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18th FESTIVAL FLAMENCO CAJAMADRID 2010 Teatro Circo Price
ARCÁNGEL DORTANTES “Piano abierto con Grilo”. ROOM AT THE SOURCE Text: Manuel Moraga A certain monotony in Arcángel, and Dorantes’ long journey into jazz, translated into the absence of flamenco emotion that one had expected from this show. We enjoyed the group, but you couldn’t say there was much “duende” at the Teatro Circo Price. Interesting evening, but lacking in intensity. The program promised to be a “10”, but was more like a “5”. Arcángel opened with martinetes, and he did it well and with drama. A good beginning that seemed to promise an exciting night, but unfortunately there were not many moments that built upon that opening gambit. He went on to caña – with a good solea apolá ending – tangos paraos, siguiriya – also a few good moments – bulerías, cantiñas, fandangos de Huelva and fandangos naturales. His cante, though contemporary, has an old-fashioned sound that seems to hark back to creative moments of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. And in fact, Arcángel is a singer committed to creativity in flamenco. He doesn’t limit himself to just singing his cantes, but embarks on his own journey. And that is precisely where trouble crops up.
In the first place, his line leans too far in the direction of Morente, at least that’s how it was last night, and that can be a virtue or an obstacle, depending on how you manage it. In my opinion, it was more the latter, not because of Morente, but because Arcángel travels an overly-worn path. Then too, you can see the entire process is based excessively on form, with the resulting danger of distancing it from emotion. Arcángel knows his job well, and ought to seek out an approach somewhere between formal knowledge of the styles, and the elevating effect their interpretation is supposed to create. A flamenco artist must manage to have the spectator on his toes at every moment in expectation that something important is going to happen on stage. At least that’s my concept of flamenco, and this is what was absent in Arcángel’s performance. And when this state of affairs presents itself, boredom sets in. At the end of the evening, conversing with a member of the Asociación Flamenca Rafael Jiménez Falo, we commented on the fact that if knowing how to sing is important, it’s even more important to know what you’re singing. Maestros like Morente, or Falo himself – and I don’t mean to establish comparisons, only to explain my opinion as best as possible – set their sights on a cante, work it, modify it and may even turn it completely inside out, but in the end we know that the fundamental essence of that cante remains. With too rigid an approach however, you run the risk of losing sight of the inherent emotion and drama that should take precedence over all the other elements. It is important to get to the essence of things in order to work them out and get down to emotions, feeling, duende… And that is not easy. Arcángel might be able to manage it, and in fact does so with great ease when he sings fandangos for example. It’s a question of having clear concepts, and knowing what you’re singing as well as knowing how to sing. Maturity is what is required, time and patience.
Dorantes brought a jazz-oriented show. Too much jazz I dare say, considering his performance was set in the framework of a flamenco festival. We all know this musician’s work, and his longing to find different idioms to express himself, but artists must be consistent with the nature of the event in which they perform. Furthermore, he made the mistake of going on too long. One or two pieces less would have left a better impression. Even so, it was a dignified performance overall. Dorantes, as we’ve said on many occasions, is an especially sensitive musician, and he tends to surround himself with excellent artists, such as Yelsy Heredia, who was also with Cigala several days earlier, although not sounding as good due to problems with his instrument, Rafael de Utrera, a wonderful singer, Tete Peña, outstanding in the percussion, and Joaquín Grilo. But we’re not finished complaining. Grilo, although he doesn’t need to demonstrate anything as a dancer, and must in fact be recognized as a maestro, it must be said that in this show his output seems overly contrived. Instead of dancing with his natural Jerez flair, he plays a character even though there is no room for this kind of fiction on stage. And the worst thing is the character is more pantomime than drama. It’s not clear what Joaquín Grilo aims to communicate in this show, other than at certain moments when in the middle of a jazz atmosphere his dance acts as a backup instrument to interact with the rest of the people on stage. In those moments, and a few others, Grilo had some high-quality elements. But if Arcángel was unable to unite the form and the substance, Grilo gives the feeling of incoherence, which is just another form of distancing.
In this sense, and reflecting earlier comments about Arcángel, I believe an artist must find his or her own truth by looking inward, not outward. And that is probably the most difficult thing to do. In fact, it’s no coincidence there are so many aspirants poised at the beginning of the process, and so few who actually get into the essence. But it can all be remedied, because there’s always room at the source. It’s a question of coherence and science. In that order.
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More information: Special Caja Madrid 2010 – All the information, program, reviews, photos. |
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