La Macanita, Pitingo, Mª Angeles en el San Juan. Festival de Tarantos. cante flamenco

LA MACANITA, ANTONIO
“PITINGO” Y Mª ÁNGELES FERNÁNDEZ

Colegio Mayor San Juan Evangelista. Madrid. Friday, April
22nd,

DIVERSITY AND BIODIVERSITY

LA MACANITA, ANTONIO “PITINGO” Y Mª
ÁNGELES FERNÁNDEZ
Guitars: Manuel Parrilla, Alfonso Orellana.

By Manuel Moraga

If the previous night was guitar, the second day
of the Festival put the spotlight on cante. The program brought
three completely different kinds of artists together. Rich
diversity on stage, and some unfortunate behaviour by the
audience.

María Ángeles Fernández broke the ice
with sounds from her hometown of Almería, tarantas
that displayed her concept: short but tasteful. María
Ángeles resorts to nimble manipulation of the tones,
and lots of rhythm play. Her voice, without a doubt, is what
raises the most doubts. Although it’s sweet and pretty,
it sometimes comes off as flat and free of texture, as if
it weren’t quite ready yet. Perhaps she needs some more
time. Her alegrías were very original, as were the
bulerías where she was clearly at ease.

He’s young and has a great love of flamenco, and for
that very reason, is very knowledgeable. The second person
of the night was Antonio Vélez “Pitingo”.
With each performance he gains more confidence and dominates
his nervousness which is logical in a singer just barely 25.
Pitingo likes to elongate the lines, but with good taste.
His swift melismatic voice allows him to draw all sorts of
figures with great precision, at the same he snips and cuts
as the inspiration comes. And all with plenty of feeling.
Granaína, weighty soleá, bulerías, tarantos
and fandangos, not to mention a little bulerías dance
he offered at the audience’s request. With his great
love of flamenco, his wide knowledge of styles, his enthusiasm
and youth, this singer has a great future. For the moment,
Pitingo had a great night and the audience enjoyed his performance.

But
the high point of the evening was Tomasa Guerrero “La
Macanita”. Her voice was perfect and that really inspired
her. Even on a bad day she manages to be interesting. Although
a lot of people had a hard time changing the mental chip at
first, the fact is Macanita’s singing began to connect
from the very beginning with tarantos. And she just kept getting
better. Her soleá set was impeccable: strength, shading,
that Jerez custom of really letting go… But that wasn’t
all, because she was just as good in siguiriyas, or even better
perhaps. After some bulerías in which she also danced,
she wrapped up with martinetes where Tomasa sang with great
honesty and power.

On the down-side, a lack of manners – and I’m
pretty laid-back – on the part of spectators who came
late as if they owned the place, even in mid-performance and
without waiting for a piece to end, bothering the rest of
the audience, not to mention the artists. At least five people
passed right in front to get to their seats, in the middle
of Macanita’s soleá. Bad marks for those spectators
and of course for the people responsible for the theater who
ought to set guidelines and see they are enforced.

Photo Pitingo by Rafa Manjavacas
Photos Macanita by Estela Zatania