2009 CIUTAT VELLA FLAMENCO FESTIVAL
TONI EL PELAO & LA UCHI, ‘PURO FLAMENCO’
• DOLORES AGUJETAS
When the old-time is post-modern
Silvia Calado. Barcelona, May 23rd, 2009
First part. Dolores Agujetas:
cante. Dieguito de La Agujeta: guitar. Second part. Toni
el Pelao: baile, choreography, directing. La
Uchi: baile. Charo Manzano: cante (guest artist).
Pepe Jiménez: cante. Luis Miguel Manzano: guitar.
Juan Serrano: guitar. 16th Ciutat Vella Flamenco Festival.
Contemporary Culture Center, Pati de les Dones. Barcelona,
May 23rd, 2009. 10 p.m.
What an end to the festival. Toni
el Pelao and La
Uchi provided the sixteenth edition of the Ciutat Vella
Flamenco Festival with icing on the cake… and diamonds.
The pair of veteran Madrilenian bailaores left the crowded
young audience agape with a concept of flamenco so old-time
that it seems post-modern. The sacred respect on stage,
the unhurried baile, the perfect picture, the neat traditional
wardrobe, the silence in good measure, their personal lexicon
of heelwork, the play on intensities under control and the
wisdom acquired in time, were the fundamental traits of
the show called, and rightly so, ‘Puro flamenco’.
They hadn’t danced in Barcelona for
any fewer than forty years, since a Toni in the prime of
his career brought his company on a tour of the main venues
in the Catalan capital and on the Costa Brava, where he
coincided that last time with Carmen
Amaya, who was nearly family through his grandfather
Pelao Viejo, the mythical bailaora’s guitarist. In
short, four decades have gone by and the bailaor from the
neighborhood of Tetuán, at the age of nearly seventy,
returned and conquered at another basic jondo venue. Just
as he has managed to do over the last few seasons in Jerez,
Seville and Madrid. And he did so by applying his sophisticated
weapons - mentioned above - to bailes such as the pair’s
caña which he tactfully sketches out together with
La Uchi, the farruca which is his family’s trademark,
her alegrías, his romera… And a grand finale
por bulerías, then at the stage entrance and dedicated
to La Polilla, which was a splendid end to the festival.
They were accompanied at all times by a
devoted company. The toque was provided by Luis Miguel Manzano
and Juan Serrano, with guitars from different eras but complementary.
And above all, they received the warmth from the throats
of Charo Manzano and Pepe Jiménez - who was trained
as an artist next to Bambino -, both of whom were superb
not just in the accompaniment, but also in their respective
solos: she por mineras and he por soleá. If there
were warm ovations for them, imagine the ones received at
the end by El Pelao and La Uchi. The Pati de les Dones will
recall for years the echo of that clapping and those olés
which were applauding not just this performance, but rather
an entire lifetime of devotion and safeguarding of a lineage
and a way of respecting flamenco art.
What is true is that the ambience had already
been warmed up in a certain way, without making comparisons.
Just the surname ‘Agujetas’
had drawn a large crowd. But some of those attending confused
that trademark with a sort of savagery unworthy of their
respect. Manuel’s first-born child, who only managed
to concentrate at certain moments, came out accompanied
on toque by her son Dieguito. Tientos, soleares, fandangos
and seguiriyas, performed in a very abrupt way, were part
of an uneven performance she finished off por bulerías
together with her other sons and daughters, who provided
clapping, jaleos and even little touches of vocals and baile.
As if to say that the family goes on.
Hall,
8 p.m. Paula Domínguez •
Jesús Méndez + Papawa
There are artists who question the meaning
of the word ‘young’. And one of
them is cantaor Jesús
Méndez. The Jerez-born artist is
exceptionally mature, under a skin whose age
doesn’t correspond to him. The old-time
flavor of his echo and the solidity with which
he shapes romances, soleares and seguiriyas
is entirely amazing. Just as he recorded on
his album ‘Jerez sin Fronteras’,
he synthesized in his recital - accompanied
on toque by fellow countryman Miguel Salado
- manners which he inherits from his people
and his land, but which he personalizes by
leaps and bounds. And the thing is that experience
is a step, since he has done a lot of work
at the back accompanying (and still has some
to do) before being able to have recitals
with his own name like this one. And that
is just what Málaga-born Paula Domínguez
needed, who let her potential be seen in the
first show of the day which was long and intense
for the Hall of the Contemporary Culture Center.
It was there that the festival finished off
its close, to the rhythm of Papawa’s
pure rumba catalana.
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