XII Festival flamenco 'La Yerbabuena'

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XII Festival flamenco «La Yerbabuena» Las Cabezas de San Juan (Seville) Saturday June 4th, 2003, Plaza de Atocha, 10:30 p.m

Juan Peña 'El Lebrijano', Fernando Terremoto, Tomás de Perrate,
Miguel 'Funi', Morenito de Coria, Antonio Moya, Pedro Mª Peña, Antonio
Malena, Antonio Higuero, Grupo flamenco «Las Cabezas a Compás»,
Gitanas de la Peña Flamenca «Terremoto» de Jerez.

A night for flamenco and gypsy singing,
a night of dynasties and continuance, a balmy night full of the
scent of mint, «yerbabuena». Las Cabezas de San Juan, one of the
flamenco-relevant towns of the geographical strip known as the lower
Guadalquivir annually celebrates one of the first festivals of flamenco
singing to open the season, the Yerbabuena, this year celebrating
its twelfth edition, barely an adolescent compared to the middle-aged
Potaje de Utrera (47), Gazpacho de Morón (37) and Caracolá de Lebrija
(38)..

On
Saturday, June 14th, 2003 a new generation of artists, young but
experienced, showed that no-frills traditional flamenco is still
alive and well. The respective sons of Perrate de Utrera, Terremoto
de Jerez, Pedro Peña and Curro Malena rounded out a bill that also
included veterans Juan el Lebrijano and Miguel Funi, also from Lebrija.

No-frills traditional flamenco is still
alive and well

The evening got off to a good start with the youthful Morenito
de Coria accompanied by Pedro María Peña: soleá,
siguiriyas and bulerías, what better menu? Aside from the
promising quality of the young man's singing, there's an odd custom
among some younger singers today to sing putting on the voice of
an elderly person. It's fine and well to pay homage to those who
went before, but perhaps excessive when a 17-year-old boy sounds
like the 80-year-old Juan Talega.

Miguel Funi

The silver Yerbabuena distinction was then presented to José
Manuel Caballero Bonald from Jerez, the writer, flamencologist,
director and producer of one of the most serious and complete anthologies
of cante ever recorded. Caballero Bonald delightedly accepted the
award commenting that it was well-deserved for the work he did recuperating
and preserving voices of the past century that would have been lost
forever had it not been for the anthology, and enthusiastic applause
demonstrated that the audience fully agreed.

…bulerías is cultivated,
evolves and is constantly growing…
always the same, always surprising.

Next up was the local group «Las Cabezas a Compás»
which offered a tasty sample of the wonderful style of flamenco
so typical of this area, and another thought pops up, perhaps obvious
for some: bulerías is cultivated, evolves and is constantly
growing. It is the most dynamic and authentic element of the flamenco
repertoire despite the occasional bad press it receives. Always
the same, always surprising.

Writer Manuel Bohórquez presented Fernando Terremoto saying
that he is «not an imitator but a carrier of the torch»,
and with the splendid and very much Jerez-sounding guitar of Antonio
Higuero, Fernando dedicated the bulería por soleá
to «that great maestro of letters, José Manuel Caballero
Bonald». The malagueña he went on to interpret showed
a high degree of refinement and subtlety, the siguiriya recalled,
inevitably, his extraordinary father…fandangos and bulerías,
complete with his little dance.

El Lebrijano & Caballero Bonald

Elegance, compás, cantes
that are as traditional as they are original

Miguel Funi with the guitar of Antonio Malena. Elegance, compás,
cantes that are as traditional as they are original. With Antonio
Moya's knowledgeable accompaniment Tomás de Perrate, the
maximum representative of the new generation of singers from Utrera,
in his first important festival after having been named «Artista
Revelación» of Seville's last Bienal, demonstrated that
he is more than prepared to lead his town's proud name through the
dawn of the third millennium. He is rapidly acquiring the self-confidence
that perhaps was missing in earlier performances: soleá,
tientos tangos and good ol' bulerías with the unmistakable
sound of Utrera and its great singers.

The
last star of the night was the veteran Juan el Lebrijano accompanied
by his young nephew Pedro María Peña, brother of Dorantes. Now one
of the elders, this singer continues to enjoy the unconditional
admiration of flamenco-followers who remember those marathon events,
the «happenings» of the sixties and seventies that were the summer
flamenco festivals when Lebrijano would capture and hold the entire
audience's attention with his siguiriyas and solea, his half-hour
of bulerías or his facing-off with the great Antonio Mairena a capella
por tonás.

Juan Peña 'El Lebrijano'

The
«happenings» that were the summer flamenco festivals when Lebrijano
would capture and hold the entire audience's attention

Text & Photos: Estela
Zatania

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