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18th FESTIVAL FLAMENCO CAJAMADRID 2010 Teatro Circo Price
ENRIQUE MORENTE Flamenco circus Text: Pablo San Nicasio Enrique Morente has the strange and heavenly ability to face up to the most difficult moments of pessimism. Just when it seems there’s no more steam to squeeze out of traditional flamenco, that kind where they sing the classic forms the same as they did 150 years ago in Silverio’s café, along comes the man from Albaicín to pronounce his “abra cadabra”. Cajamadrid 2010 is now over. It was necessary to wait until Saturday to get the good stuff with an extra helping of honesty, talent and avant-garde talent of a guy who is well over 60. We young people were all waiting and hoping for the best, and it turns out the secrets are known unto those who have “been there, done that”.
Paco de Lucía wandering around the Balkans giving it everything he’s got and filling the biggest venues. Enrique Morente comes to Madrid and packs the house. They’re the bosses, and have something to say on top of it. Too bad they’re not together, they’re like night and day as flamenco fans know. But even so, you keep wishing for the impossible when David Cerreduela decides to accompany Morente’s alegrías with falsetas from “La Barrosa”. It almost seems like a hint. Last night Morente saw it all clearly, and in just two hours on stage he summed up flamenco past, present and of the next century. Remembering Lorca, Picasso and himself. Presenting “Pequeño Reloj”, his “Pablo de Málaga” and his “Morente Flamenco”, all rolled into one. And with magnificent staging. Unpredictable, we knew this was his style, but even so, it’s still impressive. From the beginning with his debla, carcelera and martinete, surrounded by his buddies. Then, abandolaos and siguiryas, showing how to carry cantes one step further even when they are from over a century ago.
And the solea. This year Morente came to Madrid to sing soleá, and that alone would have been enough. Spring arrived to remind us in 8 minutes of Miguel Candela, and last night he was again evoked with a variety of guitarists (all terrific), a place that will never be the same, the beginning of everything we Madrid flamenco-lovers are. Last night Morente was a soleá, as he himself said, “impressionist”, “cubist”, “whatever”…a kaleidoscope soleá that would accompany the wonderful dancers Niño de los Reyes, Isaac de los Reyes and Pedro Gabarre, or the pyrotechnics of Cerreduela. Father and son. Soleá that could just as easily turn into bulerías as siguiriyas. And doing it for real. With guitars that last night sounded more flamenco than ever. The right tempos, in a superbly expressive line. Enrique Morente’s recital, something you don’t see very often, recreated old-style flamenco as a circus number, but landing on its feet. And personal creation flowed naturally and spontaneously, based, as I said, on the three last records, but never forgetting the symphonic and rock periods of his career. A repertoire that, being classic flamenco, is surely difficult to interpret without sounding forced. Having the capacity to interpret a siguiriyas or a malagueña the way we saw them last night, taking off from the old-timers and running with it without losing the “essence”, is something that is not within everyone’s reach. Two encores, cuple from Picasso, and Tangos de la Vida, from his last record. |
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