FLAMENCO IN THE SABATINI
GARDENS 2008
Manifesto
Silvia Calado. Madrid, 8th August
2008
Diego Carrasco:
cantaor, guitarist, director. Fernando Carrasco, Curro
Carrasco: guitarists. Jorge Vidal: electric guitar. Ignacio
Cintado: bass. Ané Carrasco, Luis Carrasco: percussion.
Juan Grande: drums. Carmen Amaya, Samara Amaya: backing
vocals. Veranos de la Villa season 2008. Jardines de Sabatini.
Madrid, 8th August 2008. 10pm
In the world of flamenco there's been
a worrying rumor going around lately. That Diego
Carrasco might be thinking about retirement. And alarm
bells have to start ringing – even though we now
know for sure it's not true. Just in case. Yet in spite
of the fact that unjustly only half the tickets were sold
that night in the Sabatini Gardens, those of us there
could see with our own eyes that the artist from Jerez
is offering the best live shows in recent years. Over
this period he's worked to form a group made up exclusively
of home-grown Jerez newcomers. And with the difficult
‘training’ period now over, this backing group
already has the substance, the responsibility and the
fresh approach the singer-songwriter needs to shine on
stage as the artist he is - one of the key figures of
contemporary flamenco.
Diego Carrasco and drummer
Juan Grande (Photo Daniel Muņoz) |
|
The concert offered with the Royal Palace
and the moon in the background was without a doubt evidence
of this. Diego Carrasco gave a meaty tour of his entire
recording career (for those who didn't already know, it's
made up of six albums recorded since the eighties including
the essential ‘Voz
de referencia’). He opened with a new inventive
piece entitled ‘Duende’, and slipping in several
crazy offerings such as the story of the mountaineers
of the illustrious Javier Krahe... por bulerías,
of course. As always, it was beautiful to behold his kaleidoscopic
approach to palos such as bulerías or alegrías.
And it was beautiful, too, though less common, to witness
the way he linked tracks together, using not only similar
types of rhythm, but also the feel of the compositions
and even the subject matter of the lyrics.
For example there was a bullfighting section that ingeniously
hooked together ‘Alfileres de colores’, ‘Cinco
toreros’, the lyric by José Tomás
and the riddle from ‘Arena’ by Israel Galván.
And what started out as ‘José Monje Cruz’
ended up being ‘Inquilino del mundo’, morphing
on the way into ‘Química’ and encouraged
by the cries from the audience that Camarón lives!”
Pure magic. There were also tributes to Miguel el del
Candela (to whom he dedicated the requiem of the ‘Green
butterfly’) and the crying tinsmith and his daughter
Manuela and Dieguito's mother and Fernanda
la de Utrera and the son of Sernita
de Jerez. And as a hymn, the ‘Nana de colores’...
with Remedios Amaya's sister and daughter sharing out
vocal duties. Añil, canela y fuego. Indigo, cinnamon
and fire.
The chosen repertoire gave an hour and
forty five minutes of powerful and fine-sounding concert,
in which the composer, producer, cantaor and guitarist
found time for everything. For restraint. For interaction.
For joking. For pain. For thrilling. For bullfighting.
For his little turn. For making the audience sway. And
for reminding this silly world that the great artists,
the ones that are unique and able to change the course
of the things don't appear on the news, nor in the press,
nor in words of intellectual flamenco experts. And if
we have to draw up a manifiesto to sign among those that
half-filled the venue that night and thousands of others
that didn't make it, then so be it.
Diego Carrasco and his band.
Photo Daniel Muñoz
