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Ginesa Ortega
Text: Antonio Conde This year they weren’t taking any changes. Between the recession and the weather, things could have gone one way or the other, but in the end everything came out well even though the organization didn’t have the use of the usual venues for this new edition of the Ciutat Vella festival. The outdoor Pati de les Dones was exchanged for a closed area. And this year the event comes of age. The 18th edition paid tribute, as is only fitting, to the maestro Morente. A series of activities and concerts related to the singer, a heartfelt tribute to the most beloved figure of this festival. The Granada man’s relationship with the event goes way back. It was a tribute that was focused from a number of different angles, from the experimentalism he himself adopted as the basis of his work, to the most classical aspects of flamenco. The program began with an experimental, futuristic work of Juan Carlos Lérida, Florencio Campo and Marco Vargas. The voice of Miguel de la Tolea and the drums of Dani Tejedor interpreted the record “Omega”, while the dancers laid out their particular vision of this work
Catalonian singer Ginesa Ortega opened the festival per se. She has a very flamenco voice, and this is good when you’re putting your bets on cante cante. Her voice is well-worn, it sounds of maturity and from the first moment of the first cante, which was alegrías, she concentrated her energy on getting into herself. With the accompaniment of Alberto Fernández and Jesús Joaquín “Puchero” on guitar and the percussion of David Domínguez, she went on to interpret tientos resolving in tangos, with a wink to la Niña de los Peines and another to Triana. Soleá por bulerías was more like an uptempo soleá in which she personalized the cantes of Chozas with some very musical moments. As tribute to the maestro, she sang some granaínas laced with the aroma of jasmine from the Albayzín. The tandem Morente-Lorca with Aurora de Nueva York, was overly focused on jazz motifs instead of Morente. To wind up, she paid tribute to Terremoto with her bulerías “Luz en los Balcones”. It seemed a certain lack of coordination and/or rehearsal detracted from this ending. Nevertheless, she conjured up the omnipresent Lorca with the Tarara and Anda Jaleo to tanguillo compás
After a brief intermission, Fuensanta la Moneta was announced. Accompanied by Enrique el Extremeño, Miguel Iglesias and Cheyenne on percussion, she chose to ignore the new tendencies and concentrate on the cante. To such an extent that she spent the entire time dancing to Extremeño’s singing. As in the old days, the singer was in charge and the dancing was introduced as a complement. They tell me Morente once told Moneta that her thing was the “true flamenco idiom”, one of the maestro’s unforgettable remarks. An anthological rundown of cantes unleashed and inspired the dance. More flamenco than ever, she had the full attention of the audience from the moment she stepped on stage. A romance by Extremeño provoked some scorching dancing. Moneta has the gift of turning anything into flamenco with a single gesture, a look, a movement, even off-stage. She is a well-spring of flamenco knowledge despite her youth. In the caña, she demonstrated her command of the shawl. The intensity of her dancing is charged with fire, alternating between a slow burn and a volcanic explosion, which is what she achieves when she pushes herself. Leaving little space costume changes, the transitions between cantes were managed masterfully by Iglesias. Via the magic of carefully selected chords, we are escorted from caña to alegrías in Do where the Granada dancer once again takes us to flamenco-land firmly leading us by the hand. A mosaic of flamenco. By contrast, Extremeño’s vidalita was not used to its full potential because the sound was too strong, turning his voice into thunder for this delicate cante. After that point, Fuensanta didn’t let up for a single moment. Bulerías de Cádiz with the aroma of sea-spray and old wealth, with a contrast provided by the cante of serranas that followed. Tientos tangos, and again, the flamenco that Moneta lives and breathes left its essence in the air for the audience to savor.
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