Diego Carrasco & family. Tablao Villa Rosa de Madrid

Diego Carrasco & Family
Tablao Villa Rosa
Thursday, October 27th, 2011 – Madrid

Text: Isaac Rodriguez
Photos & video: Rafael Manjavacas

The Gypsy Hippie

There was celebration in the wee hours of October 27th thanks to the sparkle and wisdom of Diego Carrasco.  This Jerez singer was chosen to open the series “Pinceladas Flamencas at Villa Rosa”, that legendary venue which again has been reenlisted for flamenco purposes.

Directed by José Iriarte, with the artistic coordination of Jónatan Miró and the media support of Rebeca García and David Shabani, the new Villa Rosa has reopened with a keen desire to impact.  If you don’t think so, just ask the diverse audience that packed the club on the night in question.  The same stage once graced by Don Antonio Chacón, came alive with the dancing of Marco Flores, a top professional in every sense of the word, who was the opening act for the incorrigible one-of-a-kind Diego Carrasco.

Meandering between tables and saying hello to old friends (Fran Rivera, Ramón el Portugués, María Toledo, Pablo Motos…), this gypsy hippie who has such a good time giving others a good time with his singing, began his performance.  It makes no difference if he does alegrías por rumba, if he reinvents Jerez bulerías or if he whoops it up with his ‘tangos del trabilitrán’.  No one minds the used-up voice when his compás is the envy of self-respecting metronomes.  What little is lost in the vocals is more than compensated in suspense and controlled emotion.  His singing is made of silences, of flash storms, of surprises, a torrent of duende and fun.

But none of this would be the same without his family:  a hotshot bass, a son on the cajón and Curro Navajita on guitar with a myriad of resources.  And the audience full of musicians, so enthralled they even sang along in the choruses.

The Villa Rosa tablao is on the corner of Núñez de Arce and Álvarez Gato, two fifteenth century poets.  The latter street is known as the Callejón del Gato, where Valle Inclán’s famous funhouse mirrors were, the immortal playwright, author of Luces de Bohemia.  With neighbors like that, it’s not surprising Diego Carrasco would become infected, in the best sense of the word, with the bohemian spirit, the light and the whole romantic movement.  In one of his poetic winks (to Don Juan de Zorilla), Diego sang that verse about “yo a las cabañas bajé, yo a los palacios subí” [‘I descended to hovels, I rose to palaces’], and what a great job he did with this other verse from the same source: “Por donde quiera que fui, la razón atropellé, la virtud escarnecí y la justicia burlé” [‘wherever I went, I clashed with reason, made a mockery of virtue and escaped justice’].  That is his song and his life; the peaceful but clever transgression of purity.  Or at least that’s how it looks to me.