Historic work presented in Seville

In 1999 the body of recorded work of flamenco singer Pastora Pavón
Cruz (Seville 1890-1969), better known as La Niña de los Peines
was declared a «Bien de Interés Cultural». As a result
of that unprecedented circumstance, the Consejería de Cultura de
Andalucía commissioned the Centro Andaluz de Flamenco to create
a detailed catalog of this work.

On February 9th 2004, the fruit of this project which is made up of 13
CDs of music, an interactive DVD and a book, was presented to the press
by professor Cristina Cruces of the University of Sevilla, coordinator
of the work, Segundo Falcón, director of the Centro de Flamencología
de Jerez and the Cultural Vice Consul, Enrique Moratalla.

Professor Cruces offered a practical tour of the contents of the DVD
which includes the following chapters:

1 – Los registros sonoros de La Niña de los Peines. Un estudio
crítico. Cristina Cruces Roldán.
2 – Cantes y cancioneros de Pastora.
3 – Semblanza biográfica. Antonio Reina.
4 – Estudio estilístico de los cantes de Pastora. David y
Antonio Hurtado Torres.
5 – La voz de la Niña. Calixto Sánchez.
6 – El toque de su cante. Norberto Torres.
7 – Guitarristas que la acompañaron. Eusebio Rioja.
8 – El cante en la vida. Romualdo Molina.
9 – Pastora en la hemerografía de su época. Jose Luis
Ortiz Nuevo.
10 – Lo que dijeron de ella. Rocío Plaza Orellana.
11 – Iconografía de la Niña de los Peines. José
Blas Vega
12 – Estudio de la discografía de 78rpm

CRISTINA CRUCES EXPLAINS THE INTERACTIVE DVD

The 13 CDs contain 258 cantes recorded between 1910 and 1950 on 332 slate
records which were cleaned, digitalized and remastered, with 51 different
styles, each one meticulously commented on the DVD. A webpage is under
construction at http://www.ninadelospeines.net/

Cruces described la Niña de los Peines as «woman, gypsy,
artist and flamenca» and commented that she was «the hinge
that connected traditional and modern flamenco». The professor demonstrated
and explained contents of the DVD such as the petenera the singer made
famous and which can be compared with earlier versions of Niño
Medina and Manuel Torre. She highlighted the user-friendliness of the
electronic format which allows for skipping around between different chapters
and emphasized that everyone is invited to make free use of the material
since it has been declared public patrimony and is not protected.

The collection of newspaper clippings put together by José Luis
Ortiz Nuevo includes unusual articles about Pastora’s wedding, her
performances and interviews, and a graphic collection mounted by José
Blas Vega contains more than 230 references, some never before published.

Romualdo Molina observed that from now on other countries will ask themselves
«how come we never did anything like this for our best artists?»
and he predicted they will follow the example set here. Segundo Falcón
commented that this was the most ambitious project the Centro Andaluz
de Flamenco has carried out to date and that the institution will continue
to place its bets on the great figures of flamenco.

Nowadays when traditional flamenco seems vulnerable, this collection
which will be available at shops in a short time is an admirable and decisive
step towards its defense and conservation.

Text and photos: Estela Zatania

More information
'Niña
de los Peines' Andalucía’s Heritage CONGRESS: 'PASTORA Y
SU TIEMPO'.