FESTIVAL FLAMENCO CIUTAT VELLA 2007.
CARLES BENAVENT/ JOSÉ MAYA
To the bass maestro
Silvia Calado. Barcelona, May 23rd, 2007
First part. Carles Benavent:
electric bass. Aleix Pujol: cittern midi (Celtic lute),
electric guitar, acoustic guitar. Ravid Goldschmidt: hang.
Roger Blavia: drums, percussion. Chicuelo: flamenco guitar
(special collaboration). Domingo Patricio: flute/ Second
part. José Maya: baile. Jesús
del Rosario: guitar. Lucky Losada: box drum. Antonio Carmona,
Simón Román: cante. 14th Festival Flamenco
Ciutat Vella 2007. Pati de les Dones, Contemporary Culture
Center of Barcelona (CCCB). Barcelona, May 23rd, 2007.
10 p.m.
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Carles Benavent (Photo
Daniel Muñoz) |
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And then a blues song by Jaco Pastorius
was heard. “Excuse me for this way of starting off
a flamenco festival, but flamenco is fusion and so is
jazz”, Carles
Benavent explained. The bass player, with all the
impressiveness of his toque, thus inaugurated the main
stage of this fourteenth edition of the Ciutat Vella Flamenco
Festival. With wickedness, according to instruction. But
things didn’t end there. Next, an instrument was
premiered for flamenco; hang. And he took advantage of
it to give an oriental air to a suggestive piece consisting
of conversations between bass and percussion, sustained
by the neophyte.
The jondo arrived with a soleá,
which was joined in by Aleix Pujol on cittern midi. Soleá
in essence and freedom to fly. The flamenco bass, the
first one, the creator, hits the nail on the head. And
meanwhile, the group designs sound spaces. Chicuelo
plunges into the foreground so that flamenco guitar drives
a fandango-style piece. Two worlds unite. The party is
joined by Domingo Patricio on flute. And the band enjoys
itself, looking southwards, to the tanguillos beat. They
finish with bulerías “made for the occasion:
‘A saco’”. The bass maestro really plucks
those strings! The band is jazz and flamenco at the same
time. Jondo feeling. Yeah. Olé. The crowd -which
moreover enjoyed a delightful starry night - pays tribute
to Carles Benavent with a hearty ovation. Of course, it
wants more. And Carles, who admits he’s “a
little bit overwhelmed”, gives them a ‘smidgen’
more of his genius.
José Maya, on baile
José Maya
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)
Mónica Navarro
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)
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With a somewhat smaller audience in the
stands, the baile session began. But it took the baile
time to kick off. The group, consisting of cante, box
drum and toque by Jesús
de Rosario, took its time for an instrumental prologue
por bulerías. Well into the seguiriya was when
José Maya - formerly, Joselillo Romero - burst
in dressed in red. His is not a baile of development,
but of instants, of coups de théâtre. Farruco-style
attitude in the strolling. And in the halts, strings of
‘kicks’ displaying footwork. Once again he
allowed the group to let loose, this time por tangos.
Upon the call for the soleá, he returned forcefully.
A black suit, uncontrollable fury. And his hairstyle changing
during the baile: loose with a wet look, smoothed back,
in a ponytail, in a bun, loose again. Little by little,
he started getting into bulerías, the best grounds
for displays of technique, for flurries of heels, spins
and defiant stances with clenched fists. The audience
applauded heartily and ran out to dance in the chill out.
There waiting for them, well into after-hours, was the
group 5xRumba. On the same stage where in the evening,
presenting her credentials was cantaora Mónica
Navarro, accompanied on toque by none other than her uncle
Chicuelo. With a hoarse voice and a long way to go, she
performed a varied repertoire of traditional cantes, among
others, levante, tientos and bulerías. The Catalan
breeding ground keeps on uncovering pearls.
