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Text & photos : Estela Zatania
The fifth day of the Festival Internacional del Cante
de las Minas began with an unscheduled conference offered
by Manolo Curao about Carlos Saura’s film “Flamenco”.
Curao highlighted the “impossible scenes”, that
is to say, images that will never be repeated, captured in
the full-length feature film, and the scene of Chocolate,
who died just last month and was supposed to have sung this
week at the festival, singing for the dancing of Farruco senior
and his grand-son, a twelve-year-old Farruquito, was the definitive
demonstration that made all further explanation superfluous.
The scene of Manuel Moneo and Manuel Agujetas singing tonás
side by side, for many people the movie’s most memorable
moment, was also shown.
Three stars of the current flamenco scene, two singers and
a dancer, was the menu of the day for this next-to-last show
included in the schedule. Marina Heredia is the daughter of
Granada flamenco singer Jaime el Parrón. The attractive
young woman has a great interest in traditional cante and
this causes her to stand out from others of her generation
who drift off into the land of flamenco pop without having
gone through basic training. In fact, Marina is cultivating
a repertoire designed to tone down the pop image and emphasize
her dedication to classic cante. If just a couple of years
ago she was only singing light rumba and bulerías songs,
she opened Monday night’s concert with an impressive
assortment of a capella cante with a voice more flamenco than
we’re accustomed to hearing from her. With cantiñas
she brought memories of Pastora Pavón, and with soleá
she was thoroughly believable although there’s a certain
tendency to overly-measured compás which reduces the
spontaneity. She offered her mining cante without apology
to the locals, and an assortment of tangos sounding inevitably
like her hometown included some purely Granada styles. Pity
that the inappropriate fade-out at the end made it seem like
she was mouthing to a recording. With Bolita on the guitar
she ended with a bulerías song that was more song than
bulerías, based on the poem “Siguiriya torera”.
The new school, which is
actually the old schol, of sweet melodious delivery
The singer from Huelva known as Arcángel has a voice
which situates him firmly in the new school, which is actually
the old schol, of sweet melodious delivery and whose main
representatives, aside from Arcángel himself, are Miguel
Poveda and Mayte Martín. He’s a highly polished
and professional singer, not mention extremely handsome, no
small advantage nowadays. His sweet style is much-appreciated
in these parts and by audiences in general, but his knowledge
and command of classic cante are not to be disdained.
Accompanied by Miguel Ángel Cortés, he started
out with the caña, recalling older forms with a “lamento”,
the repeated “ay”, sung all in a piece, without
taking a breath, and finishing with the classic soleá
apolá “Se hundió la Babilonia” –
not everyone bothers to work the caña so lovingly.
A tango song – nowadays no singer dares limit him or
herself to traditional cante – and once again the fade-out
can’t be justified. Malagueña de Chacón
with impeccable technique and a voice nothing less than fascinating
for these cantes, is ended with the fandango of Frasquito
Yerbabuena.
For the siguiriyas Cortés took out a digital device
to tune down the sixth string, and from that point on his
desire to take the spotlight became evident. Nevertheless
Arcángel interpreted a splendid series of styles with
personality and command. Cantiñas in E position included
alegrías de Córdoba, a form currently enjoying
a discreet comeback after decades of abandon, and to end the
performance, needless to say, Arcángel sang his wonderful
fandangos de Huelva played in A position where the young man
found his perfect vocal niche. The audience offered its warmest
approval and the singer ended with more fandangos away from
the mike – a nearly impeccable performance no matter
how you look at it.
A marathon of color and movement
After the intermission María Pagés was on with
a dozen dancers and musicians not named on the program and
an abbreviated version of her work “Canciones antes
de una guerra” now called “El bazar de las ideas”.
She kept the “boquerones” song, the opening of
percussion and footwork, the men’s farruca, the Nana
de la Cebolla and other odds and ends, and several of the
stranger elements from the original work were passed over,
for which we were very grateful. A soleá danced without
cante or guitar, guajira, siguiriya to recorded music with
classic voices like those of Tomás Pavón and
Manuel Vallejo, more farruca, alegrías for the group
with little cante and Pagés’ soleá made
up a marathon of color and movement. Adhering to the concept
of “the faster and louder, the better”, the work
came to a smash-bang end and the audience obediently offered
a standing ovation.
As on other nights, an after-show nightcap could be enjoyed
at the patio of the Maquinista de Levante, on this occasion
with the fine young singer from Chiclana, Antonio Reyes accompanied
by Manuel Herrera on the guitar.
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