EL CABRERO • MAYTE MARTÍN
• CALIXTO SÁNCHEZ
2008 CAJAMADRID FLAMENCO FESTIVAL
Scalene
Silvia Calado. Madrid, January 30th, 2008
El Cabrero: cante.
Rafael Rodríguez: guitar / Mayte Martín:
cante. Juan Ramón Caro: guitar / Calixto
Sánchez: cante. Manolo Franco: guitar.
16th CajaMadrid Festival 2008. Teatro Albéniz.
Madrid, January 30th, 2008. 8:30 p.m.
A scalene triangle is one that has three
different sides. And that’s the image projected
by the lineup on the second night of the 2008 CajaMadrid
Festival. El Cabrero, Mayte Martín and Calixto
Sánchez have nothing to do with one another either
in concepts or in manners. And so it was a completely
different night.
El Cabrero (Photo Daniel Muñoz)
El Cabrero had the difficult task of
breaking the ice. And to make things more complicated,
without his voice in tip-top condition. Even so, he managed
to warm up his throat little by little, taking a small
step forward with each of his attempts. Having a lot to
do with this progressive ascent was the painstaking work
on toque by Rafael Rodríguez, a guitarist who mollycoddles
the forms of classic maestros. A pleasure to listen to.
Following the farruca and the beautiful sonnet by Borges
‘La lluvia’, the cantaor was ready to perform
like El Cabrero. The people, with whom he maintained good-natured
interaction at all times, were waiting for this moment;
that of the fandangos. “I’m a left-wing man
and I want my road to smell like roses and not shit”.
That’s what his proclamations are like; radical,
straightforward, committed. And he could have stopped
there, but he wanted to offer the audience two more cantes:
‘Carcelero’ by Manolo
Caracol (with the mike propped up on the chair …
since no technician came out to straighten it up) and
some raw seguiriyas. As time was pressing, the curtain
dropped and he could barely enjoy the applause.
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Mayte Martín
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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A radical change following the intermission.
Then came sweetness. Mayte
Martín, faithful to ‘Querencia’,
did a prologue por peteneras. As velvety and as elegant
as always, although wishing to recoup. And the thing is
that the last time she set foot on this stage, she was
sick “and I’m glad to be able to pay back
my debt to you”. Then came the malagueña
de Chacón with the finish of the ‘serenoke’.
At her side, Juan Ramón Caro not only offers her
music, but also the climate, the ambience. The cantaora
then took pleasure in the cantes mineros, recalling Rojo
el Alpargatero and La Peñaranda. And from certain
depths she moved on to others; to those of the seguiriyas.
Grief so well channeled. As an epilogue, she wanted to
devote herself to round-trip cantes, those which she does
perfectly according to the teachings of her maestro, Juan
Valderrama. The unhurried garrotín, which is
performed so little nowadays, was greatly appreciated.
And at the end, she didn’t sing the milonga; rather,
she trilled it. The theater, now indeed, claimed its right
to a standing ovation.
The third side of the triangle was Calixto
Sánchez. The cantaor from Mairena del Alcor,
a “school” maestro, came accompanied on guitar
by Manolo Franco ready, with his exquisite ways, to recall
his past and reveal his present. The alegrías of
the “green seaweed from the sea” weren’t
missing, nor his reference to the roads of Machado por
tangos. But he didn’t want to miss the chance either
to present to the Madrid audience part of the contents
of his recently released album, ‘Andando el camino’,
off of which he took some dramatic seguiriyas that he
created. And all of it wrapped up in his characteristic
gestures, which were accompanied not just by cante, but
also ‘entrecantes’ and phrasings: “I’m
really thrilled, because you’re extraordinary”.
That’s what his cantaor show is like, the one that
closed a night on which, more than ever, flamenco cante
made its variety clear.
Calixto Sánchez (Photo
Daniel Muñoz)
