– Special XVI
Festival de Nimes.
Dance: Farruquito, Farruco, Barullo, Pilar la Faraona,
la Farruca. Cante: El Canastero, Pepe de Pura, María
Vizárraga, José Anillo, Mara Rey. Guitar: Román
Vicenti, El Perla.
Text: Estela Zatania
Saturday morning, next to last day of the Nimes festival,
Israel Galván gave his master class at the theater,
and at half past six in the evening Ricardo Pachón
gave a conference in French, “The Frontiers of Flamenco”,
illustrated with the voice of Tomás de Perrate accompanied
by Diego Carrasco on the guitar.
At the last minute the organization had to add an extra performance
of the Farrucos due to overwhelming demand. At the hotel the
Jerez contingent was overshadowed by the family of Farruco
the patriarch: two of his daughters and three of his grandchildren
had come to the south of France with five singers and two
guitarists to display their particular vision of flamenco,
an unmistakeable vision that never disappoints audiences.
In creative writing they tell you the key to success is in
sticking to subject matter you know well. In music and in
flamenco dance there’s no reason why it should be any
different. While others have sought inspiration in the musical
traditions of other countries and mixed them with flamenco
elements, the “fusion” phenomenon, this family
placed its bets on their own cultural heritage and created
a highly personal product based on the most classic sort of
flamenco. Every time the Farruco family takes over a stage
the surprising capacity of established flamenco forms of is
reasserted.
Imágenes del ensayo. Foto: Estela Zatania
A psychic landscape that characterizes
the essence of the Farruco line of flamenco dance
They already won over French audiences on previous occasions
and the air was charged with expectation at the Nimes theater
the night of January 28th. At precisely ten minutes past nine
the lights dimmed, the huge arm of the camera that was going
to record the show in DVD surveyed the crowd with one last
sweeping gesture and the first chords rang out por siguiriyas.
The mysterious sound that results from alternative tuning
of the strings enhanced the tense atmosphere. The two brothers
charged on stage and immediately captured our most absolute
attention. They carried out an energetic and aggressive pas
de deux based on precision and sudden outbursts of movement.
We’ve seen them many times before so the urge to analyze
their artistic evolution is inevitable. The younger brother
Farruco has matured to nearly equal the level of the elder
one, while Farruquito has tempered his dark projection somewhat
making him a closer match for his brother, in other words
they are more uniform. It is possible that dancing together
as a mutual mirror image subtracts gravity – one prefers
to believe that each member of the family has his or her own
special something.
The cheers of admiration mix with shouts of protest from those
people whose view is momentarily obstructed by the long arm
of the camera and the ruckus blocks the sound of the music.
There are new movements which reveal many hours in the rehearsal
studio as well as a sincere interest in producing something
truly worthwhile. The audience goes wild with each move in
this presentation dance that might be the strongest number
of the entire show. Suddenly I recall an old documentary where
old Farruco is giving dance instruction to his grandson Farruquito,
about eight years old: “You have to dance angry!”
And here we have the result of that advice years later…both
young men seem on the brink of spontaneous combustion that
originates from some mysterious and uncontainable inner force,
a psychic landscape that characterizes the essence of the
Farruco line of flamenco dance.
Singer Pepe de Pura revs up some bulerías and Pilar
la Faraona, Farruquito’s aunt arrives for “Bulerías
de la Gorda” and this is followed by young cousin Barullo
who demonstrates that the family trademark continues intact.
Dressed in a white suit, shirt with wide stripes and blue
ascot he dances alegrías with surprising subtlety.
There’s more light, less anger and some moves that are
all his own. It’s possible the dynasty has yet to see
its finest moments.
On the brink of spontaneous combustion
that originates from some mysterious and uncontainable inner
force
Farruquito’s long bulería with the two female
voices, María Vizárraga and Mara Rey taking
turns, manages some quality moments…in a certain sense Farruquito
employs the same system as Israel Galván of brief bursts
of dance unified by long intervals of cante and guitar. Farruco’s
guajira incorporates his aunt Pilar dressed in bright yellow
with a fan of feathers…it’s not easy to go that far
over the top wihout losing credibility, but it comes off fine
and together they dance tangos.
Fin de fiesta con El Carpeta. Foto: Stéphane Barbier.
Farruquito’s main dance is por soleá following
the format of bursts of movement and restful intervals which
let the tension rebuild. Farruca, mother of Farruquito appears,
and she is left to dance alone. For the knock-down-drag-out
ending the three male dancers fly to the stage as if shot
from a cannon, the audience cheers uncontrollably, Pilar returns
this time in red satin and only the astonishing dance of tiny
Carpeta manages to upstage everything which has taken place
during the course of the nearly two hours of the show.
On Sunday Farruquito gave a master class in the morning at
the theater and the show was repeated in afternoon and evening
sessions that were sold out. A very flamenco week in Nimes
reached its spectacular end.
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