'La guitarra' Victor Monge ‘Serranito y Javier Conde

Young
guitarist Javier Conde’s age is half the number of years the Festival
Flamenco de Cáceres has existed, and nearly a half-century separates
him from maestro Victor Monge ‘Serranito’ with whom he shared
a guitar recital Saturday evening, November 20th within the scheduled
program of the thirtieth Festival Flamenco de Cáceres which also
included a great many photographic and painting exhibitions and other
parallel activities.

It’s hard to avoid talking numbers when the topic is Javier Conde
(Cáceres, 1988), who began playing guitar at the age of 4 and has
been winning important prizes since 10, including most recently the prestigious
Bordón Minero del Festival de Cante de las Minas de la Unión.
He is what is known as a child prodigy, but it would be unfair to use
the label to underestimate the raw talent of this young musician who offered
his classic repertoire with pieces by Paco de Lucía, Sabicas, Esteban
de Sanlúcar, Niño Miguel, Andrés Batista and Serranito
himself, with the composure and intensity of the very maestros he admires.
“Tonight marks a before and after in the history of flamenco in
Extremadura” declared the organization’s spokesman, and it
was no exaggeration given the generational rite of passage that was impossible
to overlook.

The young boy with his strictly classical
repertoire, and the veteran with his unmistakable contemporary leaning.

Javier presented a varied program of eleven pieces, from the opening
with Paco de Lucía’s alegrías “Barrio de Viña”
– Niño Ricardo, via Paco de Lucía filtered through
Javier – to Esteban de Sanlúcar’s Panaderos, Batista’s
Danza Mora and Granaínas, Sabicas’ Zapateado en Re and Garrotín,
with the maestro’s Sitio de Zaragoza to “re-finish”
as the young man quipped before playing the extra piece his audience demanded.
Javier exhibited a keen sense of authenticity, a sure and dynamic attack,
clean bell-like tones and the artistic sensitivity of an adult. Several
of the pieces were backed up with bongos, bass and the discreet second
guitar of Javier’s father, José Antonio Conde who just released
his own recording, “Retazos de mi vida flamenca”.

Veteran
guitarist Victor Monge ‘Serranito’ (Madrid, 1942) who has
made eighteen recordings throughout his career was presented as “one
of three guitarists who left his mark on the twentieth century”,
the other two being Paco de Lucía and Manolo Sanlúcar. With
two backup guitars in addition to percussion, with his foot on the foot-rest
usually associated with classical guitarists, he delivered an updated
sound for an assortment of his own compositions, including taranta, granaínas,
soleá, a fantasy titled “Los cuatro elementos”, and
another dedicated to Federico García Lorca with which he proposed
“to express via music the fateful ending of the poet’s life”.

The heart-warming image of Serranito and Javier playing side by side
was the icing on the cake for this evening loaded with symbolism: the
young boy with his strictly classical repertoire, and the veteran with
his unmistakable contemporary leaning, and between the two of them, a
concert of good solid guitar and high expectations for flamenco in Extremadura.

More information:
Interview with Javier
Conde