Jueves
Flamencos de la Fundación El Monte
Manolo Sanlúcar
“Tres momentos para un concierto”
. Sala Joaquín Turina. Seville
Text: Rubén Gutiérrez
Guitar: Manolo
Sanlúcar. . Second guitar: David Carmona. Cajón:
Jorge Aguilar. Voice: María Toledo.
The new season of recitals “Jueves Flamencos
de la Fundación el Monte” (Thursday flamenco
at the Monte) has gotten under way. A total of twenty-two
concerts are scheduled, with a good dose of top-flight flamenco
in all its manifestations, dance, guitar and cante. Under
the direction of Manuel Herrera, ex director of the Bienal
of Sevilla, a program has been put together that would be
the envy of many festivals. Current stars and young hopefuls
will work in tandem throughout the season at the Sala Joaquín
Turina.
And the series began with none other than one of our most
illustrious concert guitarists. In his show “Tres Momentos
Para un Concierto”, Manolo Sanlúcar presents
a series of pieces from his long career, a sort of flamenco
hit parade. In this context, and accompanied by young guitarist
David Carmona and Jorge Aguilar on the cajón, we were
able to enjoy the Arabic sounds of “Aljibe”, a
piece which has become a classic over the years on radio and
television.
The recital includes compositions from three well-differentiated
phrases of the guitarist’s development. Especially relevant
for the history of flamenco was the recording “Tauromagia”,
considered by some to have been an important turning point
in the evolution of flamenco music. Pieces like the bulería
“Tercio de Baras” display the maestro’s
life-long musical curiosity. The man is clearly a virtuoso,
but the years don’t pass in vain and there are moments
when the velocity of his technique seems somewhat diminished,
although his tremolos and arpeggios show great musicianship.
Harmonically, Manolo Sanlúcar was determined to revolutionize
the guitar, and he did, with constant winks to dissonances
and chords in the line of other musical genres such as jazz
or bossanova.
Harmonically, Manolo Sanlúcar
was determined to revolutionize the guitar, and he did
Manolo Sanlúcar (photo: Rafael Manjavacas) Singer María Toleda took part as well, lending the
dark metal of her voice to verses of Federico García
Lorca in which Sanlúcar was inspired to compose his
album “Locura de Brisa y Trino”, another experiment
from the Muñoz brothers’ factory where flamenco
styles combine and cante plays with a melody that does not
correspond to the rhythmic patterns marked by the cajón,
while the guitars develop their flamenco fantasies.
An exceptional flamenco evening that brought together a large
portion of Seville’s flamenco fans who seemed to be
in need of some refreshment after the most recent Bienal,
and in fact, there were very few empty seats. A moving moment
came when the guitarist dedicated one of his pieces to José
Manuel Suárez Japón, a great flamenco fan and
present dean of the International University of Andalucía.
The concert ended with alegrías and caña inspired
in the work of painter Baldomero Romero Ressendi, material
which, according to the program, will be included in the maestro’s
next recording due to come out next year.
Sanlúcar appeared somber, and not quite at ease with
the amplification throughout the evening. If we consider that
he recently lost a son as well as his father, we see an artist
wrestling with mourning and death as reflected in the curtain
call when he dedicated his composition “Oración”
to the children who recently lost their lives in Gaza.
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