‘VOCES DE LEBRIJA’.
SEVILLE'S 13th BIENAL DE FLAMENCO 2004

Mud lament

Silvia Calado. Seville, September 30th, 2004
Photos: Daniel Muñoz

‘Voces de Lebrija’ (‘Voices of Lebrija’). Cante: Curro Malena, Manuel de Paula, José Valencia. Sevillanas corraleras: Juana Vargas, María Jesús García, María Peña. Guitar: Antonio Moya, Manuel de Palma, Antonio Malena. Clapping: Francisco de Paula Carrasco, Luis Carrasco. Presentation, script and direction: José Luis Ortiz Nuevo. Lope de Vega Theater. Seville, September 30th, 2004. 9 p.m. Seville's 13th Bienal de Flamenco 2004.

José Luis Ortiz Nuevo

The absence of Inés Bacán due to the death of her son marked the show ‘Voces de Lebrija’. The performance was dedicated to her “in case in some way we can relieve her affliction”. The show began with a requiem tone, with a round of martinetes whose lyrics recall the departure of the Triana gypsies headed for Lebrija, that midway point between Jerez and Seville, way back in the middle of the 19th century. Faint light from streetlamps. José Valencia (who has worked in different shows in this festival). Manuel de Paula. Curro Malena. The cantaor trio performs a second round, composed based on the repertoire of Diego Fernández ‘El Lebrijano’ (Lebrija, 1847). The tientos ‘El carro de mi fortuna’. The soleá ‘Si con el mirar te ofendo’. The seguiriya ‘Yo no tengo a nadie’.

And from grief to joy. From intimacy to celebration. The author of this gathering comes out on stage to say so, with hackneyed declamation, while the technicians change rearrange the seats and microphones. Lebrija is cante jondo, but he is also living folklore, as is obvious in the sevillanas corraleras. Accompanied by tambourines, mortar and guitars, the veteran neighbors (whose art was recorded in the film ‘Sevillanas’ by Carlos Saura) Juana Vargas, María Jesús García and María Peña sang all their traditional repertoire at length. ‘La liebre’, ‘Están bailando’... were uttered like jokes, with old echoes, of impossible heights, to the sound of an old Castilian-like cadence. It was good, perhaps the night's best, but long... nearly as much so as the intermission.

Once having returned, a remembrance was ready for guitarist Pedro Bacán, deceased years ago, Inés' brother. Seguiriyas in the sonantas by Antonio Moya - the most interesting of the three -, Antonio Malena and Manuel de Palma. And back to cante. Curro Malena performs airs of threshing, lullaby and temporeras. José Valencia puts aside the malagueñas he had prepared and does the cantiñas by Pinini which were going to come out of the throat of the absent cantaora, whose doleful cante we were deprived of by misfortune. Manuel de Paula utters the romance ‘Los moros de oriente’, leaving the way ready for the party through bulerías which went on and on without paying attention to the clock, nor to the drowsiness of the audience, cantaores and corraleras.

Corraleras de Lebrija

Curro Malena

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