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2005 JEREZ FESTIVAL
María del Mar
Moreno and Antonio Malena update
the essence of Jerez flamenco in ‘Jerez Puro’
Moraíto
Chico, Luis el Zambo and Juana la del Pipa figure on the list
of guest stars
Silvia Calado. Jerez, January 2005
María
del Mar Moreno and Antonio
Malena have sealed a creative alliance whose first fruit
is ‘Jerez Puro’ (‘Pure Jerez’). The
show, in which the Jerez-born bailaora and cantaor figure
as artistic directors and producers, is a current regard towards
deep-roots flamenco. The innovation lies in the form, with
a stage design based on photographs and audiovisuals. The
contents are simply Jerez-style cante, baile and toque performed
“with the personal trademark of each guest artist”.
And the list is top-notch. Moraíto Chico, Luis el Zambo,
Juana la del Pipa and Fernando de la Morena, among others,
figure on this bill which shies away from the festival formula
with a purified script traveling the road between the bulería
and the seguiriya. Once it has premiered on February 26th
at the 2005 Jerez Festival, the show is to go on an international
tour.
María del Mar Moreno and
Antonio Malena
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz)
Following the inauguration starring the Spanish National
Ballet with the show ‘El Loco’, the 2005 Jerez
Festival entrusts María del Mar Moreno and Antonio
Malena with the first premiere on the program. ‘Jerez
Puro’ is, in the words of its creators, “a cante,
baile and toque show without embellishment where the evolution
is in the form”. But the bailaora and the cantaor, the
project's artistic directors and stars, seek “not to
block the crowd's excitement with hindrances”. And thus,
still and moving images shaping up the stage design “boost
what the audience is going to feel”.
The show sports the gift of flexibility. The list of guest
artists will change every time it is put on, so ‘Jerez
Puro’ will always be a unique experience. For its premiere
at the Villamarta Theater, the troupe is going to be first-rate.
On cante, besides Antonio Malena, there will be Manuel de
Malena, Juana la del Pipa, Luis el Zambo, Fernando de la Morena,
Luis de Pacote and Luis Moneo. The guitar will be taken care
of by Moraíto
Chico, Manuel Parrilla, Santiago Moreno and Malena Jr.
And the baile, championed by María del Mar Moreno,
will ‘co-star’ Andrés Peña, Diego
de la Margara, Rafael Junquera and Cachorro. Luis de la Tota
completes the bill on clapping.
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María del Mar Moreno
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
The show's script, which shies away from the festival formula,
proposes a journey running from the bulería to the
seguiriya, a crescendo leading to that “dramatic and
introverted” side which, according to Moreno and Malena,
is also contained in the Jerez nature. Besides the opening
and closing styles, a varied repertoire is scheduled which
in passing pays tribute to great cante maestros: “Antonio
Chacón malagueñas, Manuel Torre-style taranto,
La Paquera de Jerez zambra-style tiento, soleá through
bulerías, martinete...”. And of course, the grand
finale through bulerías.
For some years now the Jerez Festival has been the showcase
for María del Mar Moreno's premieres, always accompanied
on cante by Antonio Malena. If in 2004 she focused her attention
on the tribute to Angelita Gómez entitled ‘Ayer
y siempre’, in 2003 she premiered her show ‘Septiembre’
and in 2001 the now so veteran ‘Momentitos de locura’.
The premiere at the 2005 Jerez Festival is the kick-off of
the international tour of ‘Jerez Puro’, which
is scheduled to make stops in Holland and France, among other
countries.
magazine@flamenco-world.com
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