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Farru
Biography and readers' comments |
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FESTIVAL DE JEREZ 2008. FARRU, JOSÉ
MAYA & BARULLO, ‘AL NATURAL’
He doesn’t have a girlfriend!
Silvia Calado. Jerez, March 4th, 2008
‘Al natural’. Farru,
José Maya, Barullo: baile, choreography.
Antonio Zúñiga, Simón de Málaga,
Pedro el Granaíno, María Vizárraga,
Rubio de Pruna: cante. Antonio Rey, Paco Iglesias: guitarists.
Rafael Serrano, Antonio Moreno: box drums. 12th Festival
de Jerez. Teatro Villamarta. Jerez (Cádiz, Spain),
March 4th, 2008. 9 p.m.
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Farru (Foto Daniel Muñoz) |
The third generation of the Farruco family
seems to have put in check their own concept of purity.
It’s no longer necessary to respect the structures
of the bailes, now box drums can be added to the group,
now you can dance in jeans, now you can mix cante and
song … What is the pure, then? Could it be their
own style? Could it be personality?
The youngest ones in the family are building
a new way of being, which gets away from current references:
La Farruca and Farruquito. Farru
and his cousin Barullo,
grandsons of the same grandfather, display in ‘Al
natural’ a baile which stresses the explicit, the
hormonal, the physical. They have five voices, two box
drums and two guitars as accomplices that are at the service
of those vibrant bailaor ways. Following the three-way
presentation por bulerías, the cousins announce
a number together por alegrías, which ends up turning
into something dizzying also with ‘little kicks’.
José Maya steps in with his soleá por bulerías,
which he performs solo. And out of the three, he turns
out to be the one most consistent with tradition and most
respectful with cante, despite the fact that his baile
is also powerful, in flashes, to the limit.
Barullo (Photo Daniel
Muñoz) |
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Barullo performs a solo soleá,
a piece with an encouraging, sober start in which he offers
a coup de théâtre: taking off his boots,
offering them up to the heavens and dancing barefoot …
por bulerías. Farru announces taranto, but it won’t
be either, as such. He hardly sketches it at the start,
the back does a ‘little tune’ for him, he
goes about strolling and waiting, and finally breaks out
por tangos, driving the audience crazy, swaying his hips,
long hair and winking at the foot of the stage. Loads
of testosterone, blessings, olés and dangerous
announcements: “He doesn’t have a girlfriend!”,
they shout from the seats. Aaaaahhhh! And the
women packing the theater go even crazier. Now just the
final encounter of the trio is left, the martinete broken
by box drums, the ‘kicks’ por seguiriyas.
‘Al natural’ brings the pop fan phenomenon
to flamenco, which it met close up some months ago opening
for Beyoncé and Marc Anthony before thousands of
people.
José Maya (Photo Daniel
Muñoz)
PALACIO
DE VILLAVICENCIO
Daniel Casares, ‘Caballero’
Daniel Casares
(Photo Daniel Muņoz) |
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Málaga-born guitarist
Daniel
Casares displayed his fourth solo album
in the most intimate and closest way possible:
without microphones and in the cozy venue
reserved for cante and toque at the Palacio
de Villavicencio. He chose malagueña,
guajiras, alegrías and bulerías
off ‘Caballero’, showing a road
of personal searching which is developed by
combining introspective passages with sparks
of virtuosity; traditional references with
current trends. Following which, he changed
outfits in order to accompany the cante of
his colleague Morenito de Íllora.
More information
- CD:
Daniel Casares. Caballero
- Interview
with Daniel Casares, flamenco guitarist
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And tomorrow…
• José Manuel León /
David Palomar (7 p.m.)
• Son de la Frontera. Bodega Los Apóstoles
(9 p.m.)
• Leonor Leal. Sala Compañía
(midnight)
That the Teatro Villamarta
should remain closed in order to set up ‘El
final de este estado de cosas’ by Israel
Galván doesn’t mean that the
festival is taking a break. Nor much less
so. The opening of the day, following the
round-table at noon, will be taken care of
by two of the firmest talents in Cádiz
flamenco. Coming from Algeciras is José
Manuel León to offer, alone on
his guitar, a selection of the contents of
his album ‘Sirimusa’. He shares
the bill at the Palacio de Villavicencio with
the cantaor from Barrio de la Viña,
David
Palomar. He announces “a cante recital,
accompanied on toque by Rafael Rodríguez,
in which I’ll try and do romances de
El Negro, the pregón de Macandé,
I’ll recall El Chozas por soleá
and Chacón por malagueñas”.
He took advantage to announce that he’s
putting the finishing touches on his first
solo album, which he will present at the Sala
Central Lechera in Cádiz from May 15th
to 17th. On the recording he has collaborators
such as guitarist Moraíto Chico and
bailaora Mercedes Ruiz. The Palacio is hardly
a few steps away from Bodega de Los Apóstoles,
where at 9 o’clock at night the group
Son
de la Frontera will present their album
‘Cal’ live. The day is closed
by Jerez-born bailaora Leonor Leal, who in
the press conference recognized how happy
it makes her to début solo at the festival
which she was a student of: “I started
dancing late and I took my first course here
with Merche Esmeralda”. She premieres
her show ‘Leoleolé’, in
which she’ll dance farruca, tientos
and alegrías accompanied by Tino van
der Sman and David Vargas on toque, Javier
Rivera, El Pulga and Jeromo Segura on cante,
and El Choro as guest bailaor. The youths
take the floor.
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Further information:
Festival
de Jerez 2008. Index of reviews, photos, videos
All
about Festival de Jerez 2008: reviews, photos,
videos, program, courses, news, store...
Interview
with Farruquito, bailaor
Interview
with La Farruca, bailaora
Visit the international flamenco festival
agenda
www.flamencofestival.info
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