|
2006 JEREZ FLAMENCO FESTIVAL. ISABEL BAYÓN / LUIS EL
ZAMBO
Theater. Flamenco
Silvia Calado. Jerez, March 1st, 2006
Photos: Daniel Muñoz
‘La mujer y el pelele’. Conchita: Isabel
Bayón (baile and choreography). Don Mateo:
Juan Montilla. Morenito: Tomasito (guest artist, cante and
baile). Ciego (Blind Man): Juan José Amador (cante).
Guitar: Paco Arriaga, Jesús Torres. Cante: Miguel Ortega.
Percussion: Juan Ruiz. Director: Pepa Gamboa. Dramatic art
and romances: Antonio Álamo. 10th Jerez Festival 2006.
Teatro Villamarta. Jerez (Cádiz, Spain), March 1st,
2006. 9 p.m.
| |
Isabel Bayón (Photo:
Daniel Muñoz) |
| |
|
It's been nearly two years since at Seville's 2004 Bienal,
Isabel
Bayón dared to play a femme fatale, becoming Conchita,
the star of ‘La mujer y el pelele’. And the 2006
Jerez Festival has recovered her successfully. The Sevillian
bailaora showed the character fits her like a glove, a character
created by French writer Pierre Louÿs over a century
ago and reconverted into a flamenco-style comedy of manners
by director Pepa Gamboa. She not only had the perfect bailaora,
who always goes hand in hand with the adjective ‘sensual’,
but also a versatile crew of artists with figures as complete
as Juan
José Amador and Tomasito,
capable of acting, dancing, singing, playing the guitar. And
all of it with a sense of humor, an ingredient not always
present on stages when you're dealing with flamenco. There
is a lot of criticism that flamenco's theatricalization never
ends up panning out, but in this case, theater is theater
and flamenco is flamenco, and it all fits together naturally
when the star is a bailaora inside and outside the show.
Actor Juan Montilla guides the spectator with his monologues
through his impossible story with the wicked Conchita, a handicap
which materialized in the audience's response, not as hearty
as on previous days, since there was clearly a language barrier
as the majority were foreigners. But there was much more non-verbal
communication than verbal in the show. It wasn't hard to catch
the comic side of age-old gags, nor much less the flavor of
the baile, cante, toque and Tomasito. Isabel Bayón
solved every register: from sevillanas to seguiriyas, from
the bambera to tanguillos, from the caña to tangos.
The Sevillian bailaora was deep, serene, curve, sweet and
even a caricature, cajoling each movement of her shoulders,
hands, arms, hips, feet, regard. Juan José Amador offered
sublime moments of cante, especially through seguiriyas, though
not even his blind man's songs were banal, of a minstrel who
narrates passages of the tale by fits and starts. Tomasito
enlightened the stage when the action moved to a tablao in
Cádiz. Playing Morenito, he sang and danced through
tanguillos and bulerías, while he played the role of
the rascally lover.
Isabel Bayón and Tomasito
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz)
And the group, whose entrances, exits and relocations were
measured to a tee so as not to hinder the narration, stood
out in quality and knowing the way to be, especially as far
as cante and toque are concerned. By the way, the attention
to detail of this show even reaches the lyrics sung, not only
in the romances, but in the selection of the right songs for
each situation. “A quién le voy a cantar yo mi
pena”. (“Who am I going to sing my grief to?”.)
Those lyrics ring through seguiriyas, emphasizing Mateo's
suffering. And as a finishing touch it so happens that Chano
Lobato joins the show in the final minutes. He sings in the
audiovisual which is shown in excerpts throughout the drama.
He sings to Isabel Bayón when she was a little girl,
when her innocence did not yet imagine Conchita's subtle maneuvers
to conquer the wallet of the blanket-tossed puppet.
| Luis el Zambo, cante at the palace
Luis el Zambo
and Alberto Iglesias (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)
|
|
| |
|
Cante returns to Palacio de Villavicencio.
In its natural form, unplugged. Inaugurating the
series was a totem of the land, Luis
el Zambo. Despite the inconsistency and the
non-existent dialogue with Alberto San Miguel
on guitar, the Jerez-born cantaor knew how to
please the audience crowding the venue. And he
did so by measuring out a selection of local cantes
which sank their roots, at the least, in Antonio
Chacón. He warmed up his throat with some
tientos-tangos, next seeking himself along the
paths of feeling in the malagueña. “Soleá
through bulería or bulería through
soleá, which is the same”. And an
important nuance: “This is a really early
time to sing”. Cante with presence, duplicated
by the cantaor's shadow. He fought the clock and
the guitar in the seguiriya, which was applauded
stretch by stretch, just like the fandangos dedicated
to Niño Gloria. Since it couldn't be any
other way, he bade farewell through bulerías,
leaving his broad echo frolicking around the walls
of the former Alcázar.
|
|
| A break at the Villamarta
Teatro Villamarta takes a break
on Thursday, March 2nd. Time needed to fine-tune
Sara Baras' show, ‘Sabores’. But the
festival goes on. Flamenco continues throughout
the day on the related stages: bailaor Daniel
Navarro performs in the afternoon at the Teatro
de Guadalcacín with ‘Mira, asómate’,
bailaora Hiniesta Cortés dances at night
at Sala La Compañía with the show
‘Errante’ and then late night, copla
singer María José Santiago will
tackle a flamenco performance at Bodega de Los
Apóstoles. Joining this program are the
nearly twenty courses held each day at different
studios spread throughout Jerez, instructed by
maestros such as Matilde Coral, Javier Latorre,
Antonio el Pipa, Manolo Marín and María
del Mar Moreno, among many others. And nor should
one forget the encounter every day at noon at
Bodega de San Miguel, where gatherings with artists,
round-tables and presentations are held such as
that of the book ‘Una
historia del flamenco’ by José Manuel
Gamboa, which took place last Wednesday.
|
|
magazine@flamenco-world.com
|
