2009 CIUTAT VELLA FLAMENCO FESTIVAL
ESPERANZA FERNÁNDEZ · ISABEL BAYÓN
Double Sevillian femininity
S.C. Barcelona, May 21st, 2009
First part. Esperanza Fernández: cante. Miguel Ángel Cortés: guitar. Miguel Vargas, José Manuel Ramos: clapping. Second part. Isabel Bayón: baile. Jesús Torres, Paco Arriaga: guitar. Miguel Ortega, Antonio Campos: cante. 16th Ciutat Vella Flamenco Festival. Contemporary Culture Center, Pati de les Dones. Barcelona, May 21st, 2009. 9 p.m.
Sevillian femininity visited the heart of Barcelona for a few hours. Women with curves, with hands that are wings, with hips that utter sentences, with arms that make breezes, with shawls, chignons, back combs and batas de cola. But expressed that way, they sound like pictures of another era. And really, the ones who brought those airs from both sides of the Guadalquivir were two women who know how to make the traditional compatible with the personal and, of course, with their time. Cantaora Esperanza Fernández opened the night, one of those in which you can feel the sea’s humidity at the Pati de les Dones. And the first thing she did was to make clear where she comes from; at least, half of her. Oh yes, from Triana. She sang cantiñas to its corners, to its artists, to its daily life. About Santa Ana, Cagancho, the cooking. Wrapped in an old-gold colored shawl sprinkled with roses, she uttered the coplas tactfully. And she continued withdrawn in the soleá, with tones of Alcalá de Guadaíra white.
The spring of her voice then gushed forth in the seguiriya, a cante she shook up the audience with. She combined the phases from within with crystal-clear ascents. And perfect contention reigned in both tessituras. The guitar grasped it all, and it had room to offer falsetas of the category of synthetic composition. But when Miguel
Ángel Cortés reached his own climax was in the tangos. The Granada-born musician was showered with olés. And the cantaora, between lyrics, one of those mischievous Triana-born women with well-rounded form she recently left recorded on ‘Recuerdos’, knew how to give him his place. Between the two of them, they forged very intense cante, sprinkled with know-all rests and overflowing freshness. The farewell obligatorily had to be to the bulería beat. And then Esperanza Fernández became a mighty coral-colored whirlwind of golden fringes and brown skin.
Isabel
Bayón’s Seville is different. It’s the one her maestra Matilde Coral calls “plateresque”. And besides, the bailaora opted for her most withdrawn side; that of deep feeling and subtle movement. Except for the final alegrías, which came in like a burst of color after a matter of delicate restraint. She added movement and gestures to the dramatic art of the martinete by
La
Piriñaca. She added movement and a dancer’s charming delicacy to Bach’s ‘Goldberg Variations’. And following a touch of able cante by Miguel Ortega, she returned to jondo form por seguiriyas. But she took them to that terrain where this style is capable of releasing light. The fluent, winding movements. Each piece in its place, each step on each note. The density more diminished, but still in the same range, she continued with the farruca together with the guitar of
Jesús
Torres. A sophisticated piece from her show ‘Tórtola Valencia’ which includes a very beautiful tale in itself. The turning point, as we remarked, didn’t come until the end. Alegría por alegrías. The fuchsia bata de cola. Her smile. Her mischief. Her hand. Her shoulder. Her curve. And the entire crowd was spellbound by her.
Hall,
8 p.m. Fefa Gómez • Mari Ángeles Fernández
Fefa Gómez
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
Mari Ángeles
Fernández
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
Not just youth should be the reason to appear on the bill of a flamenco series. Not if that factor is not associated indissolubly with that of quality. And the truth is that the two young cante shows presented at the Hall on the third day of Ciutat Vella 2009 did not achieve a good enough level. On the one hand, Fefa Gómez - who replaced her brother El Duende on the bill - lacked control. And on the other hand, Mari Ángeles Fernández - Tomatito’s daughter - had too much insecurity and instability, and not just in her attitude, but in her own instrument. A handicap which, against what could be expected, has not been solved since we saw her at Festival de Jerez a few years ago. Neither one nor the other managed to reinforce their respective recitals. And that, despite being wonderfully accompanied by first-rate guitarists. One of them with Juan Ramón Caro, the other with Chicuelo. The pity is that the list of cantaores and cantaoras endowed with youth is extensive at present. And two of them weren’t lucky enough to be here.
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