Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla 2006. Joaquín Grilo, 'A solas'. Review, photos and online video

Agujetas: cante. Antonio Soto: guitar / El Pele: cante. Manuel Silveria: guitar. Güito: box drum / Juana Amaya: baile. Enrique el Extremeño, Luis Moneo, Galli de Morón: cante. Rafael Rodríguez, El Bola: guitar. Tete Peña: box drum. Seville’s 14th Bienal de Flamenco 2006. Teatro Lope de Vega. Seville, October 4th, 2006. 9 p.m.

Amps were promised and amps there were. There was enough energy flowing at the Teatro Lope de Vega last night to light up a city. Agujetas, El Pele and Juana Amaya, in that order, generated high-tension currents for nearly two hours on behalf of the most genuine flamenco. Manuel de los Santos ‘Agujetas’ started up the generator. Rummaging through the Jerez family’s forge, he came across echoes from another time and another world. But he needed to warm up. He still uttered the soleares with a certain hieratic attitude. Then in the seguiriyas he achieved dramatic tension. He sang to coldness and to his mother por fandangos, shuddering, withdrawing and leaving the guitar, which he could do without entirely, in the lurch. There’s no melody. There’s no rhythm. His cante is made of a different stuff. He said that “in Jerez, the beaten-out soleá is called bulerías to listen to”. And the energy factory got down to work here. He would return to old cantes por seguiriyas, as old as Manuel Torre or maybe older. And the release would come with the final martinetes, when Agujetas found his essence, distorting the open spaces of the theater with his spine-tingling cacophony. Flamenco journeyed to its origins for a few minutes.

El Pele took over, keeping the energy meter going. He attacked por soleá with a contrasted discourse of melody. At his side, the special sound of Manuel Silveria’s guitar finally brought in the music. The Córdoba-born cantaor came in to devote himself entirely. And he sketched spirals with the verses, wove filigrees, stuck it inside, released his quejío towards the roof, broke up the phases... as if it were a free cante. So many sensations in so small a journey that the audience had to burst into applause not once, but several times. An elaborate guitar prelude makes way for the malagueña by Antonio Chacón. He rocked it, twisted it, blew it up, skirted it, caressed it... not just with his throat, but with his entire body. And he achieved a great cante. He dedicated the seguiriyas “to the people who come from so far away to do their part to make our culture the most beautiful one in the world”. Going out to the Japanese, Germans, Chileans, Argentineans, Italians, the French... was this touching cante which El Pele knew how to squeeze all the juice out of, inspired by Juanito Mojama, by traditional sevillanas lyrics, by listening in itself. Having reached maximum depth, he tried to hit the light switch. And he sang por alegrías, intermingling popular coplas with compositions by Isidro Muñoz for Salmarina and with excerpts from his latest album, ‘Canto’, which Vicente Amigo produced for him and played on. He sang as if nearly speaking, risked unexpected turns, whispered flirtatiously and ripped his voice, changing towards tones as high as the clouds. And he nearly did the bulerías beaten out, intimately stringing lyrics even when he stood up and strutted his cante around the edge of the stage enveloped by a resounding, well-deserved ovation.

Juana Amaya condensed her energy flow into two bailes. Both por alegrías (see video) and por soleá, she resorted to power in her movements and the shattering speed in the heel tapping she carries out, with low heels for greater efficiency. Earth baile with sighs of contention, picture, gestures, still arms. At the back, a group led by the generous throat of Enrique el Extremeño amidst guitars, box drums and another two voices was able to provide the ideal response for the Morón-born bailaora, who called for strength. On the white tablao, she dealt out flurries, challenges and genius, a lot of genius, until the grand finale por bulerías which put an end to a night which recharged the very batteries of flamenco itself.

And tomorrow...

	José Antonio Rodríguez (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

José Antonio Rodríguez, ‘...en el tiempo’. Teatro Central, 9 p.m. In Seville, the Córdoba-born guitarist presents his latest concert which he opened the Córdoba Guitar Festival with a few months ago. For nearly two hours the composition intertwines the pieces which he was inspired in by “my early days in flamenco”; that’s why their names come from places and maestros of the past such as Cobitos. The guitarist explained that “normally, when I compose for movies or for dance, I add music to images, and in this case, I’ve added it to memories”. He is accompanied live by soloists like cantaor Rafael de Utrera, saxophonist Jon Robles, bass player Ángel Morilla and bailaora Rosario Toledo. They’ll go on a journey together around the different styles of flamenco, conceived “to feel the music and think a little bit”. José Antonio Rodríguez is working on the release of this concert on DVD, stemming from the live recording of its premiere. He doesn’t hesitate to show his satisfaction with this work, “since where my music sounds the best is live”. He considers that it’s the future not just of guitar, but of instrumental music. And he gave a warning: “There’s never enough guitar programmed; I think it’s a little mistreated. We know it’s music for a minority, but it’s only fair for that minority to be given the chance to hear it. Little by little, as has happened with opera, guitar should make a place for itself with a steady program which creates a following. And the thing is that many people can’t even imagine that a guitar concert can be pleasant... and even fun”.

Online store
- CD: José Antonio Rodríguez. La Leyenda

Further information
- Interview with José Antonio Rodríguez, guitarist