Opening night of “Málaga en Flamenco”.

Text & photos: Estela Zatania

Cante: Antoñita Contreras, Bonela Hijo, Rocío
Bazán.
Guitarists: Francisco Javier Jimeno, J. Antonio Chaparro, Antonio
Soto, José Fernández, Gaspar Rodríguez.
Dance: Paco Mora, Sergio Aranda, Solera Chica, Virginia Ruiz, Eva
Fernández, Elena Molina, José Maldonado, José
Manuel Galán, Jesús Nieto.
Palmeros: Antonio el Yaya, Nuria Martín, Laura Cano.
Narration and text: Gonzalo Rojo, Vicente Aleixandre.
Director, choreographer and script: Paco Mora.

A little over a year ago, flamenco fans began to talk about
a new and ambitious happening that was in the works: the “bienal”
of Málaga, finally named “Málaga en Flamenco”.
Two months of shows, big and small, 210 performances of 60 works
in 49 locations throughout the province of Málaga and the
capitals of Andalusia, 25 recitals by young interpreters at Málaga
peñas, 22 conferences and round-table discussions, 15 expositions,
didactic lectures, presentations, conferences and projections. An
immense project rivaled in scope only by Seville’s Bienal
de Flamenco and which is to be held biannually alternating with
the latter.

Before anything else, heartfelt congratulations to the organizers
and performers for the effort and dedication they have shown, and
the admirable diversity of the offering. Just when many of us are
wondering where flamenco is headed with its current “boom”,
this new event of olympic proportions pushes the limits even further.
For this reason many eyes were placed on Málaga’s Teatro
Cervantes the night of Wednesday, September 14th for this important
inauguration and premiere performance.

Málaga has flamenco elements
of great value, both historic and current

At sunset, the open space in front of the venerable theater was
already full of life with two typical verdiales groups that attracted
a large number of tourists and the curious. Inside the theater the
first sound to reach our ears was an off-stage voice talking about
the flamenco history of Málaga, invoking the names of historic
figures such as Juan Breva, el Cojo de Málaga, El Piyayo,
Anilla la de Ronda, la Repompa, Trinidad Huertas and Paca Aguilera,
and the scratchy sound of an old radio emitting sounds of the past,
a overused ploy throughout the presentation and which was annoyingly
reminiscent of María Pagés’ “Canciones
antes de una guerra”.

Sometimes, what looks good on paper, doesn’t pan out in practice,
despite the noblest of intentions. A work based on Málaga’s
flamenco history and personalities sounds swell, but let’s
not kid ourselves, Málaga is not Sevilla, nor is it Jerez
nor Cádiz. All the same, Málaga has flamenco elements
of great value, both historic and current, but they were not exploited
in this work, and some concepts came off as confused. Director choreographer
Paco Mora comes out dressed in a typical Cuban white suit and fedora,
only to dance rondeñas. He offers little more than slick
competence, and his choreographies are not up to the current high
level. Singers Rocío Bazán and Bonela Hijo, and to
a lesser degree Antoñita Contreras, tackle one cante after
another, many without dance, but these voices are not important
enough to take on such responsibility. Then one wonders why veteran
Málaga artists like singer Cancanilla or dancer Pepito Vargas
who could have showed off the best of Málaga flamenco are
absent. A good orgy of rhythmic “abandolao” cante would
have been welcome. Tangos del Piyayo, one of the most characteristic
elements of Málaga flamenco, is given a poor showcase with
Bonela who, rather than interpret the tasty original version as
it has come down to us via the late Manolillo el Herrador and other
disciples of Piyayo, sweet ‘décimas with a languid
Caribbean flavor, serves a low-cal version, shortened and domesticated,
and a great opportunity was missed to dress up one of the dancers
as the bohemian Piyayo whose image is known to all flamenco-followers.
The highly personalized tangos and bulerías of La Repompa,
attributed to the singer Pirula, another piece of local lore, are
rendered egually sterile by Rocío Bazán – magnificent
voice and faculties, zero flavor.

Cañeta, daughter of La Pirula,
living history of Málaga flamenco, right before our eyes

Martinete and serranas, taranta del Cojo de Málaga, cantiñas
“malacitanas” that singer La Trini taught Pastora Pavón
cuando the latter spent long periods in Málaga, are a few
of the pieces that fill out the program without satisfying the desire
to feel that Málaga flamenco promised in the title.

The show feels long and monotonous and the audience, mostly local,
is reserved with its applause. But hold on! The second part opens
opens with la Cañeta de Málaga dressed in electric
turquoise blue. Suddenly the creature which is “Málaga”
shows signs of life and the air seems to clear. La Cañeta
addresses the audience to announce “I didn’t sleep much
last night because I became a great-grandmother”, triggering
a warm ovation. It’s impossible to avoid thinking how such
an older lady sends out more sparks than all the youngsters combined.
She sings tangos with characteristic inspiration – the daughter
of La Pirula, living history of Málaga flamenco, right before
our eyes – everything is dynamic and sharp and full of compás
to bring the first energetic applause of the evening. Cañeta’s
husband José Salazar fills in with some bulerías while
the lady regroups, but suddenly the curtain comes down and we later
discover the strong bulerías number was abruptly cut by order
of the director.

We are returned to the vacuous competence of the younger artists
lest anyone should become enthralled with the traditional flamenco
of one of Málaga’s major stars. The personality of
Trinidad Huertas “La Cuenca” is recreated by dancer
Solera Chica, compact and correct. “Málaga canta por
soleá” – Málaga has no tradition of this
basic palo – another dance by Paco Mora morphs inevitably
into bulerías for the bulerías finale, and once again
Cañeta steals the show.

Despite a great deal of effort, the show called “Málaga”
made no ripples in the time-space continuum. In its run through
the various provinces of Andalusia, in place of Cañeta, there
is to be an invited star from each area. A show which longs to glorify
Málaga flamenco and could have been something important,
seems almost embarrassed about its own history and resorts to outside
elements and derivatives to come up with a standardized product

On Thursday night another flamenco event took place, not related
to “Málaga en Flamenco”. We attended the inauguration
of “El Tablao” in the Malagueta district, a contemporary
club with a house group in addition to prominent guest artists such
as Fernando de la Morena and Chano Lobato on September 16th and
17th respectively. After the excellent cuadro and some crispy fried
fish with garlic mayonnaise, the palate finally found that flavor
it had been longing for.

More information:

'Málaga
en Flamenco' Special – All the information

'La
Cañeta de Málaga' Special