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2003 FLAMENCO PA'TOS FESTIVAL
Going For Number Five
Silvia Calado Olivo. Madrid, June 25th, 2003
Son de la Frontera. Carmen Linares with Paco Cortés and Miguel
Ochando on guitar. Farruquito with Farruco on clapping and dancing, Jorge
el Canastero and La Tana on cante, El Perla and Ramón Vicenti on guitar.
College of Doctors. Madrid, June 25th, 2003. 9 p.m.
Son de la Frontera
And it reached its climax with Farruquito.
The 2003 Flamenco Pa'tos Festival bade farewell until next year with a third day
of such special intensity as the previous ones. Juan Luis Cano and Guillermo Fesser,
creators of the Gomaespuma Foundation, summed up - of course, without holding
back their humor - that "they've been fantastic days. I was only scared for
a split second because I thought Menese was going to catch me with his tongue".
And they thanked the program manager, artists, crowd and humankind in general
for having made it possible "not only for us to have enjoyed wonderful shows,
but also for having made a contribution to the foundation's projects". Guillermo
even stepped up and sang the rumba 'Quiero saber' ('I Want to Know')... "because
I'm personally interested in knowing if angels are made of flesh and blood or
if they're made of imitation leather". Of course, when they said that "we
hope that this extract of flamenco helps make all of you like it more", we
imagine this performance was not included...
Joking aside, the curtain opened with a surprise. Son de la Frontera, Morón's
group springing up from Martirio's usual band, made its début. The curious
band - flamenco guitar (Paco de Amparo), Cuban tres (Raúl Rodríguez),
dancing (Pepe Torres), clapping (Manuel Flores) and cante (Luis de Morón)
- offered an exuberant rhythm and a delicate ambience, with Pepe Torres' baile
as a bonus track. In a general tone, a mix between old flamenco and the freely
oriental, the latter put forth by Raúl Rodríguez, able to multiply
the instrument and twist its personality. As a guarantee, the experience of so
many musical sessions together, which assures communication. Bulerías,
seguiriyas, zambra, romance... And as a creed, the toque of Morón, Diego
del Gastor.
Carmen Linares with Paco Cortés and Miguel
Ochando
And from the shoot to the firm branch. Carmen
Linares took a seat elegantly and with authority. She said good evening and
thanked the audience. And she intoned "with some cantecitos through cantiñas".
Her voice of velvety clairvoyance, of maternal warmth, the lesson of knowing a
cante and another and another from further beyond; the romera appearing. The general
clamor appeased, she goes down to the lands of Málaga with the two guitarists:
Paco
Cortés and Miguel Ochando. A beautiful ayeo, performed moderately in
anticipation. And the sonantas keeping just the right degree of calm for the Jaén-born
cantaora to draw serenity with her voice before reaching the rondeña. Protected
from the air conditioning by a handkerchief lent to her by someone in the crowd,
she performed the soleá, completely encyclopedic, and ended up being alone
with Ochando for the minera, the peak of her recital, for its beauty, for the
hard work. Cortés calls on the seguiriya with coarse realism, corresponding
to the cantaora in maturity. She began with 'En Lima murió', included on
her latest album 'Un ramito de locura', and finished with a cabal that she nailed
under the crowd's skin. Heads... and tails. With a festive string of bulerías,
and once again with the two guitarists and the two on clapping (let the absence
be put on the record here of one of his usual accompanists, Federico Baeza, recently
deceased), she set off to close, "there are still many good things to come".
And if anyone said that she isn't husky enough for this sort cante... they stood
corrected. We already described the future in the first report.
Although the festival has finished, the work of the Gomaespuma Foundation goes
on. Waiting for the Indian government to build new facilities following the demolition
of the shanty town where the already created school for girls was located, the
foundation is currently financing a project with the Collective of Women in Matagalpa,
Nicaragua, a country in which it has also initiated a project supporting children
who gather every day at the Iván Montenegro Market in Managua. They receive
the financing through cultural activities such as Flamenco Pa'tos and the Asian
Cinema Festival; and through the private contributions of firms and individuals.
The bank account below is in charge of collecting them.
Juan Luis Cano and Guillermo Fesser, Gomaespuma
Further information: www.gomaespuma.com
Donations to the Gomaespuma Foundation
Account number: BANKINTER 0128 4446 12 0100000664
magazine@flamenco-world.com
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