2003 FESTIVAL DE JEREZ
María del Mar Moreno: Septiembre (Villamarta Theater)

The critics, put to the test

Silvia Calado Olivo. Jerez, February 28th, 2003
Photos: Daniel Muñoz
Translation: Joseph Kopec

The critics faced the problem again. Were they to judge the show as theater or as flamenco? It was clear that the intention, as pointed out by critic Julio Bravo (ABC) in his statement on this dilemma in 'The round table at the winery' hours earlier, was communicative. There was dramatic art, even dramatis personae. If they judged 'Septiembre', the first show with a storyline by bailaora María del Mar Moreno, as theater they had to say that the play, supposedly conceived as a Greek tragedy, faltered. Aspects such as the structure, rhythm, narration, staging and symbols failed, perhaps guilty of immaturity.

María del Mar Moreno and Antonio Malena

If they judged 'Septiembre', one of this festival's six premieres, as flamenco... the analysis had to be necessarily different. Paraphrasing the also critic Joaquim Noguero (La Vanguardia), depending on the aptitudes of each person, the judgment could be "grammatical or lexicological "... or a mixture. María del Mar Moreno, acting talent aside, danced and did so with quality. Grasping tradition, she compensated body and percussion, silence and musicality. Skill and touch, rage and feeling. Juan Ogalla and María Bermúdez, in their respective numbers, also left a good aftertaste, the former more so than the latter. Antonio Malena sang effectively, surprising to dare perform the petenera, defying the bad karma which has this style condemned to an absurd ostracism. Nor was the chorus of Luises (Luis de Pacote, Luis Moneo, Luis de la Tota) a letdown: neither por bulerías nor driving the beat of the soleá. The detail is that they said unpublished lyrics written expressly for the occasion. "With you in solitude, autumn leaves fell ". A note: María del Mar Moreno sang. She sang a lullaby, she who confesses to be a frustrated cantaora, and she was up to scratch. The music (José Zarzana on the piano, Domingo Rubichi and Santiago Moreno on the guitar, Enrique Orellana on the violin) back there behind the veil, was contained and fitting both in being limited to basic flamenco, and when it showed the intention of providing appoggiatura to a story which turned out to be introspective, dark, even gloomy, as if on the edge of death. The critics were still missing one point of view: the audience's reaction. It burst into applause; that's what happened. In and out of beat, while the dry leaves kept falling. But the critics, who are complex beings, wanted more answers: Who or what was being applauded?

The question needed chewing over while continuing the path marked in the program. The day - by the way, Andalusia Day - had been long. The horses of the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art (sadly domesticated), the round table, the Cadiz-born cantaor Juan Villar in the afternoon at the Bullfighting Museum, the theater... And now the circle. Eleven of them are taking part in the festival. And this time it was at La Bulería. Since as the directors of the local federation at the San Ginés Winery had pointed out, they opened their doors "as an area to relax at the end of the day, as a place to experience relaxed flamenco with open participation ", there was no reason to say no. Whether or not they managed to make their way through the crowd that packed the place is another story...

'The round table at the winery'

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