2006 JEREZ FLAMENCO FESTIVAL. MORAÍTO/ EL GÜITO

“Wisdom!”

Silvia Calado. Jerez, March 7th, 2006
Photos: Daniel Muñoz

‘Moraíto en concierto’. Moraíto: guitar. Pepe del Morao, second guitar. Ignacio Cintado: bass. Bernardo Parrilla: violin. Luis Carrasco, Marcelino Fernández: percussion. Filarmoney de Santiago (Bo, Chícharo, Gregorio): clapping/ ‘La soleá’. El Güito, Mari Paz Lucena, Nino de los Reyes, Rafael Peral, Jesús Carmona: baile. Juan Serrano, José Maya: guitar. José Giménez, Antonio Giménez: cante. 10th Jerez Festival 2006. Teatro Villamarta. Jerez (Cádiz, Spain), March 7th, 2006. 9 p.m.

Moraíto (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Filarmoney de Santiago (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

“Wisdom!”. Tomatito provided the key from the seats. From one wise man to another. Just one word to synthesize all the history fitting into Moraíto's guitar. The main symptoms of wisdom are not suffering from ‘compositionitis’ or ‘premieritis’. He hardly premiered some bright tanguillos (which he'll include on his upcoming album now in the planning stage), recalled his flagships - of course, the huge tangos ‘Rocayisa’ - and refreshed his group format with violin, bass, percussion and skillful clapping by the Filarmoney de Santiago. Meanwhile, new versions of the toque maestros' classic repertoire. Bulerías. Soleares. Seguiriyas. Moraíto-style. With the weight of his guitar, which is measured in tons and centuries. With his compás. You don't know anymore if Moraíto goes to the beat or if the beat goes to Moraíto. Many enthusiasts wonder and flamenco guitarists themselves suffer it: why the obligation to create and create a repertoire of your own if there are so many scores to perform? They should tell a classical concert performer.

	El Güito (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Or they should tell El Güito, who doesn't do new versions of pieces by others; the thing is he just performs one piece, the same piece, year after year, decade after decade. Now, instead of ‘Mis recuerdos’, it's entitled ‘La soleá’. But it's the same layout as the one two years ago at this same festival: the soleá set within a supposed premiere of questionable quality. This time there have even been cutbacks in the group, with just two guitarists and two tablao cantaores, who managed to delve deep into the fading situation. Until the arrival of the same farruca and the same soleá, it fell upon the shoulders of bailaora Mari Paz Lucena, instead of María Vivó back then, to resolve solo and correcting a great many minutes of the show, first through bulerías and then through taranto. The rest of the time was split up between the three bailaores, each with an adrenaline-charged solo through alegrías, bulerías and seguiriyas, respectively. Opting for individual numbers, this time the head of the company freed the audience of the usual lack of coordination of his group choreographies. La soleá arrived as scheduled, with each gesture and each movement exactly in its place. Nobody doubts that soleá is a living reference of flamenco dancing, but with the passing of time and such packaging, it's running the risk of perishing.

Life and hope Rosario Toledo (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)       Life was a few streets over. The midnight series ‘Solos en Compañía’ had just the counterpoint reserved on this twelfth day of the festival; the performance by Rosario Toledo. And it isn't that freshness necessarily means quality, since in these related series some unexpected blowouts have been seen of young talents who haven't managed to channel their opportunity. That was obviously not the case of the Cádiz-born bailaora. Basing herself on Cádiz's own cantes, performed by two voices as reliable as those of Juan José Amador and José Valencia -omnipresent in this festival -, the bailaora offered a well-rounded performance. She didn't need fillers or interludes, or any paraphernalia at all. She came to dance, which was the matter at hand. She kicked off with the malagueña by El Mellizo in a bata de cola with sea colors. Aiming towards Belén Maya's style in her fantasies freed from compás, she danced sweetly and sketching from the feet upwards, with the train of her dress as a playmate. The change in wardrobe hardly lasted a set of cante lyrics through soleá by Juan José Amador. The bailaora, who has forged her baile in companies such as that of Javier Latorre and as Joaquín Grilo's dance partner, captured her personality in a traditional baile leading to interesting registers not at all conventional in structure and form. Next, there was room for the guest artist through bulerías. Strange, baroque cante, that of Carmen Grilo. Amador sings a capella. Time for seguiriyas. The bailaora waves her arms behind his back. She now seeks out the land, striking with her heels, rubbing shoulders with the musicians as equals. And without forgetting the rest of her body. Firm, personal, esthetic. And at the end, alegrías. The guest does them. And when the temperature is just right, Rosario appears dressed in precious stones and fiery tones. She comes in energetically. She glides around the stage with plasticity, never the same way twice. She finishes off. She trims. There's no sensationalism. There's a search. The silence is pure delight. And the rest of the baile, pure spark, pure salt. There's always hope.

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