DIEGO AMADOR. ‘PIANO JONDO’.
SEVILLE'S 13th BIENAL DE FLAMENCO 2004

The manifold musician

Silvia Calado. Seville, September 22nd, 2004

‘Piano jondo’. Diego Amador: piano and cante. Diego del Morao: guitar. Miguel Vargas: contrabass. Joselito Fernández: dancing. Luis Amador: box drum. Jairo: clapping. Central Theater. Seville, September 22nd, 2004. 9 p.m. Seville's 13th Bienal de Flamenco 2004.

Elegance. Impeccably dressed, his long hair shining which protects him from the outside, Diego Amador takes a seat at the grand piano. The first caresses of the keys make the distance clear which fortunately separates him from the academic pianist. Experience, freedom, expression. He plays the taranta ‘Pa los viejitos’. He has chosen to start from inside. It tastes like flamenco. He takes off to a tango beat, accompanied by a contrabass. Nor is it the classicistic piano which has taken a brief look at flamenco in the past. It has the rhythmic style of the guitar; even the strumming and the sense of the flourishes in phrasing. The music becomes stylized and takes up the beat. The bulería ‘Comparito’ comes in by the hand of latin jazz. His fingers play. The vibrant cuts, the vigor, that force, recall the sonanta, catch the jondo spirit. At times, the piano sings. At others, it flies, observing the rhythmic structure from afar.

	Diego Amador

The tanguillos ‘El llanto de la lluvia’, with contrabass and box drum, start off with the temperance of the clouds. A round-up of... romantic jazz. A change in style. The journey begins. The main motif of the song is brimming with flamencura. He says he's happy. He's in his native land, with a full theater all to himself. He wants to share his music. ‘Soleá del Churri’. On the guitar, Diego del Morao. The introduction is tremendously deep, since depth is understood in flamenco. The guest guitarist, when understanding music, has the same feeling, the same tempo. Now he starts to communicate with the group. The essence of cante and guitar impregnates the ebony and ivory. There is room for fantasy, to let his hands glide unbound over the keys. The olé is not spoken; the ambience is still fresh, but it is heard.

Following a short break, Diego Amador comes back, turned into a cantaor. Although if he wanted to, he could have come out and played the bass, the mandolin, the guitar, the drums... He takes a seat together with Moraíto Chico Jr., who prepares the way for him for the cante with tact and delicacy, with skill and expression, the heritage of a school which is on the way to taking a few more steps forward. Taranta. The voice of cast metal, somewhat more mature than last time. Olé. And now. Soleá. Old-style. Lyrics from the back, from within. No more orthodoxy fits in an artist who crosses over to the other side when he pleases. The rise is heartrending. The tangos are a tribute to Camarón de la Isla, just like the bulerías. “Ya no me cantes cigarra, apaga tu sonsonete” (Don't sing to me any more, cicada; turn off your singsong). His memory fails him, works it out... just when he was losing interest in the cante.

The youngest brother of Pata Negra returns to the piano with the soleá ‘Quiero olvidarte’. “Olé Diego, the gypsy of the 21st century!”, they shout from the audience. He sounds clean, evocative... but he lets go of the keys and approaches the microphone to sing some lyrics for Joselito Fernández, who does some spins with that short dancing of his, so minimal, so vigorous. The crowd reacts with an ovation, which is thanked with an encore; another bulería where there is room for music without limitations. Different intensities, different attitudes. From sweetness to force. The melody from ‘Caravan’ butts in. The piece starts vibrating. And all of a sudden, he gets up, grabs a pair of hammers and starts striking the piano strings, playing its guts with drum techniques, which he also knows. Contemporary. The audience doesn't hold back their shouts. Manifold musician Diego Amador prophesies in his native land, preaching freedom for flamenco, promising it a long life and a sense of time.

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