Interview with Salvador Pendón, President of the Málaga provincial government

“The key to everything
is in the public response.”

by Manuel Moraga

Special on
'MÁLAGA EN FLAMENCO' Program & activities

How and when did the idea come about
for “Málaga en flamenco”?

The idea was born a little more than two years ago, at the
time I took on the responsibility of presiding over the Diputación,
and it came out of the belief that Málaga, which at
one time had an important place within the world of flamenco,
was going through a dormant period as far as flamenco was
concerned. So we started to consider the possibility of putting
something together that would infuse new life into the cultural
values and bring new activity to the flamenco of Málaga
we’ve always heard about. With that starting point,
we wanted to strengthen the flamenco forms native to Málaga
(don’t forget Málaga is creative turf for flamenco),
make our numerous fine artists known to the general public
and let flamenco fans see what people are doing in other parts.
In other words, we wanted to create a dynamic cultural program
that would revolve around flamenco. The proposal was launched
in September of last year. We rolled up our sleeves and here
we are offering Málaga, Andalucía and Spain
the first edition of “Málaga en flamenco”.

At the presentation of Málaga en Flamenco with Paco
Mora

This is a project headed by the Diputación
but with many other entities involved.

Exactly. This is such an ambitious project, it couldn’t
really have been the exclusive responsibility of one single
institution, and one thing we’re proud of about “Málaga
en flamenco” is the diversity of participation of businesses
and financial institutions whose generosity has been extraordinary.
We have received help from the Ministry of Culture, various
Consejerías of the Junta de Andalucía, the private
sector and various financial institutions throughout the province
of Málaga, in addition to the seven other Provincial
governments of Andalusia who are collaborating with us because
in this first edition of Málaga en flamenco (and to
be perfectly clear, we aim to be a unifying force), we have
a production made specifically for the occasion which will
travel to all the provinces of Andalusia with a guest artist
from each respective province.

“We’ve scheduled
210 activities for this first edition”

That’s an important aspect, that
the program extends not only throughout the capital of Málaga
and its towns, but also Andalusia.

We’ve scheduled 210 activities for this first edition.
Seventy-seven are proper performances and the rest are parallel
activities such as book and record presentations, conferences,
a master guitar workshop to be given by Manolo Sanlúcar,
a series of cinema and everything related to flamenco. In
addition to the capital of Málaga, we are going to
be in 45 other towns of the province and, as you mentioned,
the other seven provinces of Andalusia. It’s an ambitious
undertaking which involves a certain complexity at the organizational
level, but with hard work and dedication, as well as the collaboration
that has come from many sectors, we feel confident it will
all come out well and flamenco fans will understand what we’re
trying to do.

What criteria were applied in designing
the program?

Starting with that initial concept of bringing the program
to different parts of the province, in other words, not limiting
it to the capital or urban centers, we’ve followed up
with an equilibrium between guitar, cante and dance, because
we believe that flamenco is an art that cannot be disjointed
and those three elements are equally necessary. In Málaga,
where the most intense program has been scheduled, there are
three venues. The Sala Cánovas is a dance space where
Mario Maya’s “Diálogo del Amargo”
will be presented as well as Cristina Hoyos’ “Viaje
al Sur”, a Rocío Molina work with the collaboration
of Pasión Vega and several others. Then there’s
the Centro Cultural Provincial which is cante space which
will receive artists like Arcángel, Mayte Martín,
Miguel Poveda, El Lebrijano, etc… Then we have four major
shows: the inauguration with the show “Málaga”
(with performers from Málaga), Paco de Lucía’s
recital, the September 30th show with Niña Pastori,
Fosforito, Tomatito and Manuela Carrasco, and the closing
gala show on November 12th with a show that hopes to integrate
the flamenco of yesterday and today with Chano Lobato, Matilde
Coral, Cañeta de Málaga, Rocío Molina,
La Tremendita and others.

”We’re already working
on the 2006 edition”

What might be required to make “Málaga
en flamenco” a permanent event?

The key to everything is in the public response, not only
flamenco fans, but everyone in general. And we’re juggling
formulas to see that young people have the possibility of
attending the most appropriate shows. It’s the public
reaction that encourages us to continue with future editions.
In any case, we’re already working on the 2006 edition,
because the central idea is two months of shows in odd-numbered
years, but in the alternating years we want to continue working
on spreading and promoting flamenco. We have a few things
prepared: re-releases of historic recordings, conferences,
workshops, etc. In actual fact the in-between years don’t
mean a halt to activity, but rather a continuous effort.

photos: Diputación de Málaga

Special
on 'MÁLAGA EN FLAMENCO' Program & activities