DORANTES. ‘PIANO’. SEVILLE'S 13th BIENAL DE FLAMENCO 2004

Rising Dorantes

Silvia Calado. Seville, September 25th, 2004
Photos: Daniel Muñoz

‘Piano’. Dorantes: piano. Celliberia Cello Quartet: Gretchen Talbot, Richard Eade, Robert Thompson, Claudio Baraviera. Guest artist: Lole Montoya. Cante: José Valencia. Turkish sax, soprano and flute: Nacho Gil. Contrabass: Popo. Indian tablas: Keshab Canti Showdhury. Percussions: Tete Peña. Clapping: Chícharo, Vicente Peña. Maestranza Theater. Seville, September 25th, 2004. 9 p.m. Seville's 13th Bienal de Flamenco 2004.

Dorantes' piano is a traveling sponge. It begins with the musical cultural of flamenco, but absorbs and takes in other cultures, other sounds: from world music to new age, going on to and now stopping at contemporary music. And not only does he transcribe, but he creates. David Peña goes deep into composition not only for piano, but also for other instruments. And this happens at a time when he feels like intimacy, the concentration of secluded piano.

Dorantes

He returned to this festival with the determining factor of being the victor in the previous edition. And from the Patio de la Montería of the Reales Alcázares - a marvelous venue which the Bienal has done without this year - he goes to the Maestranza Theater, Seville's opera palace. Pride and respect. He began the concert solo. Free piano. Fractured music. Flamenco essence fades. Contemporary. He takes back up the repertoire of ‘Sur’, but unaccompanied. Another ‘Sur’. First he plays ‘La danza de las sombras’, that jumping rhythm-filled fantasy. With the box drum and contrabass, he then goes into bulerías with a ballad-like composition, in which the ebony and ivory sing. He starts off by touching on references, but he goes on towards another dimension where the rules are blurred. The contrabass obsessively insists on one motive. Interspace flight. And back to Earth. He recovers the song giving his latest album its title, that epic story which he connects here with ‘Orobroy’, another prior creation that the audience quickly recognizes. The applause gains intensity. The first part ends with a premiering bulería in which José Valencia sings unrestrained. A little spin through bulerías for gatherings, not for theater. And the piano recalling Diego del Gastor.

The composer that is Dorantes goes a step beyond. He presents the three movements for four cellos which he has written: “The first one is based on a seguiriya, the second one is a melancholy thing which I thought up and the third one is a mechanical thing, about engines, about factories”. It has little to do with flamenco, but a lot to do with music. The audience was delighted. The pianist having returned, he performed a new version of a romance by his father, Pedro Peña, entitled ‘Bailar sobre la mar’. Single-hue cante. A matter of lungs. The music - piano and cello - is a smooth agitation. Coming to remind us of the beauty of voice is Lole Montoya. She sings the song ‘La maza’ by Silvio Rodríguez, that emblematic vindication by the Cuban singer-songwriter. So many nooks and crannies in her throat, so many textures... and believing the lyrics. The crowd's insistent ovation was a way of asking why this cantaora, whom enthusiasts have just rediscovered with the album ‘Ni el oro ni la plata’, does not have her own show in this festival. Just another incongruity of the bill.

Dorantes with Lole Montoya

According to the program order, the following piece to premiere would be ‘Atardecer’ in which, beside the extent of the composition, standing out is the collaboration of Hindu maestro tabla player Keshab Canti Showdhury who, out of questions of destiny, has crossed Dorantes' path. What a magical universe that instrument has, what wealth facing the simplicity of the box drum, which there is not even a common style with in order to dialogue. At the same time, the Turkish sax directed the compass needle towards another cardinal point. It was a pity the lighting technician had the fateful idea of pointing the spotlights right at the pupils of the audience in the upper level of the theater, so they had to listen to the music with their eyes closed and imagine... and not just during this song, but until the end of the concert. The cello joined the sound celebration to close with ‘Enaguas’. Universal music. Borderless music. And the Sevillian venue came to its feet before and after the encore through bulerías in which they say that Lole Montoya danced barefoot and Dorantes was tossed a bunch of rosemary.

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