FESTIVAL FLAMENCO CIUTAT VELLA 2007
PEPE HABICHUELA & JOSEMI CARMONA/ EL JUNCO
Aromatic music
Silvia Calado. Barcelona, May 24th, 2007
First part. Pepe Habichuela
& Josemi Carmona: guitars. Carlos Carmona:
second guitar. Juan Carmona: percussion. Bandolero: percussion.
Javier Colina: contrabass (special collaboration). Second
part. El Junco: baile. David Lagos, El
Galli: cante. Ramón Amador, Michele Giacarinno:
guitar. Roberto Jaén: box drum. 14th Festival Flamenco
Ciutat Vella 2007. Pati de les Dones, Contemporary Culture
Center (CCCB). Barcelona, May 23rd, 2007. 10 p.m.
Pepe Habichuela (Photo Daniel
Muñoz)
Barcelona has already bent over backwards
with its flamenco festival. Every activity scheduled on
the third day of Ciutat Vella 2007 had a full crowd. And
the later it got, the more people there were. Then the
hall was even two small for the late-night rumba session
by the group Jaleo Real. Now then, it was free... and
the night was ripe for everything except staying in. Besides,
a very intense double flamenco session had just been experienced
at the main stage, Pati de les Dones. Emotions had to
be released. The ones provoked by Pepe
Habichuela’s guitar in itself are strong. The
maestro first let Josemi
Carmona perform, who appeared with two songs of ‘Sumando’
- again, with Benavent present -, one por bulerías
and another por tangos. Here’s the accessible version
of the Los
Habichuela guitar legacy, here’s the tradition
taken to our time. And as an extra, Javier Colina on contrabass,
enhancing with his wise hands. The message is direct.
The music is aroma.
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El Junco (Photo Daniel
Muñoz) |
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And Pepe Habichuela comes out. Everyone
leaves. The maestro is alone. Soleá. Time sounds.
You have to close your eyes and let yourself be pierced,
be nailed. Por alegrías and por bulerías,
with the box drums marking the tempo, the guitar riddles
the air. Nobody clips like Pepe Habichuela, no guitar
stirs within that way. Even holding the rests. In his
hands, flamenco is timeless. The band returns. The maestro
leads, por tangos. And he makes room for the admired Colina,
who feels like toying with his too large instrument, starting
from the motifs by the venerable tocaor. And to finish,
of course, the rumba ‘Yerbagüena’,
an emblem of contemporary flamenco. The audience ends
up on its feet.
Following a brief bar and restroom break,
back to the seats. Time for baile. His name is Juan José
Jaén ‘El Junco’. And he’s starting
off his solo career after establishing himself in companies
directed by Cristina Hoyos. Accompanied by cante, guitars
and box drum, he had an hour in front of him to show his
credentials. And he did so with two bailes of substance:
the seguiriya and the soleá por bulerías.
In both installments of his performance, he displayed
elegance and good form, awareness of the music and of
the stage’s idiosyncrasy. Moreover, he managed to
combine classicism and freshness, with interesting plays
on rhythm and winks at the crowd. Standing out are the
appearances by David
Lagos, a cantaor who in time defines hypnotic modes
of his own, having absorbed the ancestors. And it all
ended with a party which Japanese bailaor Shoji
Kojima was invited to, who did his little thing por
bulerías sung by... the bailaor. No, flamenco has
no borders.
Alba Guerrero and Juan Ramón
Caro (Photo Daniel Muñoz)
Nor is it lacking in new blood. In the
evening at the hall, another young cantaora, Alba Guerrero,
presented herself. A Huelva-born artist living in Catalonia,
she blends references to forge her own style. With a clear
voice and in the process of being channeled, she performed
cantiñas, malagueñas, a soleá por
bulerías in which she revealed herself, a sweet
martinete, her own song ‘Irak’ and a version
of ‘El lenguaje de las flores’ by Enrique
Morente’s ‘Lorca’. The sweet toque
by Juan Ramón Caro, Mayte Martín’s
usual guitarist, mollycoddled her in a performance which
also included the violins of Bernardo Parrilla and Mohamed
Sulimane. Bulerías and, then in the encore, fandangos,
completed a broad repertoire which was heartily applauded
by an eminently young audience. Ciutat Vella is a specialist
in that.
Click
the images to enlarge |
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| Pepe
Habichuela
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)
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Javier
Colina
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
El Junco
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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| El Junco
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)
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El Junco,
El Galli, David Lagos and Shoji Kojima
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
Josemi
Carmona and Pepe Habichuela (Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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