco
festival like all the major world capitals. Holland
lags behind in world music compared to France, Germany
or England, and I hope to fill that vacuum with a festival
of first class artistic quality and major flamenco stars
who have not performed in Holland.
When I saw Israel Galván’s “Galvánicas”
it ocurred to me, if I manage to organize a festival,
he definitely has to be there, as well as Diego Carrasco.
I wanted to open the festival with “Arena”,
but it’s too costly for our budget. With this
edition I hope to convince possible backers in Holland,
both public and private, in order to carry out a much
bigger dream.
As soon as I got the idea about doing the festival,
I mentioned it to the producer of Rasa Utrecht and he
said “We’re also going to do a festival!”.
The following day Maarten Rovers who programs Rasa called
me to negotiate a collaboration which has turned out
to be wonderful, in other words, the idea was in the
air just waiting to happen, like all good ideas. Maarten
and I worked together on another festival, Q-ba Música
2004.
“Holland has always
been a country that assimilates outside influences”.
Does Holland have a tradition
of a flamenco following, such as France for example?
Yes, there’s a very big following. I’m from
the first generation of fans, I started out in 1986.
When I got to Amsterdam there was only one dance school
where everyone went, and now there’s a tremendous
network of schools, tapas bars, etc…
Was public funding available
for the festival, or is it a private enterprise?
There’s public funding in Holland for a variety
of specific cultural endeavours, and you have to apply
in order to put on a large-scale festival, it’s
a real struggle to convince the bureaucrats, especially
since here in Holland artists’ salaries are not
as big as in Spain. Flamenco is still shrouded in this
folkloric image, and we want to show it as a free contemporary
art form, that’s our mission.
We also received a sizeable sum from the Agencia Andaluza
para el Desarrollo del Flamenco, Bibiana Aído,
without which such an ambitious first edition wouldn’t
have been possible. One sponsor is the Osborne company
who didn’t give funding but contributed materially
with sherry and wine.
Do you have advisors, or
does the organization have clear ideas about what kind
of shows they want to present?
I had clear ideas from the very beginning – enough
to make three festivals. And Maarten Rovers as well.
Above all we want to show flamenco in its free-wheeling
form, with fusion. The range of possibilities is great
– qawwali flamenco, fusion with Maroccan or Egyptian
music, even contemporary music (but always going back
to traditional cante and guitar). I’ve been exchanging
ideas with Patrick Bellito of the Nimes (France) Flamenco
Festival.
“I hope to fill the
vacuum with a festival of first class artistic quality,
and major flamenco stars who have not performed in Holland”.
Will Dutch artists be taking
part?
Yes, the festival plans on being a showcase for Dutch
talent. We’ve included two Dutch productions with
two dancers: Kika (Harriët IJssel de Schepper,
(www.flamenkika.com) who will present the show “Dansant”
with her group Luna en Alta Mar, and Masha Meijman who
will perform with her group in the program Utrera del
Norte (Utrecht) Utrera del Sur (Tomás de Perrate).
Have you been interested
in flamenco a long time? Is it a passive interest, or
do you also dance?
Since 1985. I saw Carlos Saura’s “Carmen”
in Geneva where I was studying French and English. Soon
I was practicing my footwork in the streets of Geneva.
That summer I went to Seville. I got “home”
at six in the morning, the rising sun was yellow by
the Giralda and I ordered my first coffee on Mateos
Gago street at six in the morning right in front of
the only language academy there was (owned by a relative
of García Lorca!). I wanted to find a dance school,
but the only reaction I got was chuckles, it was hard
finding a place to study. Finally I came across the
school run by Andrés Marín’s father,
on Letamendi street, where I saw all these beautiful
Seville girls struggling with soleá and siguiriyas
to the beat Andrés Marín’s father
was beating out with a cane. He was the first dance
teacher to set up a school in Holland (just by sheer
coincidence).
The word “Bienal”
is closely associated with the Seville festival that
was just celebrated. When Málaga wanted to use
it, there were protests and in the end the Málaga
festival has a different name. What is behind the idea
of using this name?
Quite simply, we intend to make a serious bi-annual
event, as large as the one in Seville. We want to be
the Northern Biennial, an obligatory visit for flamenco
fans in the north. It’s impossible to do a yearly
festival, logistically and economically (the stress
of rounding up funds would shorten my life). In this
way we want to make our mark within the abundance of
festivals in Holland.
“Flamenco is still
shrouded in this folkloric image, and we want to show
it as a free contemporary art form, that’s our
mission”.
You were just at the Seville
Bienal. What have you learned from its possible defects
or successes?
I’ve attended three editions. In the early one,
for my taste, the focus was too traditional, and lacking
a clear artistic line. In the 2002 edition the director,
Herrera, said the Bienal would be a showcase of the
flamenco panorama. In my opinion, that’s not an
artistic choice. I think the artistic line is more contemporary
now with the new director, but I’d like to see
Andrés Marín or Israel Galván at
the Maestranza, I think the avant-garde shows must have
a presence on the big stages. In the most recent edition,
there was a greater balance between traditional and
innovative/contemporary flamenco, and this is the artistic
line we hope to follow as well. I endorse the Seville
Bienal’s concept of staging parallel activities
(a well-rounded approach), with round-table discussions,
conferences, cinema, etc., and I applaud the good organization.
How have people reacted in
your country? Are they enthusiastic about the initiative,
or has there been dissent?
Flamenco fans are very excited, the press, and most
of the programmers, but there are some who see the initiative
as a threat, which is not our intention at all. What
we hope to do is improve the offering every two years.
The press was delighted that finally there would be
a new venue for contemporary flamenco in nice modern
installations such at the Muziekgebouw aan 't ij and
the Sala de Jazz, and the respective directors, Jan
Wolff and Huub van Riel, are thrilled.
There was a first generation that established the basis
of the flamenco offering, they did a fine job and created
a following. But nowadays there’s more flamenco,
and that’s what we want to bring to Holland. It’s
time for a change of course.
What kind of flamenco do
people like most in the Netherlands? Avant-garde, classic,
fusion, traditional…?
There’s every kind of taste. The adventure of
this Biennial is the goal of winning over a new audience
of people who like modern dance, to get them to see
flamenco as modern, an audience open to fusion. That’s
why I programmed shows at these two venues. Muziekgebouw
aan 't ij comes from Ijsbreker (which means “ice-breaker”),
the small venue for contemporary music. At this point
in time the big theater wishes to expand its program,
and the Flamenco Biennial fits perfectly in their plans,
the same as at Bimhuis, a jazz and improvisation center
where they like to welcome flamenco. Our program is
also designed to unite the traditional audience with
classic, fusion, jazz, etc….to get people to break
out of traditional pigeon-holes.
Does your country have something
to give to flamenco?
A free and open spirit, a strong tradition of dance
and contemporary music. Holland has always been a country
that assimilates outside influences.
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