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SEVILLE'S 2006 BIENAL DE FLAMENCO. BELÉN MAYA, ‘DIBUJOS’
Stumping
Silvia Calado. Seville, September 22nd,
2006
Translation: Joseph Kopec
‘Dibujos’. Baile: Belén Maya.
Choreography: Belén Maya, Manuel Liñán
(clapping), Goyo Montero (Time reversal). Guitar: José
Luis Rodríguez. Cante: Rosario la Tremendita, El Pecas,
El Picúo. Music: José Luis Rodríguez,
Bach (Chacona). Stage director: David Montero. Seville's 14th
Bienal de Flamenco 2006. Teatro Central. Seville, September
22nd, 2006. 9 p.m.
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Belén Maya (Photo:
Daniel Muñoz) |
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Belén
Maya investigates her solo dissertation. And she does
so with a modified version of ‘Dibujos’, a show
which could already be seen at the past Jerez Festival (read
review). It was then a compact, withdrawn, specific work.
Now, extended and transformed, without a background up to
the level of the star bailaora and guitarist, it lost intimacy
and impact, creating a loose space in which the sketches barely
ended up as scribbling. There's no doubt about the artistic
level of Belén Maya, one of the best bailaoras of her
time, a creator always moving forward. And any movement of
hers, whether it is in the most flamenco format, whether it
is in the most heterodox, awakens interest, is worthwhile.
And more so when she's found accompaniment up to her standard:
with the wonderful cante of Mayte
Martín, the two of them made authentic gems out
of shows such as ‘Flamenco de cámara’.
That might be why the reason things were blurred lay in the
choice of the background and the context itself.
A blackboard at the back. A list of cantes. A drawn sketch,
the same triangle and the same marks on the floor. Before
a sell-out crowd, she kicked things off with a cante ‘alante’
by La
Tremendita, a montañesa in which she set forth
her proposal of an old-time, curled thread. At that point
Belén Maya was on stage, but not to dance, despite
the black bata de cola and the expectations, since the previous
version of ‘Dibujos’ was introduced straightaway
by the fantastic choreography which the bailaora did for the
film ‘Flamenco’ by Carlos Saura. The cante's sweetness
got tangled up with that of the violin live, tracing Bach's
‘Chacona’. Now, the bailaora sketches out motions
according to the melodies of the instrument, hardly without
her feet. And she plays dramatically with a sheer piece of
red fabric taken from a fan. A graphic sketch, but on the
surface. The number is drawn out and the sketch doesn't take
shape. To the left of the stage, cantaor and guitarist. A
transition number with unrehearsed cante by El Pecas, por
bulerías.
The dialogue between the bailaora and guitarist, the show's
‘leitmotiv’, comes at last in the rondeña.
The guitar turns sweet, musical, evocative. And the baile,
following the sheer discourse of the previous piece, sprinkles
the scene with winged, rhythmic outlines... with that plasticity
which distinguishes her, but going through everything as if
on her tiptoes. Nor is the cante going to be found with the
strange warble by El Picúo, though upon sticking in
the abandolao, the baile turns more flamenco and lets its
spirit shine through. An interlude by the two clappers leads
up to the fandango. José
Luis Rodríguez up front, following so many years
at the back of the Cristina Hoyos Company. A solo for guitar.
Crystal-clear notes. Music-landscape. Belén Maya comes
back out on stage in the green dress she already sported a
few days ago at the festival's inauguration. And like then,
she comes to dance por Sacromonte-style tangos. To the sound
of the guitar, the two male voices and the two watered-down
clappers, Mario Maya and Carmen Mora's daughter made use of
her roots, curves, low arms and hips, giving the utmost beauty
in details such as the fluent sideways shifting. However,
she doesn't manage to get across being within. Another transition
number, that of La Tremendita por soleá. Another nice
postscript by the clappers, along the same lines as the ‘score’
for heel tapping displayed the other
day by Manuel Liñán. And next come the old-time
alegrías with a red bata de cola. Lately, the bailaora
had managed to delve deeply to the max in this baile, making
the train of the dress part of herself, every dodge imbued
with mischief, enjoying herself and making others enjoy themselves.
And something of that feeling finally lit up a stage which
faded out amidst enthusiastic applause from the audience.
And the thing is that Belén Maya is great even in stormy
weather.
| University course.
