XV Festival Flamenco Mont de Marsans. 30-6 al 5-07

Festival
de Arte Flamenco
Mont-de-Marsan

Farruquito
«Alma vieja»»

Espace François Mitterand,
Friday, July 4th, 2003. 9 :00 p.m.

Interview:
FARRUQUITO:
patriarch of a dynasty

Dance: Farruquito, Farruco, Barullo, El Polito, Pilar
'La Faraona', Adela Campallo, Keren Jacobi.
Cante: José Valencia, El Canastero, Mari Vizárraga,
La Tana.
Gutar: Román Vicenti, El Perla.
Guest artist: Manuel Molina.

The night of July 4th, 2003 two thousand five hundred
human beings occupied their numerically assigned niches to
behold the most awaited show of the Mont-de-Marsan festival.
After an extraordinarily successful tour of the United States,
he who was prince had become king, and sitting in the Espace
François Mitterand there was a certain sense that we were
about to witness a coronation. The front rows were full of
well-known flamenco performers who had stayed on so as not
to miss this recital by flamenco's first family of dance.
Nowadays when flamenco is deeply into superstars, the grandson
of the legendary dancer Farruco is the new man of the hour,
a status the young patriarch is reluctant to accept, at the
same time that he assumes his responsibilities with all the
dignity of someone much older.

It is impossible
to remain indifferent in the face
of the avalanche of energy and artistic expression

To speak about this show is to speak of a dynasty and a school
of dance characterized by imposing elegance and astonishing
flamenco power. It is impossible to remain indifferent in
the face of the avalanche of energy and artistic expression
which is launched from the stage to each and every spectator
and which fills the entire ambience with that undefineable
quality we all struggle to define, which is 'flamenco'.

«Alma
vieja» is based precisely on the historical pretext of
the family. The show begins with guest artist Manuel Molina
(of the duo 'Lole and Manuel') seated center stage alone with
his guitar and an austere overheard spot as he narrates the
ascendance and birth of Farruquito as if he were describing
a Norse god. Only Manuel Molina would be capable of carrying
out such a histrionic chore without looking ridiculous, and
the applause indicated he pulled it off.

A constant ebb and flow of enery,
with compás always the indesctructible framework

From this moment on, a series of dances is served up reiterating
the generational motif. Farruquito dances with his aunt La Faraona,
he passes the 'torch' to his younger brother Farruco who in
turn passes it to Barullo and Polito, younger still, and back
again to the elders in a constant ebb and flow of energy, w¡th
compás always the indestructible framework. In time the
whole idea could eventually become trite and oversentimental,
but for now it's nice to see this danced family portrait, fully
justified too because each of the components is a full-fledged
artist in his or her own right, down to the very youngest…no
cute kids here wiggling around to milk applause.

There is a welcome effort to enlarge the usual repertoire
of flamenco dances where everything tends to end up being
bulerías. In a traditional farruca with cante included,
danced by Farruquito wearing a flashy red silk suit with black
pompoms, they try to play up the name of the dance, but despite
the best efforts of the magnificent singer José Valencia
with a cante that has little to offer, it doesn't come together.
There is more staging and choreography than in earlier shows
and with the exception of the closing 'fin de fiesta', one
misses the anarchic, inspired dancing of Farruquito.

Farruco, Farruquito's
younger brother, pure testosterone
in compás, at times appears on the verge of self-destruct

In «Bulerías de la Gorda» ['fat lady's bulerias']
the voluminous Faraona provides a generous dose of 'the essence'.
Farruco, Farruquito's younger brother, pure testosterone in
compás, at times appears on the verge of self-destruct,
but he always manages to stop on a dime at just the right
instant, driving the crowd wild and stealing the show from
his older brother. «Soleá en tres décadas»
with Barullo, Farruco and Farruquito returns to the family
motif, and the way they have of throwing their torsos back,
defying the very laws of nature, makes two thousand five hundred
respiratory systems momentarily stop working. «Oooh,
I'm falling!!» is the humorous cheer from someone in
the cuadro.

Two thousand five hundred respiratory
systems momentarily stop working.

When
the first part ends, the audience is so excited, those who
have failed to study the program sufficiently think the show
is over. What could they possibly do to top what we just saw?
After the intermission two women in white batas de cola for
cantiñas add a nice visual touch, but it feels like
a commercial concession. In Farruco's taranto with a short
bit for la Faraona, the young man wears a glitzy mustard-colored
suit that seems inappropriate, but the dancing is superb.
Following this, Farruquito comes out wearing an all-white
Nehru suit for siguiriyas, a number that ends spectacularly
with the two female dancers and four men raising hell to the
sound of the dramatic Manuel Molina cambio, the other Manuel
Molina that is, the one who deserved to be called «Señor».
Lole's Manuel Molina returns to center-stage to recite a sort
of epilogue and the floodgates are opened for bulerías
with each member doing his or her bit. Happily exhausted we
leave the large auditorium to find a large gathering of young
teenage girls awaiting the appearance of the young patriarch.

Photos: Top: Manuel Molina, botton: Farruco