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GERARDO NÚÑEZ
AND CARMEN CORTÉS'S COURSE. SPECIAL FEATURE
Babylonian bulerías
José Manuel Gamboa. Sanlúcar
de Barrameda, August 2004
A choreographed show of appreciation
It all happened on the torrid night of 23rd July, in front
of La Cigarrera bodegas in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. As
if laying down the gauntlet, Lance Quinn - their most diehard
pupil and one-time producer of Bon Jovi, now converted into
a passionate bulerías player - gives the order to begin
a perfectly choreographed rendition of Queen's ‘We will
rock you’ to entertain the teachers. The chorus of “we
will, we will rock you” gets an impromptu make-over,
and becomes
"Cur-so de San-lúcar
Cur-so de Ge-rardo"
They thank their teachers Gerardo
Núñez, Carmen
Cortés, and the other guest instructors: Cepillo,
Rafael de Utrera, Pablo Martín, Tino Vandersman, Caren
Lozano, Salado de Jerez and J. Taube.
Gerardo Núñez' guitar
lessons
This evening marks the end of a sweltering, intense, happy
and fulfilling flamenco course in Sanlúcar. Each summer,
the coming of July marks the Festival de San Fermín
in the north of Spain, and an entirely different kind of international
event in Sanlúcar . And that's the way it is: you can
always see the odd straggler along the Cadiz coast dressed
in white with a red neckscarf, who seems to have lost his
way from the running of the bulls. Gerardo Núñez
and Carmen Cortés/Carmen Cortés and Gerardo
Núñez, two extraordinary artists and two extraordinary
people, offer their courses each summer in Sanlúcar,
courses a world apart from the cold, clinical instruction
that can be found elsewhere on less productive offerings.
Discipline has its place in the studio, but a dry, serious
course isn't a recipe for success. Everybody needs to have
a little fun; and you really start to learn flamenco - it's
always been the same - when the party starts to go with a
swing.
Work and play. Catharsis through bulerías
In Sanlúcar Gerardo and Carmen's students are immersed
in a flamenco community, and every night they give a joint
performance; almost a kind of group therapy to the cleansing
sound of a bulería. And there's no escape: Carmen Cortés
and her followers take it on themselves to track down the
students one-by-one, so nobody gets away and everyone does
their bit on stage, cheered on by their classmates, teachers
and guests. And in the end, after overcoming the odd bout
of shyness, all are brimming with emotion as they realize
what they learned really does cut the ice under the spotlight.
It works. Gerardo and Carmen supply not just their own talents,
but also a crew from Jerez skilled in providing the compás
to accompany the disciples' performances. On this occasion
the crew includes El Pescaílla, Juanillorro and El
Quini. And heading up the group is Jesús Méndez
who, while the course was running, brought the Premio de Bulerías
award he just received at a prestigious Jerez event down to
Sanlúcar with him. And let's not forget the disciples,
some as well-known as Miguel Iven, who also do their thing
accompanying both cante and baile.
Carmen Cortés ' dance lessons
Gerardo's taken this upbeat formula around the world, in the
company of his trio. Not long ago they were in Havana - along
with Javier Barón, Juan José Amador and Miguel
Ochando on the teaching staff - thanks to negotiations between
the Andalusian Regional Government and the Ballet Nacional
de Cuba. Havana’s budding local flamenco following,
whose ranks swell year after year, stepped up on the tablas
to show off what they learned in class... under the watchful
eyes of Carmen Amaya, Pilar López, Antonio... Just
like in Spain... not! Here most people don't know who these
three geniuses are, and couldn't care less about their talents.
But anyway, let's get back to the positive thing.
Continues
>>
magazine@flamenco-world.com
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