Especial IX Festival Internacional de Jerez 2005. María Pagés. 'Canciones para antes de una guerra'

Dance:
María Pagés, María Morales, Sonia Fernández,
Mar Jurado, Cristina Tomé, Guadalupe Torres, José
Barrios, Emilio Herrera, Noé Barroso, Joaquín
Mulero, José Antonio Jurado. Voices: Ana Ramón,
Paco del Pozo, Ismael de la Rosa “Bolita”. Guitar:
José A. Carrillo “Fyty”, Isaac Muñoz.
Percussion: Guest artist: Tsidii Le Loka. Director: José
María Sánchez. Choreography: María Pagés,
José Barrios.

All the information IX
Festival de Jerez

Text: Estela Zatania

The fourth day of the Festival de Jerez began with the recital
of two young artists at the Palacio Villavicencio. Diego del
Morao offered a mini-concert without amplification that included
rondeña, soleá por bulería, tangos and
two bulerías, one more contemporary, and the other
pure Jerez. The second part of the program was devoted to
the young singer Laura Vital with the guitar accompaniment
of Manuel Herrera. A product of the teaching of the Cristina
Heeren Foundation in Seville, and winner in 2000 of the Bienal’s
contest for young artists, the lady has a command of the techniques
and forms of flamenco, but her voice and delivery which are
purely those of a Spanish lyrical singer, kept her from sounding
like a cantaora.

As theater and sheer entertainment,
the show definitely merits an ‘outstanding’.

It
is tremendously difficult to write a fair and sincere review
of “Canciones, antes de una guerra” [‘Songs,
Before a War’] served up by María Pagés
and company. This is the type of presentation that puts critics
between a rock and a hard place because this show, aside from
having received all sorts of prizes and recognition, and despite
setting off a euphoric reaction in a wide variety of audiences,
has not enjoyed universal acceptance. Some critics, myself
included, have commented on the opportunism of a spectacular
show worthy of Las Vegas or Broadway and which employs flamenco
elements the way a chef uses his pepper mill: just a bit here
and there to add interest, but always carefully administered
to avoid an overly strong flavor.

So the task is a tremendously difficult one, but not impossible.
Being as objective as possible, we shall try to run down the
list of pros and cons. Like the joke says, “first, the
good news”: “Canciones, antes de una guerra”
is possibly the most polished, professional and carefully-crafted
production in the history of the Spanish dance genre. All
the personnel are very competent, each individual in his or
her specialty. The choreography, staging, lighting, wardrobe,
amplification and other items usually associated with a presentation
of this magnitude are nearly flawless, and as theater and
sheer entertainment, it definitely merits an ‘outstanding’.

The flamenco feeling for which
so many have crossed oceans to find in Jerez, is absent.

So, (you ask), what’s the problem? Didn’t director
William Friedkin say “the audience is never wrong”?
But that famous line can be interpreted in a number of ways.
For example, had the artists on stage been deprived of their
clothing, audience reaction would no doubt have been even
more euphoric. Thusly, Friedkin’s statement is automatically
rendered irrelevant, at least in it most concrete sense. The
term “audience” also has room for interpretation.
Collective euphoria is a contagious momentary condition that
can be misleading, and some of the same people who leapt to
their feet in the theater, sheepishly express certain doubts
later on over beers. That the 1930’s cabaret thing is
overdone, that the African singer fits worse than a pair of
new shoes, that the small boy who sings with her is a gratuitously
saccharine element, that the serpentine movements of Pages
are fascinating but never get beyond serpentine movements,
that the end of the show with a grade-school map of the world
projected onto the backdrop while we hear John Lennon’s
song “Imagine” is enough to insult the intelligence
of any adult. But most of all, that the flamenco feeling for
which so many have crossed oceans to find in Jerez, is absent.

We came down to earth at the Sala la Compañía
with the dance presentation of young María José
Franco, Antonio el Pipa’s regular partner, and for an
even funkier take on flamenco, local artists offered an authentic
and lively group show at the Los Juncales flamenco club in
the center of the Santiago neighborhood.