XV BIENAL DE FLAMENCO DE SEVILLA. 'Raíces y Alas', Carmen Linares & Juan Carlos Romero

XV BIENAL DE FLAMENCO DE SEVILLA

‘RAÍCES Y ALAS
Homenaje a Juan Ramón Jiménez'
Carmen Linares y Juan Carlos Romero

September 23rd, 2008. 9:00pm. Teatro Lope de Vega

Text: Estela Zatania
photos: © Archivo Bienal de Flamenco, Luis Castilla

Cante: Carmen Linares. Flamenco guitar: Juan Carlos Romero. Actor: Miguel Palenzuela as Juan R. Jiménez. Percussion: Tino di Geraldo. Flamenco guitar: Paco Cruzado. Cello: Gretchen Talbot, Robert Thompson. Double bass: Roberto Barroso Úbeda. Oboe: Ángel Sánchez Moguer.  Bassoon: Juan Manuel Rico Estruch. Bugle: Joseba Robles Castellano. Drum and fife: Juan Tenazas and son. Palmas and chorus: Ana María González, Javier González. Artistic director: Juan Carlos Romero. Stage director: Pepa Gamboa.

Many people said the poetry of Nobel Laureate Juan Ramón Jiménez was not suitable to be adapted to flamenco.  And yet, more years ago than I care to remember, the teacher made us read some of the Huelva poet’s work, and I became enthralled with the landscape and people of Andalusia.  That moment of illumination is somehow related to the fact that I am sitting here writing these words.  Because it’s a perfect chain: you cannot separate the poet from Andalusia, nor Andalusia from flamenco.

Therefore, the admirable work of remembering Juan Ramón Jiménez by setting selected verses of his to cante, has irresistible logic and appeal.  Even when a dark somber landscape is presented, and I can only think of blinding light when I recall those adolescent impressions of the poet’s work, even when a long spoken introduction and other readings by the actor who plays the poet cause tedium, and even when Carmen Linares uses a faint half voice almost exclusively throughout the show, even then, flamenco exists to guarantee that all the liberties an interpreter takes have the guarantee of substance thanks to a genre that continues to prove its validity, day by day.

So what happened?  Surprisingly, we were not served a cante recital, but a series of original songs by Juan Carlos Romero from beginning to end.  Al least I was unable to identify any thread of melody that might be related to cante.  Bulería compás, the scale and compás of alegrías and fandangos, the format of tonás…  But other genres, both Spanish and non-Spanish, employ the same rhythmic measure and tonal orientation without anyone identifying the product as cante.

Wait…  Carmen Linares is a knowledgable bonafide flamenco singer, so everything she sings is, by definition, flamenco.  Other singers have defended that novel idea, but I am unable to subscribe to a concept that would concede the condition of “cante flamenco” to the aria “Vesti la Giubba” if Manuel Torre were to have sung it in the shower.  When singers like José Menese, Vicente Soto or Juan Peña “Lebrijano” among others who have dipped into mainstream poetry to substitute traditional verses of cante, it was a tedious job of searching for the right meter and syllables to inhabit the soleá of Juaniquí, the siguiriya of Marrurro, alegrías de Córdoba or the fandango of Encinasola.  Last night there was no substitution, but rather the complete supplantation of a genre. 

It’s clear the intention was to deliver not cante, but songs, and this may have been responsible for the audience’s reserved reaction, and a general lack of energy throughout the recital.  More disappointing was the little we were permitted to appreciate the extraordinary Juan Carlos Romero whose guitar-playing is usually nothing less than genius.

Flamenco is a great empty shell begging to be filled with voices, instruments and movement, and it’s not only healthy, but highly recommendable to accept and encourage its evolution.  But let’s not throw out the baby with the bath-water.