FESTIVAL DE NIMES – Fosforito – Mercedes Ruiz – Manuel Liñan

Fosforito

Mercedes Ruiz, Manuel Liñán
Teatro de Nimes, Francia. January 27th, 2007. 9:00pm

Special Festival de Nimes 2007.

Text & photo: Estela Zatania

1st part. Cante: Fosforito. Guitar: Antonio Soto.2nd part. Dance: Mercedes Ruiz, Manuel Liñán. Guitar: Antonia Jiménez, Arcadio Marín, Santiago Lara. Cante: José Valencia, Jesús Méndez. David Palomar. Percussion: Perico Navarro. Palmas: Tacha y Ana.

After a week of intense activity, braving temperatures below zero, the afterhours flamenco in the hotel, the Camenbert and the French wine, the Nimes Flamenco Festival of 2007 has reached its conclusion.

This final day began at eleven in the morning with Andrés Marín's master class, and at 12:30 the city of Nimes honored Fosforito, as well as Olga de Pascua, director of the Centro Andaluz de Flamenco and María Ángeles Carrasco, general coordinator of the Agencia Andaluza para el Desarrollo del Flamenco at a ceremony held in the theater.Immediately folllowing, Norberto Torres offered the final conference, «Las Llaves de Oro del Cante, a half-century of cante jondo», and the cultural activities finished in the afternoon with a class in compás by Diego Carrasco.

Fosforito homenajeadao por la ciudad de Nimes

At the theater an interesting program was awaiting: the old maestro Antonio Fernández Díaz «Fosforito», and the new generation of dancers represented by Jerez dancer Mercedes Ruiz and from Granada, Manuel Liñán.

An artist's achievements never expire, and those of this singer are considerable

Those of us who witnessed Fosforito's spectacular rise to fame and are his unconditional admirers because of all he has achieved, come to these recitals with the mental review already written: «The maestro sang splendidly, going through all the cantes that have made him famous over the last half-century».If the reality is slightly different from that evaluation, it makes no difference, because an artist's achievements never expire, and those of this singer are considerable.He starts out thanking the audience for their presence «because without you, none of this would make any sense», and we know the old singer is committed to doing everything humanly possible to draw from the vast knowledge of cante stored in his head, and let it flow from his mouth.

Before delving into his famous soleá apolá with Antonio Soto on guitar, he talks about the history of Triana, and Estébanez Calderón and «Un Baile en Triana»…the singer's urge to impart knowledge has no limits.You close your eyes and Fosforito is 30 years old, and his powerful moving voice fills the air of a thousand summer nights with the cantiña of the 'titirimundi', and his version of the petenera, and the taranto de Almería, and bulerías de Cádiz, and a range of fandango abandolao, and tientos, like the ones he sang to end his performance.The French audience knows how to appreciate these unforgettable moments with the holder of the last Llave de Oro del Cante and their applause is long and heartfelt.

Compact and intense, and a couple of extraordinary moves send an electric charge throughout the theater

In the second part, dancers Mercedes Ruiz and Manuel Liñán opened with a short duo of taranto por tango.A backup cuadro of eight included a female guitarist, the third we've seen play in public over the last twelve months, the taboo against women accompanists seems finally to have broken and they are now «tolerated» in flamenco.After a malagueña solo with cante abandolao by the always interesting José Valencia, the voice of Jesús Méndez gave the opening for soleá and Manuel Liñán's first dance.This 27-year-old from Granada, who made his own group at the age of 24, has a classic yet highly stylized approach.His dancing is compact and intense, and a couple of extraordinary moves send an electric charge throughout the theater.The dance however is too long, by a lot, an error also committed by Mercedes Ruiz.These tablao-format dances have become dated, if you can't say what you have to say in less than five minutes, it might be because you have nothing to say.

Mercedes Ruiz, 26 years old, winner of important prizes at Córdoba and the Bienal de Sevilla, appears in a lovely olive-colored velvet dress, and Jesús Méndez sings martinete.The young singer from Jerez has acquired a lot of polish since he began singing for dance.Mercedes indulges in a very long heelwork section, unforgivable in this dancer known for her beautifully supple movements, and once again the dance is simply too long.Liñán returns dressed in white for cantiñas, and the dance is long.Then Mercedes with soleá, and the guitarist abuses the tuning-down of the sixth string, getting an opaque, even depressing sound which denies the naturally sweet crystalline sound of the guitar.The extreme thinness of the dancer's arms allow beautiful interplay of hands, wrists and shoulders.And the dance is long.

After three hours, and an epic fiesta finale, the closing gala is over and we head for the Hotel Atria for another night with the Tropa Santiaguera, on this occasion with the special collaboration of Diego Carrasco.

The seventeenth edition of the Nimes Flamenco Festival has concluded with great success, and the organization is to be congratulated for their intelligence and dedication and having the know-how to design a prototype event that is economically viable and culturally enriching for this city that has given so much to flamenco.