SPECIAL FEATURE. ISRAEL GALVÁN VS. LOS 3.000.
FLAMENCO FIGHT TO THE DEATH
You don’t dance while
boxing
Silvia Calado. Madrid, January 2010
Translation: Joseph Kopec
Photo gallery. Israel Galván
vs Los 3.000, by Daniel Muñoz
From the coffin to the ring. Israel
Galván leaves the Apocalypse and goes
into the circus. That’s how unpredictable everything
is: “The truth is that things come my way, life takes
you along and you have to go with the flow”. And with
that statement which the Sevillian bailaor makes to us while
seated on the bleachers of the Price, soaked in sweat, with
black and white dancing boots, shorts and wearing the hood
of his sweatshirt, our suspicion is confirmed: this artist
knows no bounds. We’ve just seen him with our own
eyes… fighting in the ring.
The bailaor was face-to-face with a boxer
who, to top it all, is a cantaor. And he might fight as
easily with his punches as with his quejíos…
And they’re as real as the ones his opponent gives
when he’s hit. Christian Guerrero, who is a member
of Spain’s Olympic team and a professional accompanying
cantaor, explains that “in a real fight, a blow to
the liver doubles you up. I hit him here with the same force,
but instead of punching him in the forehead with my fist,
I hit him with the back of my hand so you can hear it”.
And between fists and punches, a bulería… or
a fandango. Out in the ring is José Luis Ortiz Nuevo,
the flamencomic, who will act as referee in the
three rounds. He goes along reciting words, while the coaches
get everything ready, and amidst them you can hear this
loud and clear: “Rascals! You don’t sing while
boxing”.
… and much less so on your cell phone.
Right in the middle of the fight, Israel Galván is
going to get a call. On the other end will be David
Lagos, “who’s going to sing to me, like
a fight, an adaptation he’s done por alegrías
of a poem by Ali”. Yes, he means boxer Muhammad Ali.
But neither that nor what came before it is the most forceful
part of this matter, but rather what comes afterwards; that’s
to say, the fight versus Los 3.000. They’ve just arrived
from their neighborhood in Seville, the one that always
appears in the news for something ugly. But they’re
really ugly. And they’re even more flamenco. “It’s
going to be like Mexican wrestling and the fight is going
to be the debate between pure flamencos and me, totally
impure”, elaborates Israel Galván, whose only
weapon to face the villains with is his baile. And as he
says so, he watches them swarming around the ring in their
boxing robes and shorts. Bobote, Eléctrico, Caracafé,
El Turco and El Dientes are the rivals of the masked ‘Zapatitos’.
Contrary to what the posters apparently
let on, they’re really formal. “We’ve
been rehearsing there in their neighborhood at the El Esqueleto
Cultural Center. And they’re the most formal ones.
Here people think that they’re streetwise, but the
truth is that you can’t imagine how professional they
are”, Israel Galván affirms. Of course, being
formal isn’t the same as being predictable…
you must be. “Well, if they contribute ideas, I leave
them alone, I let them do it. And they’re so unique
that in the performance they’re sure to do something
else”, the bailaor supposes. It has already been warned
of by Bobote, whom he has already had in shows like ‘Arena’
and ‘El final de este estado de cosas’, when
he grabbed the microphone at the press conference: “The
ending is unknown; we’re spontaneous people and if
the kick doesn’t come out with our legs, then we’ll
do it with our bellies”.
Israel looks at them from his seat and
smiles. He knows that upon entering the circus all the pieces
of this strange puzzle have fallen into place. “They’re
really excited but the way they come out on stage physically,
practically stark naked, they were a little reluctant. But
when they got here and they saw the ring, I see that they
slipped into the role completely and they understand perfectly
well what they’re getting themselves into. They’ve
seen that it’s in a comic tone and also that everything’s
really serious”. Really serious indeed, since this
wrestling challenge has only been presented by the Price
Circus to a select group of Spanish creators, among them,
the also dancers Ígor Yebra and Sol Picó,
musicians Carles Santos and Ara
Malikian, and acrobats Francesca Lissa and Celso Pereira.
“All of us artists have had little
time to rehearse and also to reflect on it”, Israel
affirms. In his case, after receiving the proposition, he
called up his creative half, Pedro G. Romero, he recalled
the ‘Rocky’ films, “and we made this up”.
The part about Los 3.000 came from an old photo of Vicente
Escudero versus his troupe of gypsies from Sacromonte, published
in a newspaper in Madrid on the eve of their performance
at the old Price, the one at Plaza del Rey. The part about
the boxer… was by chance. I mean, he’s his sister’s
boyfriend and even the upstairs neighbor. “The truth
is that everything comes my way. I come from the end of
the world, from the graves… and I bump into a circus.
Life takes you along, so you have to go with the flow”,
Israel Galván admits. Now the bell rings. First round!
It’s impossible to know what the next one will be.
* La Lucha Libre vuelve al Price will
be on the bill from January 23rd to 31st, 2010
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