2007 FLAMENCO PA’TOS FESTIVAL
CAÑIZARES, ARCÁNGEL, DORANTES, EVA YERBABUENA
The fantastic four
Silvia Calado. Madrid, July 16th, 2007
See photo gallery, by
Daniel Muñoz
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Cañizares
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)
Arcángel (Photo
Daniel Muñoz)
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You vote. Who are the top representatives
of today’s flamenco? Choose just one per category.
Perhaps if this survey were conducted, many would coincide
in pointing out Cañizares
on guitar, Arcángel on cante, Dorantes on instrumental
and Eva Yerbabuena on baile. Wish granted. None other
than those four aces of today’s flamenco gathered
on the inaugural bill of the Flamenco pa’Tos Festival’s
eighth edition. Really, live, in person. Of course, exceptions
of this sort are only possible at special forums. And
this one is just that, besides due to the charming venue,
because it turns flamenco into a reason to carry out a
charity project, in this case, the one developed by the
Gomaespuma
Foundation for needy children in Sri Lanka and Nicaragua.
And both the project and the festival shore up year after
year, for many reasons. Arcángel contributed his:
“A few years ago I didn’t experience this
initiative the same way; now as a father, my perspective
has changed. And you know that children deserve all our
help in this so crazy, so rotten world. I wish everyone
would follow the example”.
But there are many examples to follow
on this exceptional night of art with a capital “A”.
As proof, an unusual detail: all the artists waited to
admire one another until the final applause (which came,
by the way, after one o’clock in the morning). There
was even collaboration between them; specifically, between
Dorantes
and Arcángel
por malagueñas on piano and vocals. But the truth
is that the four stars of the night and their accompanying
musicians are in themselves examples of how to uphold,
respect, feed and enhance an artistic genre. Cañizares
opened with the live version of ‘El Albaicín’,
one of the pieces from ‘Iberia’
by Albéniz which he has reworked on his latest
album. And he amazed the crowd, who gave the guitarist
a resounding standing ovation halfway through the first
song. Unbelievable. But the thing is that Cañizares
has an out-of-this-world relationship with his instrument,
with flamenco and with music, futuristic and old-time
at the same time, skilled and minimal at the same time,
fun and overwhelming at the same time, cutting and soothing
at the same time. And the spectator surrenders at his
feet... inevitably, with Albéniz or any of the
songs from his repertoire which he reinvented last night,
at times solo (impressive), at times backed with a bass,
second guitar and percussion.
Eva Yerbabuena
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)
Dorantes (Photo Daniel
Muñoz)
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But the night was about strong emotions.
Arcángel came out alone with his voice por martinete.
Attacking with punch, clenching his fists. The phases
long, full of experience, lethal. Now accompanied by Miguel
Ángel Cortés on guitar, he reeled off
the soleá patiently, polishing it to the point
of leaving it nearly transparent. And daring to break
up and reinvent the cantes a bit. He sounded delightful
por tangos and por alegrías, but continually plucking
up courage, playing, seeking and feeding, in passing,
the spiral of energy which is created at this auditorium
between the audience and the artist. Of course, he finished
por Huelva, melting what was left to melt with truths
of existence like the one that says “I’m not
very talkative, but I speak the truth, I’m the way
I want to be”. Following the necessary break, Dorantes
waited atop his piano. The Lebrija-born musician gave
away a beautiful remix of his own repertoire, weaving
the epic landscapes of his music, its textures, its tonalities,
its nuances. Without obviousness; just with soul and taste.
He left the ambience warm, just at the right point for
the night’s climax: Eva
Yerbabuena. The Granada-born bailaora started off
in silence. Her body still, her countenance in the beyond.
In comes the seguiriya. And she begins to lay down the
law with every turn, every tap of the heel, every curve,
every gesture, every note, every drop of sweat. And the
people cry out with excitement, pleasure, admiration.
There weren’t any musical interludes or anything.
The company was there, complete, in formation, just for
her baile. The four cantaores, the two guitars, the percussion.
And it didn’t even take her two minutes to change
from her black dress into the red one, from the seguiriya
to the soleá por bulerías. First, the plastic
trance. Beauty in posing, curving, knowing how to sketch.
And then the release, the flash, the sharpshooting...
por bulerías, Lebrija style. Supreme emotion. More
might not fit into a single night.
Photo
gallery. Festival Flamenco pa'tos 2007
Click the images to enlarge |
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| Eva Yerbabuena
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz)
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Miguel
Ángel Cortés
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
Eva Yerbabuena
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
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| José
Carlos Gómez and Cañizares
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz)
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Dorantes
and Arcángel
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
Eva Yerbabuena
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
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