XV BIENAL DE FLAMENCO DE SEVILLA. ‘ULTRA HIGH FLAMENCO – UHF – José Quevedo, Cepillo, Paquito González, Alexis Lefèvre y Pablo Martín

XV BIENAL DE FLAMENCO DE SEVILLA

SPECIAL BIENAL DE FLAMENCO DE SEVILLA 2008

Text: Juan Diego Martín Cabeza
Photos: Archivo Bienal de Flamenco -Luis Castilla

Good musicians making good music.  A meeting of minds and instruments that have followed a great diversity of paths to rediscover themselves in the flamenco universe, in its rhythm, in the harmonies.  The group represents an overview of what flamenco has been up to for many years: the union of different music and cultures that give life to that which is universal.  Bolilta’s guitar shares the stage at the same level as instruments that evoke other genres foreign to the flamenco tradition. The upright bass with it’s undeniable jazz sound, the violin with its classic brilliance…

But let’s not kid ourselves.  This kind of group has been circulating for many years, being offered as traditional flamenco.  Precisely in this Bienal we are witnessing the insertion of DJ’s and electronic music in flamenco dance.  So we won’t fall into the temptation of calling this type of show “daring” or “innovative” since it was begun with the great artists who surrounded Paco de Lucía over thirty years ago.  For this reason, it is a derivative genre of flamenco, yet another form of expression that must compete for our attention, not because it is avant-garde “flamenco”, but by virtue of its own essential personality, the music itself, simple as that.

The music flows through the characteristic mixed compás of flamenco.  It works when each of the interpreters plays an original composition, but it also works when they join forces to put their musical baggage at the service of a greater good, a song, a “theme”, which echoes all that musical experience.  This occurs particularly in the “Buleria de los Diez Huevos” (which should probably be “ocho”, given the absence of Ángel Sánchez Cepillo).  Frenchman Alexis Lefèvre explored the expressive possibilities of his own violin in a solo piece that was truly dramatic and effective.  Bass-player Pablo Martín also was brilliant in his solos, while also attending to other important issues such as organizing the torrential flow of different kinds of music these interpreters are capable of producing.