Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla 2006. Israel Galván: 'Tabula rasa'. Review, photos and online video

‘Tabula rasa’. Israel Galván: idea, baile, choreography. Inés Bacán: cante. Diego Amador: piano. Pedro G. Romero: artistic director. Seville’s 14th Bienal de Flamenco 2006. Teatro Central. Seville, September 17th, 2006. 9 p.m.

A small Babel awaits. Not an empty seat in the house. Fade out and silence. Diego Amador takes a seat before his piano. And he imbues the stage and the room with his sound. A very guitar-like piano. Music of nuances, full of textures, strumming. Importance of the rests and the solitude. From flamenco to abstraction. From the specific to the free. And from the free to the flamenco. The sensation of a rehearsal... before a ‘voyeur’ audience.

Inés Bacán takes up her seat. She drops her powerful hand upon the square table. And she starts to confess. Guided by an inner metronome, she pours out lyrics upon lyrics por soleá. Cante-essence. And the crowd overwhelmed. “How the mad change, I haven’t thrown any stones, but I’m really close to doing so”. Existentialism. Omens. The second cante plunges a few meters deeper. Seguiriyas. The drama grows. Her fists clenched as if squeezing the cante. And she offers the macho to heaven, the prehistoric matron with open arms. The table bears another blow. “How nice it is to sing for the sake of singing, to dream for the sake of dreaming, to love for the sake of loving”. Nearly whispered olés. She slowly gets up and remains standing. The toná leaves its echo scattered around the theater.

Israel Galván is also alone. He sinks his feet into the square of resin. And he leaves a trail of white footprints behind him on his first trip to the center of a stage marked with light-circuits. And the baile is creation being developed. Something that seems to be born in real time. Steps, leaps, feet tapping, snorts, body geometries... And, meanwhile, the most primitive flamenco movement. Next to the piano, he sketches really complex heel tapping, scratches old-time markings, strikes the inner workings of the piano in time, steps on them and finishes off by striking his teeth together. And he causes laughter, the somewhat nervous laughter of a crowd taken out of context. His boots once again get covered in resin. Footprints all the way to Inés’s table. He takes a seat, absorbs and dances. The stillness matters. Steps, leaps, feet tapping, snorts, body geometries. And a new coup de théâtre: the baile in the resin amidst the white cloud, amidst choked breathing and panting. Something primary, like an animal, appears. And he sits down again at the cante table, sweat dripping down his face, striking the wood. And he goes back to the piano, playing two or three keys and letting the notes go out by themselves. The resin ends up scattered around the floor. And the bailaor utters guttural sounds, nonsensical syllables, with a dead arm. Solo... and in motion. “How the mad change”, as Bacán said.

Three’s company. Israel appears barefoot. He draws back his hands over his chest. Inés sings the lullaby for him. Diego rocks him with music. Journey to the origin. Invoking the ancestors within the magic triangle. Something is seized in the guts. And the cantaora conspires when the bailaor is born. Something’s scary. The motions are minimized. The sounds go out. The movement dies... or is born. Silence.

‘Tabula rasa’ closes the ‘Galván Special’ which Seville’s 2006 Bienal has opened with. A tribute to a bailaor-creator which it has seen grow as an artist, from winning the Giraldillo del Baile, to being awarded the 2005 National Dance Prize, with the premieres of ‘La metamorfosis’, ‘Galvánicas’ and ‘Arena’ in between. The festival seems to look to the future and beyond... A beyond where Israel Galván will be once again to keep on revolutionizing flamenco and shaking up a crowd more and more willing to let itself be shaken up.

And tomorrow...

Vicente Amigo, ‘Un momento en el sonido’. Teatro Lope de Vega, 9 p.m. The Córdoba-born guitarist presents his latest album, ‘Un momento en el sonido’, in concert at Seville’s 2006 Bienal, accompanied by his usual band.

Argentina and group
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Argentina/ Daniel Navarro. Teatro Alameda, 10 p.m. Time for young talents. The Teatro Alameda opens its doors to the latest flamenco generation with a twin bill consisting of bailaor Daniel Navarro and cantaora Argentina. A few days ago at the Bienal’s Activities Center, located at the Expo Casino and open to the public, the Huelva-born artist offered a preview of her début album ‘Argentina’, as well as the video of her second single.