‘Flamencos talk about themselves’
Diego Carrasco
at Universidad Internacional de Andalucía
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
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Matilde Coral, Chano Lobato,
Merche Esmeralda, El Lebrijano, Manolo Sanlúcar
and Diego Carrasco have become university professors
for a week. The course at the International University
of Andalusia (UNIA) entitled ‘Flamencos
talk about themselves’ has put flamenco
at the front of the class, but in first person.
Coordinated by Manuel Curao, they have shared
with students their experiences, their artistic
careers and their opinions about an artform which
is making its way into university halls little
by little. Diego
Carrasco, who closed the course on Friday,
September 22nd, remarked that, “to begin
with, being with musicologist Faustino Núñez
seems great to me, because someone has to lead
you here; you can't just stand up her like that.
There has to be work behind it and then you, very
honestly, with all the simplicity you might have,
will feel this experience with all the greatness
it implies. I think it's really interesting for
the future. If we manage to put flamenco in the
university, I think it's going to be great. That's
the only way flamenco's going to be taken with
the truth, responsibility and seriousness of the
university”. He made this comment upon finishing
a course which he concluded by talking about time,
rhythm, compás: “We flamencos need
to have Pythagoras, but not to use him so dramatically
because then it becomes part of a mechanism. And
that allows you to transform the music live, to
go from one world to another world, to communicate
with other musicians, having a concept of time
in itself in which present, past and future are
summarized in a single moment”. As he was
leaving the classroom, a former chapel with an
altarpiece at La Cartuja Monastery, he called
out laughing: “And my diploma?”.
Online store
CD:
Diego Carrasco. Voz de referencia
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| Tribute to El Carbonerillo,
Hotel Triana
Following up the release of the
complete work by El Carbonerillo, the festival
had prepared an evening to pay tribute at the
suitable setting of the Hotel Triana. With a summer
festival format, before a crowd largely consisting
of peña members who are big cante fans,
and the night cooling off, three cantaor and guitarist
pairs appeared on stage, all three along the classical
lines inherited from the flamenco era lived by
the artist being paid homage. Guillermo Cano +
Jesús Zarrías. A touch of youth,
a voice to discover, made Huelva-style. José
Galán + Manuel Herrera. Mature mairenera-style
cante without shrillness or ups and downs. Julián
Estrada + Manolo Franco. The weight of experience,
sifted through plateresque guitar. At the end,
baile by Carmen Ledesma. And there were cantes
de levante, tangos, malagueñas, seguiriyas...
but especially fandangos. And the thing is that
the fandango was the legacy of the cantaor born
on Calle Sol back in 1906. The libretto says that
“what distinguishes El Carbonerillo's fandango
from that of other colleagues of his generation
is that his deep existentialism, characteristic
of all the fandangueros in the '20s, isn't incompatible
with sweetness, the vital despair joins the balance”.
Guillermo
Cano and Jesús Zarrías (Photo: Daniel
Muñoz)
Online store
CD:
El Carbonerillo. Obra completa (3 CD)
CD:
Julián Estrada. Un mundo nuevo
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And tomorrow...
Antonio Gades Company,
‘Carmen’. Teatro Lope de Vega, 9 p.m.
The company which is keeping alive the choreographic
work of the brilliant dancer returns to the Teatro
Lope de Vega following the twin gala last Thursday
in which it presented ‘Bodas de sangre’
and ‘Suite flamenca’. It now revives
the gutsy ‘Carmen’,
a show which has traveled around the world as
a ballet and as a film; the one directed by Carlos
Saura.
Ara Malikian & José Luis Montón,
‘Manantial de la felicidad’.
Teatro Central, 10 p.m. The Armenian violinist
and the flamenco guitarist do a live concert based
on the two albums on which they have blended their
respective ways of understanding music: ‘Manantial’
and ‘De la felicidad’. Flamenco, folklore,
copla, classical... join hands in this concert,
which dancer Olga Pericet also collaborates in.
‘Cante de La Unión’.
Hotel Triana, 11:30 p.m. Then late night
at the Hotel Triana, a gala is scheduled devoted
entirely to the cantes mineros of Murcia, with
performances by Gema Jiménez, Raúl
Montesinos, Manuel Cuevas and Rubito Jr., among
others.
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magazine@flamenco-world.com
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