SEVILLE'S 2006 BIENAL DE FLAMENCO. CARMEN CORTÉS, ‘MUJERES DE LORCA’

Of the diverse

Silvia Calado. Seville, September 27th, 2006
Translation: Joseph Kopec

‘Mujeres de Lorca’. Carmen Cortés: baile, choreography. Fernando Bernués: director. Faustino Núñez: musical director. David Cerreduela: original music. Tomás Afán: dramatic art. Trinidad Artíguez, Mónica Rojas, Natalia Fernándiz, Sabrina Fernández, Silvia Rincón, Beatriz Uría, Rosa: dance corps. David Cerreduela, Paco Cruz, Israel Cerreduela, Guadiana, Ramón el Portugués, Jonatan Fernández, María Carmona, Mónica la Chicuela, Rafael Caldera, Mariano Díaz: musicians. Seville's 14th Bienal de Flamenco 2006. Teatro Central. Seville, September 27th, 2006. 9 p.m.

Carmen Cortés (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

If following a festival contributes anything, it's variety. And here at Seville's Bienal de Flamenco, each night is a world apart. If yesterday the Apollonian Sevillian baile advocated by Milagros Mengíbar was resorted to, last night the Dionysiac baile of Carmen Cortés took the stage. Air versus land. Hair in a perfect stage versus burning loose hair. Deodorized restraint versus the sweaty panting of exhaustion. And if the baile in itself was different, the staging was even more so, diametrically opposite: from the standard group to drama.

Carmen Cortés returns to contemporary drama style, returns to literature, to give birth to ‘Mujeres de Lorca’. It isn't a matter, as in ‘La Celestina’, of telling a story. This premiere show only translated motifs to the style of dance-theater. And there were six motifs: six female characters from Lorca's drama. Each of them has been related to a flamenco style which most defines it. Naturally, for example, Bernarda Alba is defined por seguiriyas and martinetes. And thus, with a hieratic, rusty baile she in mourning shows her authority over her daughters in the first scene. Six episodes like that follow one another in which passages shine such as the star's solo in the role of Mariana Pineda, with a decrescendo from the unleashing of the bulería to the lightness of the soleá; or the girls' duel with La Zapatera, all mischief and castanets por tanguillos.

The styles are intertwined by the team of musicians into a soundtrack which combines traditional flamenco with sweet flamenco-style song, using verses by Lorca. Under the direction of Faustino Núñez – who was author of the music in ‘Fuenteovejuna’ by Antonio Gades -, taking over live is guitarist David Cerreduela, author of the music. The orchestra: a trio of guitars with Cañorroto sound, the beautiful voice of Guadiana, barely a prompt by Ramón el Portugués (who was expected to be heard a lot more from), a vehement female voice, two choruses and two box drums. The sound system prevented this teamwork from being enjoyed, at an atrocious volume focused only on the guitars.

Joining this baile and music ensemble is a third element: theater. Stage director Fernando Bernués works it out with a starring element, the baile shoe. At the back, a mountain of flamenco shoes covers a piano, shoes fall out of the sky when La Zapatera dances, Yerma is bulging with little shoes; shoes are Bernarda's daughters' only weapons... And that includes a dramatization not always entirely joined to the baile's style, something which could be polished just like the show's oscillating rhythm and the transitions between numbers. The ambience is successfully achieved by the joint effort of lights and colors in the stage design and the wardrobe. Moreover, the lights illuminate. As usual when flamenco comes out of itself, opinions are divided. There were those who left saying they hadn't understood anything at all, there are those who applauded to the beat like mad. Oh variety, variety.

And tomorrow...   Miguel Poveda (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)     Miguel Poveda, ‘Tierra de calma’. Teatro Lope de Vega, 9 p.m. Cantaor Miguel Poveda premieres his new album ‘Tierra de calma’ at Seville's 2006 Bienal in the company of guitarist, composer and album producer Juan Carlos Romero. He will also have special collaborations by Diego Carrasco, Dorantes and Eva Yerbabuena. He returns his participation to the Granada-born bailaora in the show ‘A cuatro voces’, since “I felt like telling her what she has to dance and it's going to be something really special, a gift to Seville”. Miguel Poveda has announced that “the concert includes all the pieces we've just recorded, plus cantes de levante and alegrías”. And he pointed out about the album that “it returns me to flamenco, to my starting point after really varied experiences with contemporary music, the copla, poetry in Catalan... I felt like calm, mellowing out and coming home, which is flamenco”. Juan Carlos Romero spoke about the process of creating the album. He commented that “after talking a lot about the initial idea, we set out to grow in flamenco but beginning from within and not taking elements from the outside which often turn out to be indigestible for flamenco. That's why we wanted to put ourselves into complicated places such as the malagueña and the seguiriya. The adventure has been daring, but you had to take risks and I think it's turned out fine for us”. Miguel Poveda concluded by expressing his desire to “make a good impression on Seville, the city where I came to live three years ago and which has given me calm”. And that, being aware of the responsibility which creates expectations at a festival like Seville's Bienal de Flamenco, since “thanks to Internet, it is becoming more important internationally, and the Sevillian audience, critics and enthusiasts from the outside are more and more demanding. But I've recharged my batteries”. Further information Miguel Poveda returns to flamenco with his new album ‘Tierra de calma’

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