14th Festival Flamenco Caja Madrid. Miguel Poveda – Manolo Sanlúcar

“MANOLO
SANLÚCAR Y MIGUEL POVEDA. BUENA MÚSICA BUEN
CANTE”
January 31st. Teatro Albéniz. Madrid.

1st Part. Cante Miguel Poveda, guitar Chicuelo, palmas
Luis Cantarote and Carlos Grilo

2nd Part. Concert guitar Manolo Sanlúcar, second
guitar Santiago Lara, cante Carmen Grilo, percussion Tino
di Geraldo and Jorge Aguilar

Text: Manuel Moraga
Photos: Rafael Manjavacas

CHIAROSCURO

The Festival’s opening night left a bittersweet
taste. If Miguel Poveda was right in form, splendid, maestro
Sanlúcar had an off night, something very rare in this
musician. The evening went from more to less as did the number
of occupied seats in the theater.

With Miguel Poveda we have the luxury of following in real
time the ascent of a singer who will no doubt leave his mark
on the history of flamenco. The fact that at the tender age
of 20 he carried off the coveted Lámpara Minera denotes
the artistic maturity of this singer. But it was only the
beginning of maturity because Poveda continues to grow. All
you need to do is see him once a year to get a clear picture
of that development and observe how Miguel is concerned with
giving form and structure to everything he does. He designs
the pieces with rhythm (we’re not talking about compás,
but structure) and equilibrium, and each of the cantes that
makes up a given set is chosen with great wisdom, well-placed
and interpreted.

Poveda throws himself heart and
soul into his cante, pouring himself out emotionally with
the feeling of each particular form.

It’s interesting to follow the subtlety and shading
of Poveda’s work. The quality of his voice and his perfect
pitch have made melodic work the cornerstone of everything
he does, but more and more we see him exploring other expressive
talents of his such as the intent of each cante. You can see
how he throws himself heart and soul into his cante, pouring
himself out emotionally with the feeling of each particular
form. Moments like that is where the “duende”
hangs out, a quality which until now, no point denying it,
was not this singer’s strong point.

It’s hard to point out what was most noteworthy, but
I would single out the malagueña de Chacón (tied
up with a series of abandolao), his very varied selection
of cantes por soleá, his always perfect mining cante
and the bulerías he dedicated to Martirio.

The bitter taste came afterwards. If Poveda left a luminous
glow, Manolo Sanlúcar pulled us down to the depths
of darkness in a heavy ambience that was at times uncomfortable.
He was as dampened as was his guitar. Certainly the quality
of the sound could have been better (in fact his guitar did
not ring out with the rotundity and brilliance required by
his playing, and it’s also possible he had problems
hearing himself from the monitors), but the truth is, the
maestro was not particularly well-illuminated.

Manolo Sanlúcar is committed to emotions; he always
has been and his life experiences (some especially dramatic
ones) have only served to accentuate that characteristic.
For a long time we’ve been hearing profound melancholy,
even sadness in his musical messages. That osmosis between
the feeling and the work is most surely part of the truth
of art. A sort of truth the maestro demands of himself because
“if flamenco is a pastime for some, it is a vital
necessity for me”.

In all that musical and emotional
ideology, Sanlúcar fights with a heavy heart, slave
to that vital force which is flamenco

In some comments between pieces Sanlúcar put his bets
on the future: “we can’t tell it the way they
told it – a reference to the old masters like El Nitri
– because their world is not ours. We are now knocking
at future’s door, but it doesn’t open”.
This is a philosophy Manolo Sanlúcar creates when he
seeks out feelings and circumstances not previously expressed
in flamenco and to which he must give deep form. And so he
did, for example with “Gacela del amor desesperado”,
a piece included in his last recording to date, “Locura
de brisa y trino”.

In all that musical and emotional ideology, Sanlúcar
fights with a heavy heart, slave to that vital force which
is flamenco. In my opinion that is the context in which we
must view the off night of a great maestro.

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