XIII Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla. 'Romancero gitano' de Federico García Lorca

Text : Estela Zatania

Dance: Florencio Campo, Claudia Faci, Daniel Doña,
Inge Martín, Kelian Martínez, David Paniagua, Marcos
Flores, Alegría Suárez, José Maya. Cante: Aurora
Losada, Juan de Pura, Simón Román. Guitar: Juan Antonio
Suárez “Cano”, Antonio Rey, Juan Antonio Quirós.
Piano: Pablo Suárez. Percussion: Daniel Suárez. Director:
Francisco Suárez.

Federico García Lorca came to deplore the exaggerated
fascination that many of his contemporaries felt for “Romancero
gitano” and the nickname of “gypsy poet” the work
earned him. But seventy years after his death all sorts of projects
inspired in the writings of the man from Granada continue to appear.
This production of “Romancero gitano” by director Francisco
Suárez is made up of ten pieces freely based on poems from
the collection.

An attractive set with some touches
of genius

Flamenco artists can find abundant references on which to base their
works in Lorca who claimed not to be writing about gypsies but about
Andalusia, but the central figure is also a feeling of sadness “which
has nothing to do with melancholy or nostalgia but rather is a kind
of deep inner shadow; a feeling that is more celestial than terrestrial”
according to the author’s own words.

An attractive set with some touches of genius manages to construct
the Lorca state of mind in this production brimming with imagery,
with a silver-gray motif than suggests the moon and, God bless the
director, flamenco singing, dancing and guitar more than competent
if not exactly of top quality. Martinete, soleá, soleá
por bulería, alegrías, siguiriyas, tientos…even
sevillanas which many shows have shoehorned into their presentations
for the Bienal.

The dances take place on two levels: up on a catwalk The Moon moves
in slow motion as if in another dimension of time and space, complementing,
criticizing, pointing out or simply observing the goings-on down
on earth. Probably the longest bata de cola in history is used for
the beginning of an alegrías, the singer sings granaína
to bulerías compás when Federico is taken away and
it rains paper petals of red blood….

On the whole it’s possible to enjoy the flamenco without
getting over-burdened with the imagery. Kelian Martínez as
the Contrabandista Sonámbulo dances soleá por bulería
and José Maya as El Camborio por siguiriyas are two noteworthy
dancers in a star-free cast. The singers fulfill their respective
functions within the work with interpretations duly beholden to
the narrative, and the music, of guitar as well as piano, is pleasant,
even beautiful.