XXXIX Gazpacho Andaluz. Plaza de Toros, Morón de la Frontera (Sevilla)

39th
Gazpacho Andaluz de Morón de la Frontera

Saturday,
August 27th, 2005. 11:00pm. Morón de la Frontera bullring
(Seville)

Text & photos: Estela Zatania

In 1963 the program of the first Gazpacho Andaluz
of Morón de la Frontera included stars like Antonio
Mairena, Juan Talega, Fernanda and Bernarda de Utrera and
a young hopeful call Juan Peña el Lebrijano. Thirty-nine
editions later, the venerable event, among the oldest of its
kind, continues to defend classic flamenco and the summer
festival format..

Capullo: original
and extravagant personality

Beginning
punctually at eleven o’clock, Capullo de Jerez opens the
night with Niño Jero, Jr. on the guitar. The singer doesn’t
usually open because his extravagant personality depends on
the complicity of a warmed-up audience, but on this occasion
the popular Jerez performer has to rush off to another festival
in Montilla. Soleá por bulería, at a somewhat
slower pace than usual, with many original touches as is the
nature of this form reminiscent of old taverns, fandangos, Capullo-style
tangos, half flamenco, half pop, the novelty of martinete with
a verse that includes his own name, all interpreted in his personal
style – you can love him or leave him, but this man’s
personality is one of the most recognizable and original of
the current flamenco scene – and bulerías to end.
For the inevitable encore, Capullo sings his version of the
Andalucía Anthem as recorded with the accompaniment of
Paco de Lucía on the commemorative record for Andalucía
Day, and he wraps it all up with his little dance – Capullo
is one of the best “singers who dance” Jerez has
to offer.

Macanita: picture post-card
flamenco pretty, with echoes of Fernanda

Tomasa la Macanita came wrapped in turquoise blue with white
polkadots and a pink shawl, picture post-card pretty with
Gregorio and Chicharito on palmas, and young Juan Diego accompanying
on the guitar. From her husky “buenas noches”
the Morón audience is on her side. Tientos tangos,
soleá at 7 “por medio”, with echoes of
Fernanda de Utrera whose cante is especially popular in this
town due to flamenco ties with Utrera via local guitarist
Diego del Gastor, malagueñas de Chacón and Mellizo,
not Macanita’s forté, but listenable, and the
instinctive, flavorful Jerez bulerías complete with
dance.

The first part ends with Morón dancer Lidia Valle,
another dance talent to add to the list of professionals from
Morón de la Frontera that includes Juana Amaya, Juan
de Juan and Pepe Ríos.

Pansequito: infallible compás,
original delivery and a fascinating voice

After
intermission and a glass of gazpacho, there was an official
tribute to Morón poet Alberto García Ulecia,
followed by veteran singer Pansequito, “one of the classic
flamenco’s greatest representatives” said the
master of ceremonies. This man who was awarded the “Prize
for Creativity” at the 1974 Córdoba contest,
is an acquired taste, one which not everyone manages to acquire,
while others are enthusiastic. Being from the latter group,
I found his infallible compás, original delivery and
fascinating voice just right for soleá, taranto and
cartagenera. The alegrías by this man born in La Línea
and raised in Puerto de Santa María were outstanding
– Cádiz cante doesn’t travel well, and
with each passing day there are fewer homegrown interpreters
who manage to capture the flavor – and his bulerías
bore the unmistakable Pansequito stamp for an ever-evolving
repertoire, with the extraordinary accompaniment of his regular
guitarist, Diego Amaya.

Another take on the Morón
sound

For the first time on a Morón stage, Son de la Frontera,
the group made up of four local artists and one from Sevilla,
which has become famous reworking the special sound of Morón
guitar-playing, fusing it with exotic sounds, was the chief
attraction of this year’s Gazpacho. The splendid dancer
Pepe Torres, grandson of singer Joselero de Morón and
another representative of the fine dancing this town seems
to cultivate, opens straightaway with his sober, stylized
line. Tonás and siguiriyas, soleá, alegrías,
bulerías….with each number Raúl Rodríguez’
Cuban ‘tres’ adds the feeling of distant lands,
treating our ears to a different take on the Morón
sound. With good singing, good dancing, good guitar-playing
and the versatile Raúl, the group is self-sufficient
flamenco-wise and serves up the closing fiesta for the thirty-ninth
Gazpacho de Morón at shortly before four A.M.

Son de la Frontera	Lidia Valle

Text & Photos: Estela
Zatania

More information:

XXXVI Gazpacho andaluz
de Morón de la Frontera – 2003