2006 JEREZ FLAMENCO FESTIVAL. CARMEN CORTÉS

Images

Silvia Calado. Jerez, March 4th, 2006
Photos: Daniel Muñoz

‘La puerta del silencio’. Carmen Cortés: baile, direction, choreography. Kelian Jiménez, Isaac de los Reyes. Jesús del Rosario: music, guitar. Iván Losada: guitar. Guadiana, Jesús Méndez, Juañares: cante. Raúl Márquez: violin. Rafael García: percussion. 10th Jerez Festival 2006. Teatro Villamarta. Jerez (Cádiz, Spain), March 4th, 2006. 9 p.m.

Carmen Cortés (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Jerónimo kicked off the ninth day. He premiered the ‘Bordón y cuenta nueva’ Series at Sala La Compañía with his forceful guitar. A while later, the theater in the Guadalcacín district was filled with the clacking of Belén Cabanes' ivory castanets. An evening of rain and wind. Teatro Villamarta offered refuge shortly after nightfall. Coming to the festival's main venue was Carmen Cortés to premiere ‘La puerta del silencio’ (‘The Door of Silence’), a show with no plot in which she wanted to leave those attending with “images of flamenco with which it's always important to look back to the past”. Such intention materialized above all in the final soleá of she who was the maestra of Sara Baras, whose triumph on the previous day was still lingering and being commented on at the theater. Carmen Cortés threw together all those outstanding pictures into a decreasing continuum, lesser and lesser, from whisper to silence and, little by little, into a climb towards the fierce flurry of the bulería.

This entire journey was guided on the musical rails of Jesús de Rosario, so used to backing baile, and by the character-laden voices of Guadiana and Jesús Méndez, who enjoyed the audience's full devotion. One, for being an undisputed maestro with a special echo and creative will. The other, for being the budding figure of Jerez cante, with fire-branded ancestors and a firm future. The bailaora didn't complicate things for herself with the floor; she opted for posture, curve, gestures, searching. And finally, the blooming... despite the hindrances of her tight-fitting dress. She ended up speaking to the crowd, with a high percentage of pupils, to thank them, reminding them of her ties with Jerez through her husband and “doing a bit of Jerez bulerías with all due respect”. The grand finale provided the finishing touch on a show which covers the basic styles, convincing in the star and the musical aspect (special mention goes to the main guitarist's minera), but dull in the accompanying baile. A question of bearing, elegance, study, and as Antonia Mercé ‘La Argentina’ used to say, knowing how to walk.

Guadiana and Jesús de Rosario
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Late night   Macarena Ramírez (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)     The storm which got heavier in Jerez last night didn't tarnish the ‘off festival’. The clock isn't invited to this multiple encounter with flamenco, which no sooner has the most international bailaora at the theater, than the group from one of the numerous peñas in the city on the agenda of complementary activities. And either you arrive at the peñas an hour early to get a place, or you can hardly get in to take a peek. The success of the night events now goes beyond the festival's program. There are more and more private venues in Jerez which offer live flamenco in these two weeks. And it's been proven that there's an audience for everything. While last night Peña La Bulería was brimming over, also jam-packed was La Tetería, a tea house located in an old winery building which occasionally calls flamenco to its stage. Luis de Pacote and Eva Rubichi on cante, Santiago Moreno and Antonio Malena Jr. on guitar, plus bailaores Jaime Cala, Gaia Vezzosi and Macarena Ramírez made up the group. A young group with the native seal which included regulars from the back of first-rate companies such as that of María del Mar Moreno, and an Italian bailaora confirming the thesis that the borderless group is a good idea, and a great bailaora still the age of a girl. They offered serious cante and several baile pieces: seguiriyas, tientos-tangos, soleá... and bulerías. A repertoire, shapes and a setting ripe for savoring late-night flamenco. Luis de Pacote and Santiago Moreno (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)