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2004 CAJA MADRID FESTIVAL
Capullo de Jerez. Juan Moneo. Antonio el Pipa
Jerez in the Court
Candela Olivo. Madrid, February 21st, 2004
Photos: Daniel Muñoz
Artist credits. El Capullo de Jerez on cante with
Diego Amaya on guitar and Luis de la Tota on rhythm. Manuel Moneo on cante
with Juan Moneo Jr. on guitar. Antonio el Pipa on baile with Tía
Juana la del Pipa, Enrique el Extremeño and Manuel Tañé on
cante, Pascual de Lorca and Juan Moneo on guitar, Joaquín Flores on clapping.
Albéniz Theater. Madrid, February 21st, 2004. 9 p.m.
Not just Cádiz was in Madrid yesterday. While Carnival roamed the streets
(a 'Talgo' train full of 'illegal' people in disguise arrived at Atocha Station
in the evening), the Albéniz Theater was overtaken by Jerez, by the flamenco
of that jondo island. Three flanks were covered: that of Capullo de Jerez's fresh,
peculiar cante; that of Manuel Moneo's old-established cante and that of the family
baile by the Antonio el Pipa Company. Grand finale. End of the festival. And the
theater turned upside down.
Capullo de Jerez
El
Capullo de Jerez offered a brief recital, but enough to show his peculiar
offer. He came out relaxed, letting his broken voice flow, his heart-felt groan,
through soleá. Like an existentialist philosopher, he sang to life in a
few fandangos in which both the performance and the lyrics stood out... for their
astounding originality. Who has sung before to "thought transmission"?
The tangos are not long in coming, either. And one is sent to the Santiago neighborhood,
to those little taverns where 'Este
soy yo' sounds in a perpetual loop. All flavor, all existentialism. "And
this isn't living, this isn't living". He relapsed into bulerías about
life itself and its circumstance, which he developed by rising, falling, writhing,
hurting himself. He won the crowd's complicity with his message and also with
his looseness: he even promoted his new album between verses. He finished off
the job, as has been usual with all the cantaores in this festival, leaving the
microphone behind. The audience wanted more.
Manuel Moneo
Manuel Moneo, with his son on toque and three clappers, correctly displayed
a typically Jerez repertoire: soleá, seguiriyas, fandangos and bulerías.
His voice, mature. His cante, ancient, old-established, mid-range. The intention,
"for the purity and roots not to be lost". He performed calmly, seriously,
"for good fans", following the guitar - limited by archaic canons -
every step of the way. The grand finale, like good Jerez natives, was a small
group through bulerías, in which the one who danced most was the one on
the bajañí. "Long live Jerez!".
When the curtain was raised after the break, Antonio
el Pipa appeared standing in the middle of the stage, dressed in immaculate
white. Less is more was the leit motiv of the first number, in which doing without
music, he dances to a bulería beat that is not heard, but is felt. Silence,
whistles, marking... little else. The background comes in somewhat later, finishing
rounding off this attempt to make the bulería a solo number, which he already
displayed last year at the Jerez Festival, which he will inaugurate in a few days
with a new show. The second
pass is through alegrías, he dressed in a short jacket suit, Tía
Juana la del Pipa singing for him with her tremendous voice. The baile is more
strolling and posing, more air, more liquid, than earth. Just a few foot cues.
And a great many winks at the crowd since El Pipa, and he knows it, can win them
over by pulling strings such as his smile, his kiss, the flirtatious turning of
his shoulder... Enrique el Extremeño, another mighty throat, undertakes
the soleá, remembering Alcalá, Joaquín el de la Paula, Manolito
María. And El Pipa resolves it with a dance for two together with María
José Franco. The bailaora's development is now perceptible; with more and
more authority, her esthetics more and more elaborated, of female curves and guts.
Now warmed up, that is to say, in bulerías, the formula dazzles the audience:
the challenge, the resentment, the duel. Next, the tone changes and turns solemn
for the seguiriya. The bailaor forms a picture with his aunt, who sings to him
in his ear with her deep, carbonic voice. Something especially beautiful and not
so usual was displayed: the complicity in the group, affection, making it clear
that one is at ease. And there were hugs and kisses and smiles between them. This
charming familiarity was strengthened in the postscript through bulerías
and in the grand finale, where everybody danced. Finish. End of the festival.
The crowd applauded for a great many minutes. Grand finale.
Antonio el Pipa
magazine@flamenco-world.com
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