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SEVILLE'S
BIENAL DE FLAMENCO 2002. 'MAESTRÍA'
Four lessons
Silvia Calado Olivo. Seville. September
5th, 2002
Photos: Javier Hurtado
'Maestría'. Cante: Chano Lobato,
with Antonio Carrión on the guitar. Calixto Sánchez,
with Manolo Franco on the guitar. José de la Tomasa,
with José Luis Postigo on the guitar. Dance: Milagros
Menjíbar, with Rafael Rodríguez on the guitar
and singers Juan Reina and Manolo Sevilla. Reales Alcázares,
September 5th, 2002. 9:00 p.m.
Chano Lobato and Antonio Carrión
Lesson one. Wise-guy street-smart
painkiller, courtesy of Chano Lobato. Who went not first,
but last…the privilege of seniority. But his lesson is
the premise. "God bless old age!". That's what Milagros
Menjíbar said to him when she delighted in dancing
to his, and only his singing for the 'fin de fiesta'.
"I either sing bulerías or I'll self-destruct".
With all his seventy-five years, "I'm the oldest singer
there is, along with Curro de Utrera, whose head is like a
powder-keg…and me too". First he offered a slow
soleá with a trembling rough-edged voice, as if to
warm up. And then began the fun. "Fix the mike, would
you son? These things always have to happen to me. They're
telling us to move it along, they have to close the Alcázar…the
tourists also come at night". And he was going to sing
some bulerías, but he preferred the tanguillo of the
'anticuarios' to pay tribute to Seville, trusting in the Giralda
to help him remember: "I've written it down a hundred
times, but I forget it…and they told me to eat pine-nuts
in the morning, but no way, I eat four pounds every day and
it just doesn't work". And the Giralda gave him away.
He ended with bulerías with "torrotrón
ton ton pin tacatin tacatín tontón", revealing
his street-smarts, his picaresque personality, the hunger,
the gallantry…when Chano Lobato is no longer with us,
who will there be to remind us… Olé maestro.
José de la Tomasa
Lesson two. Suffering given voice, by José de la Tomasa.
The son of Pies Plomo came to dedicate his recital to Naranjito
de Triana, "for his absence". And he expressed his
mourning wandering through Alcalá with soleares. With
seguiriyas, "my family's theme song", and remembering
his mother Tomasa, he wrestled with death itself, complaining
to its face, gathering up his pain, scattering the grief with
clenched fists. He ended with bulerías to wind down,
but in slow motion…frugally and with a bit of color.
The pain had already been spoken.
Calixto Sánchez and Manolo
Franco
Lesson three. Poetry and lungpower, courtesy of Calixto Sánchez.
The schoolteacher began the class with a little history. Granaínas,
with Manolo Franco earning one of the few 'oles' for guitar-playing
heard in the Alcázar for his opening arabesque, he
spoke of the loves of Almutamid and his queen. Almond blossoms
in the snow. Literature class. Metaphor. Machado verses for
milongas, to the death of Leonor. His delivery is solemn,
theatrical, lungpower and melody. Symbolism. More love and
more death. Furrowed brow from concentration. More recognition
for the first winner of the Giraldillo del Toque…concise
and evocative would be the adjectives. With cantiñas
he finished off, with the help of Lola, who 'went to the ports
leaving La Isla desolate'.
Milagros Menjíbar
Lesson four. Woman, Seville
and the bata de cola, courtesy of Milagros Mengíbar.
Challenging the dark side, black bata de cola, she
danced peteneras. You could hear Matilde Coral comparing this
Sevillian dancer to a watercolor in motion… Shhhh. You
don't hear any feet, the hands rise, the curve, the pose,
the sketched line. The picture of tragedy…a bit overacted.
Black turns into purple. The train of the costume is a turbulent
sea. Cantiñas. A series of barrel turns, a half cambré,
graduation with honors in the bata de cola. And back
to the first lines of this text.
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The other side of the story
An exceptional guest occupies the place of honor at
the Reales Alcázares: La Giralda. The stage of the Patio
de la Montería puts the ancient minaret, vestige of
the old mosque, before the flamenco artists. And no
one can resist flattering it. Chano Lobato por bulerías:
"Qué le pasa a la Giralda, que mírala qué bonita, se
arremolina su falda, igual que una mocita", ['What's
happening with the Giralda, look how pretty she is,
furling her skirt just like a young girl']. And
José de la Tomasa, like Paquera a few days earlier in
'Poderío': "No sé qué moro fue, el que le dio
a la Giralda, ese empaque de mujer", ['I wonder what
Moor it was who made the Giralda into such a woman'].
And Calixto Sánchez: "De las torres soberanas y al cielo
siempre apuntando, por su gracia y su majeza, vaya por
usted, Giralda", ['Of all the wonderful towers looking
heavenwards always, for her grace and majesty, this
is for you Giralda']. And for those who follow…
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revista@flamenco-world.com
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