XIII Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla. Tomatito: Sonanta Suite – Saetas: Musicas y pasos de Pasión

Guitar: Tomatito. Vocal: Mari Ángeles Fernández.
Bass, vocal and mandola: Diego Amador. Percussion: Lucky Losada.
Violin: Bernardo Parrilla. Guitar and mandoline: El Paquete. Orchestral
arrangements by Joan Albert Amargós and Enric Palomar.

Not long ago when Paco de Lucía released his latest
recording, Tomatito declared “Paco is God”, a reference
to the universality of the maestro from Algeciras and which was
formally recognized with the recent Príncipe de Asturias
award. As Paco settles into his new role as worldwide maestro of
the guitar (something he had long been for most flamenco aficionados),
his most important protégé and admirer has now assumed
the place of workaday genius and maestro on the rise left vacant
by Paco’s ascent.

“Sonanta Suite” is an ambitious project for the man
from Almería who at 46 has a lengthy and impressive list
of credits. At 12 he arrived in Málaga where he had the opportunity
to trade Paco de Lucía material with a local aficionado,
and even experiment with the sitar at a time when this instrument
had yet to be used in flamenco. Those seeds, combined with his natural
curiosity and the knowledge he brought with him from Almería
all came together splendidly yielding an exceptional guitarist,
first for accompaniment, and afterwards, with the loss of his faithful
Camarón de la Isla, for concert guitar.

Tomatito -Photo: Rafael Manjavacas

The evening of September 6th within the programming of Seville’s
Bienal de Flamenco Tomatito sat down with his guitar front and center
of the stage of the Teatro de la Maestranza. Thirty or forty empty
chairs and idle music-stands indicated that important things were
soon to take place. The first part was devoted to one solo piece
and a series of pieces with his sextet. Taranta, tangos, minera,
soleá, rumba and a brilliant bulería with an unmistakable
nod to Sabicas in the entire closing section in A minor.

Paco de Lucía’s legacy, the clean tones, the polished
technique beyond anything that was thought possible just a few decades
ago, creative compás you don’t need to fish for and
which is always on the surface…these are the qualities that
make Tomatito’s music among the most elevated in flamenco
today.

The sweet young gypsy voice of Mari Ángeles Fernández,
Tomatito’s daughter, enhanced the music giving the perfect
touch. It was Vicente Amigo who popularized the custom of using
cante to accompany guitar instead of the other way around, and this
has become a new dimension to be explored. The multi-talented Diego
Amador changed instrument for each theme…”theme”,
that word that Juan Maya ‘Marote’ found so strange and
inappropriate for flamenco since it indicates written music rehearsed
to perfection, but that’s exactly what this is, and it cannot
be judged as traditional flamenco which would be unfair and illogical.

The second part went further still in this elevation of flamenco
to the realm of classical music with arrangements by Joan Albert
Amargós and the Cádiz Symphonic Orchestra. It’s
quite a sight, no question about it, to watch thirty or more musicians
simultaneously turning the pages of their sheet music while accompanying
Tomatito’s soleá, taranta or alegrías –
perhaps the ultimate and inevitable outcome of what Paco de Lucía
set in motion so many years ago.

Text: Estela Zatania

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