The festival offered an outstanding
program of parallel activities
With the final gala and awards about to be presented,
some of us need a flamenco fix while we're waiting, so let's
take advantage of the respite to have a look at the wide range
of activities included in the festival.
First
of all it should be noted that the dance prize is a very tough
call. The level is higher this year than last, and the participation
of two young Japanese women, students of Yoko Komatsubara,
has aroused interest. In guitar, there were only three aspirants
and one young man in particular is the crowd's favorite. In
the area of cante, the most important part of the festival,
none of the nineteen contestants made much of an impression,
and at informal gatherings at sidewalk cafés around
the plaza outside the market, some people seem to feel the
first prize, the Lámpara Minera, should go unawarded
this year.
Miners' sons sing in the mine
Among the range of parallel activities, one of the most interesting
has been the Fourth Jornadas de las Peñas Flamencas,
a series of open-ended roundtable discussions held at La Unión's
Peña Flamenca under the supervision of Francisco Rabaldán.
The first of these discussions was titled “The evolution
of the guitar”. After a brief historical rundown that
took us up to the era of Paco de Lucía, guitarist and
author Juan Grecos spoke about his memories of Niño
Ricardo, Sabicas and Mario Escudero among others. The second
day was devoted to the topic “The inclusion of young
people in Flamenco” and developed into an interesting
debate about the estrangement of new flamenco fans as well
as the generation gap. The third and final discussion was
titled “Analysis of the evolution of flamenco clubs [peñas]”.
The decline of many peñas as well as their dwindling
relevance for younger flamenco followers was discussed at
length. Francisco Rabaldán offered his observations
in addition to a series of suggested guidelines for turning
the process around.
Some of us journalists had the privilege of being witness
to a historic event. José Manuel Sanes, the mayor of
La Unión, organized an excursion to the old Remunerada
mine which is being readied to receive tourist visits in the
not-too-distant future. After descending through dark tunnels
to a depth of some five hundred feet, we arrived at a large
cave where guitarist Rosendo Fernández and several
local singers, all sons of miners, made the beautiful, haunting
sounds of mining cante echo through the rabbit-warren of tunnels
for the first time since the mine was closed years ago.
Juana la del Revuelo
Martín Revuelo
At night after the shows in the refurbished market, there
were singing recitals and the projection of documentaries
on the steps of the large building. On Friday night Juana
la del Revuelo, Martín Revuelo, Martín chico
and a group of their extended family and friends got the terrace
in front of the market jumping with their informal show.
The festival included guitar courses with Eduardo Rebollar
and Carlos Piñana, and dance courses with Carmen Ledesma,
Milagros Menjíbar, Rafael Campallo and Yolanda Lorenzo.
Among the recordings presented were “De mimbre”
of Rocío Díaz, “La nueva escuela de la
guitarra flamenca” dirrected by Gerardo Núñez,
“Homenaje a Luis Cernuda” of Antonio Ayala 'El Rampa',
“Jaen: Taranta y otros cantes” with various artists,
“Premios de los concursos de cante y guitarra de los
festivales 2001-2002” released by Karonte Big Bang and
“Homenaje a los grandes maestros” of Rocío
Segura. Books presented during the festival included “Manuel
Vallejo: vida y obra de una leyenda” of Manuel Cerrejón,
a joint release of Editorial Giralda and Discográfica
Pasarela, “Guía del flamenco 2003” published
by Plaza Abierta and “Juan de la Loma: memorias apócrifas
de un cantaor mijeño” by Paco Vargas. The Congreso
Nacional de Arte Flamenco de Badalona, the Concurso Nacional
de Cante 'Yunque Flamenco' and the collection of videos “Puro
y jondo” releasede by Divisa Red were also formally introduced
to the public.
