SPECIAL FEATURE: 'Alma vieja' by Farruquito

Old-time flamenco... for today

Silvia Calado Olivo. Madrid, November 18th, 2003
Fotos: Daniel Muñoz

Farruquito has zeroed in on the three major cities in Spain to display 'Alma Vieja' ('Old Soul'). Seville, Madrid and Barcelona have vibrated, are vibrating and will vibrate with the show which confirms the Sevillian bailaor as a key figure of today's flamenco. The show, premiered last July at the French festival of Mont de Marsan, was thus named by his aunt, Pilar la Faraona. And Farruquito explains it: "She sees that us being so young, we like old-time flamenco so much, the old-time maestros... We like to have an older soul than we should". And the thing is that Farruquito is beyond his time and his age.

Farruquito

In this show the family exhibits the particular trademark impressed upon it by maestro Farruco. His grandson comments that the difference lies in "the truth with which we've always danced and felt flamenco. At my house flamenco is felt the way hunger and thirst are felt". And that even shows through in their habits. An example: "When we leave the theater we don't go back to the hotel and watch a DVD, rather we gather at any humble bar and sing into the wee hours. We live flamenco and that's different from being a flamenco professional or having it as a sport. To us, it's like walking, like breathing".

The company's way of going about things on stage corroborates it. A company with an average age below twenty. Farruquito, the oldest of all, at twenty-one, is accompanied by his brother Farruco, sixteen, his cousin El Barullo, fourteen, El Polito, even younger... and should the occasion arise, in the grand finale, his brother El Carpeta, who hardly stands a few inches off the floor, might appear. Next to them, there are two bailaoras who are also young, Adela Campallo and La Hachara. The average age is only increased by the guests: Manuel Molina, as a minstrel who narrates the story, and Pilar la Faraona. She is in charge of taking back up through tangos the taranto which gets on Farruco's nerves. "My role in the show is hard because since I was little, well... since I was younger, I've done traditional dances like the soleá and the alegría. I'm dancing a taranto for the first time and it's driving me crazy. If I didn't feel like doing it, I'd be even more nervous".

Farruquito also challenges himself with a dance he'd never performed before: the farruca. "It's a very serious dance. It's draining me of more energy than all the other dances I do" in 'Alma vieja'. Fandangos, which the company presents itself with, are also danced in this show; the 'Bulerías de la gorda', performed by Pilar la Faraona; 'Soleá en 3 décadas', done by Farruquito, Farruco and Barullo; alegrías in which the star converses with Adela Campallo and La Hachara, "who dance in dresses with a train in memory of those female artists who I miss so much"; and the seguiriya 'Mi sombra', "a dream I had". The music is provided live by the cantaores Jorge el Canastero, who assures that when Farruquito looks at him he feels "fear and a lot of respect"; María Vizárraga, José Valencia and Encarna Anillo; guitarists Román Vicenti, Raúl López el Perla and Andrés Martínez. The lyrics are signed by Farruquito, also the author of the choreography and the concept, with the exception of the verses sung by Manuel Molina.

'Alma vieja' is on tour around Spain. In Seville, the Maestranza Theater shook with the Farruco family on November 8th and 9th, 2003. But this success hasn't made them lower their guard. "We're even more full of fear, we're just as nervous... but I think it's necessary". With them as members of the company, they appear at the Albéniz Theater in Madrid from November 19th to 23rd, closing Madrid's Fall Festival on said stage; and at the Victoria Theater in Barcelona, booked for 'Alma vieja' from December 17th, 2003 to January 6th, 2004. Farruquito considers each of these performances as premieres, despite the fact that the show was already premiered at the French festival of Mont de Marsan last July. There, outside of Spain, he says he feels equally understood by the audience, since "they appreciate and desire flamenco, in their own way". Farruquito would like this taste to lead to true attachment... to the genre in general: "It would be good if we took a liking to flamenco and not to the artist or the media".

Farruquito with the Madrid Autumn Festival director
and his brother Farruco (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)