Since 1999 when the recordings of Pastora Pavón “La Niña de los Peines” were officially declared Bien de Interés Cultural [cultural patrimony], the Centro Andaluz de Flamenco, following the instructions of Spanish Cultural Minister Carmen Calvo Poyato, has been involved in the tedious job of recuperating, compiling, cataloguing, documenting and preserving the recordings (slate records) made by Pastora Pavón throughout her life.
From early 2003, relying on a substantial amount of both recorded and
graphic material, as well as transcription of Pastora’s verses,
the Centro Andaluz de Flamenco began the final leg of this project which
involves releasing the complete discography of Niña de los Peines
in 2004, 135 years after her birth, filling out the needed information
to fully appreciate the worth of the music and the cantes.
The second half of 2003 saw the organization of the discography according
to recording date, including all the re-releases on the market, and the
cataloging of the cantes according to record company data and the original
records themselves, in addition to various investigative projects related
to Pastora Pavón with a total of eleven commissioned scientific
works by specialists from different areas.
In a parallel project a webpage is being put up with complementary digitalized
information, images, cantes and so on.
The complete discography, all the material generated and the celebration
of the congress devoted to “Pastora y su tiempo”, as well
as an exposition about Pastora will be presented in February, and towards
the end of March 2004, the complete discography as well as a book and
interactive DVD will be put on sale.
The closeness of dates of the proposed congress (end of February 2004)
and Andalusia’s general and regional elections on March 14, 2004,
caused some elements to to be reconsidered.
This Center now plans to postpone the congress and exposition to late
spring or early summer (between May and June) and some information is
already available: the congress is to be held in Seville over a period
of three days of keynote speeches and various communiqués. Each
day will finish up with a flamenco presentation.
