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18th FESTIVAL FLAMENCO CAJAMADRID 2010 Teatro Circo Price
VICENTE SOTO “SORDERA”: Geografías flamencas: Sevilla, Jerez, Cádiz”. CARMEN LINARES “La poesía en el cante” Special Caja Madrid 2010 – All the information, program, reviews, photos. ENTRE DOS MUNDOS Text: Manuel Moraga
“Entre Dos Mundos” is the name of one of the recordings Vicente Soto, gypsy from Santiago, dedicated to various poets and which now makes an apt title for this review. As in Sordera’s album, poetry was the star of the night. First of all, because Carmen Contreras, director of the Obra Social Cajamadrid, presented the Galardón Flamenco Calle de Alcalá de Honor to the great intellectual José Manuel Caballero Bonald. His poetry was amply interpreted in flamenco by both Vicente Soto and Carmen Linares. But versos of Alberti, Juan Ramón Jiménez and Antonio Machado also were heard at Madrid’s Teatro Circo Price. In this way the worlds of poetry and flamenco last night had a moving encounter. The two worlds of Jerez and of Linares. The first, with that Jerez gypsy way of understanding and expressing cante where each line is attacked head-on. The second, a “payo” or non-gypsy rendering in which the melodic construction portrays drama with a lighter hand. Despite the danger of generalizing, I don’t think it is inaccurate to say both perspectives took shape on stage. The way I see it, these are not good times – another dangerous generalization – for this more “raw” sort of cante Sordera brought, possibly because listeners prefer a kindler gentler take, although in aesthetic questions there can be no objectivity to assign quality to one or the other. Be that as it may, it is always a pleasure to enjoy Vicente Soto’s singing. Nevertheless, there must have been two other different worlds at the Price theater, at least judging from the performers: onstage and backstage. Two different worlds with different temperatures, because the artists came on stage frozen stiff.
Without a doubt the cold weather was the biggest obstacle of the night. We don’t know whether it was due to the low temps in the dressing-rooms, but Sordera didn’t get to soleá por bulerías until the fourth cante. That’s when he finally started sounding good. Then, siguiriyas, which was when Vicente Soto found the thread he was looking for, and the voice, and the enthusiasm to really serve up some fine cante. From that point on, he was like a different person: well-shaded fandangos, alegrías full of strength and well-interpreted, tangos del Titi with grace and wit, and the same could be said of his bulerías closing that started with Perla de Cádiz and ended with that format of snippets of Spanish sing, and no one does it more flamenco than he. Noteworthy was the string of family members, especially Manuel Valencia, brilliant in the siguiriya, and pianist Edu Soto who managed to add color without overshadowing the rest. And the same could be said of Carmen Linares. She struggled with her voice in tangos and malagueñas, and in taranta she seemed to get hold of it. From there on, and especially in the cantinas, Linares was able to relax and enjoy herself searching for moving undertones as in the soleá and the siguiriyas. And after some bulerías of poetry (verses from a variety of poets), she ended the recital in a finally warmed-up atmosphere. Noteworthy is the work of guitarist Salvador Gutiérrez as well as the great dancer Adolfo Lobato who regularly performs with Carmen Linares and managed to stand out in the limited time he was affored: arms, hand, feet, elegance… Let’s hope he is seen more on Madrid stages. Between one thing and another, different forms of expression using the same language, a night of duality…and of cold. |
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More information: Special Caja Madrid 2010 – All the information, program, reviews, photos. |
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