Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada.Marina Heredia Cancionero del Sacromonte

Cante: Marina Heredia, Jaime Heredia “El Parrón”, Manolo Osuna.
Guitar: Miguel Ochando, Luis Mariano, “Bolita”
Chorus and palmas: Reyes Martín, Anabel Rivera, Jara Heredia, Toñi Nogaredo.
Dance: Jara Heredia
Recitation: Josefina Ramirez

Text: Antonio Conde

“The Road to Albayzín…”

In the city of the Alhambra, there are numerous places that remind one of the Arabic heritage that has left its mark in every corner…in the streets, the palaces, the aromas that have impregnated the city for centuries.  If the word “flamenco” in Granada is synonymous with “Moorish”, it is also synonymous with Sacromonte.  And aside from the famous caves, there is no more representative place than the Abadía.  A sacred location that is the custodian of a gypsy heritage that has been maintained throughout the decades.

Marina Heredia y Luis Mariano	Cuadro Flamenco de la Venta Zoraida

The 58th edition of the Festival de Música y Danza de Granada, as in other years, made room for flamenco in its program.  And the magic of the most traditional sort of cante to be found in Granada was up to the task.  Marina Heredia, daughter of Jaime “El Parrón” and a real Albayzín native, presented her show “Cancionero del Sacromonte” in its premiere performance.  This was a cultural debt flamenco had with the city, and it was the Granada singer who finally paid tribute to the tradition.  A series of Granada cantes, verses and settings transported us to the way it was in the nineteen-thirties and forties, with Lorca gone and the city immersed in the poverty generated by the Civil War, while the local gypsy population managed to firmly maintain their life-style.

The show itself was polished throughout.  Seville designer Vicki Martín Berrocal created a wonderful aesthetic with period clothes.  But it was the cante that made the night.  Marina was completely immersed in what she was doing, from beginning to end.  With his broken voice, Parrón sang cante of the forge, martinete and debla.  We were transported to the era with texts of Mario Benedetti and Lorca, sung by Josefina Ramírez.  Marina came into sharp focus in the zambra, having found the way to adaptn old traditional songs to the most updated delivery, without making sacrifices, and that’s why she has the place of honor she enjoys today.  Tango de los merengazos, la mosca and fandango del Albaizín filled out the feeling of Granada cante and the ambience of the caves.  A processional tour of Granada, in the form of saetas and other religious cantes, gave way to the musical fantasy of Miguelo Ochando with fragments of Falla’s “La Vida Breve”, and bulerías del Albayzín by Ángel Barrios.

The guitar of Luis Mariano, sounding better all the time, and tireless Jerez guitarist José Quevedo “Bolita” backed up the rest of the recital.

Manolo Osuna con Jaime Heredia «Parrón»	Jaime Heredia «Parrón»

Marina was the undisputed star of the night.  Her voice has ripened, and she does what she wants with it.  The sweetness of her cante embraces the dark emotions when her voice lets loose.

Singer Manolo Osuna who offered a bit of fandangos, brought the majestic sound of classic cante.  There were special moments during the evening; the first, in memory of Tía Marina Habichuela, the aunt of Juan, Pepe, Luís and Carlos Habichuela, granaínas recalling that afternoon on the cave terrace with the backdrop of the Alhambra, and the second, in memory of one of those places that at one time witnessed the best of Granada cante, La Venta Zoraida.  The new cuadro of the Venta is composed of Reyes Martín, Anabel Rivera, Toñi Nogaredo and Jara Heredia.

The soleá and siguiriya of Parrón were wonderfully raw, half-spoken with his wine-weary voice, with flamenco good taste that did proud to the cante of Juanillo el Gitano.

The audience’s response left much to be desired.  They either didn’t understand the message, or were ignorant of the city’s flamenco tradition; they were cold and distant.  And despite being a debut performance, and there bring certain things that need to be ironed out, the idea of putting Granada flamenco on stage as a unified concept is more than sufficient cause for celebration for the Marina Heredia.