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FESTIVAL DE JEREZ 2008. SON DE LA FRONTERA,
‘CAL’
Layer upon layer
Silvia Calado. Jerez, March 5th, 2008
Son de la Frontera,
‘Cal’. Raúl Rodríguez: Cuban
tres. Paco de Amparo: guitar. Pepe Torres: baile. Moi
de Morón, El Galli: cante. Manuel Flores: clapping,
baile. 12th Festival de Jerez. Bodega de Los Apóstoles.
Jerez (Cádiz, Spain), March 5th, 2008. 9 p.m.
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Paco de Amparo and Raúl
Rodríguez
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
Layer upon layer. Like whitewash. That’s
how Son
de la Frontera is usually defined. A layer of tradition,
a layer of history, a layer of going, a layer of coming
back, a layer of preservation, a layer of fusion, a layer
of personality. And above all, the layer of Diego
del Gastor. The five members of the group out of Morón
continue to make the most of the mythical guitarist, as
they demonstrated at Bodega de Los Apóstoles following
up their second album, ‘Cal’. They offered
a recital there which, despite the sound flaws and the
momentary blackout, was all vitality, devotion and flamencura.
Despite the fact that the musical base
is a dynamic dialogue between Cuban tres and guitar, between
Raúl Rodríguez and Paco de Amparo, the band
always puts the foundation, the cante, first. That’s
how they begin and that’s how they end. A cante
por tonás - in silence - opens. A cante por bulerías
-just with clapping - closes. And in the middle, soleares,
sevillanas, tangos, alegrías, tanguillos…
and the bulería up front. The touches by Pepe Torres,
who had the art of ignoring the blackout and going on
with his baile in the dark, rounded off the show by the
band, who gave the audience another perspective of today’s
flamenco … and yesterday’s, now that it knows
that it’s much more than baile.
Son de la Frontera (Photo
Daniel Muñoz)
PALACIO
DE VILLAVICENCIO
José Manuel León •
David Palomar
Palacio de Villavicencio
bade farewell to its ‘unplugged’
concert series in grand fashion. A date was
made there at seven o’clock in the evening
with two of the most brilliant artists the
Cádiz-area breeding ground has produced
in recent times. José
Manuel León, Algeciras, guitar.
David
Palomar, Cádiz, cante. The Algeciras-born
guitarist took four of the scores off his
first solo album, ‘Sirimusa’.
And in that condensed journey he made it very
clear that he contributes a kind of music,
a sound, and a way of understanding guitar
which are totally uncommon. Although a bit
of proximity between artist and audience was
missing, he seduced with pieces that sailed,
without ever losing sight of the lighthouse,
on granaína, soleá, alegrías
and bulerías. And following such a
great burst of musical creativity, the cantaor
from Barrio de la Viña came in to emphasize
the roots and references.
José Manuel
León (Photo Daniel Muñoz)
Palomar made a chilling entrance,
walking amidst the audience at the same time
as he sang unaccompanied romances de El Negro
del Puerto and pregón de Macandé.
He welcomed the old-time guitar of Rafael
Rodríguez – who was already paid
tribute at this festival by bailaora Manuela
Ríos in the show ‘De
tablas’ - por seguiriyas. And his
echo was up to the sung troubles. He turned
the tables radically por alegrías,
of the kind that are nearly uttered, at a
slow pace, the two of them and the audience
having fun. He dared to do El Chozas por soleá,
which he dedicated to recently deceased cantaores
Gaspar de Utrera and José Millán.
He grieved, withdrew and overlapped the phases
beautifully. And then, the bulerías,
standing, without a jacket, with age, with
a ‘little kick’ and a dedication
to bailaora Mercedes Ruiz. A little Cádiz
leap, couplet and recollection of the magic
triangle: La Perla, Camarón and La
Paquera. Olé.
David Palomar
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)
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SALA
COMPAÑÍA
Leonor Leal, ‘Leoleolé’
Leonor Leal
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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Seeing Leonor Leal on stage
at the Sala Compañía had a double
meaning. On the one hand, that of her début.
The Jerez-born bailaora, who has worked in
dance corps such as those of Andrés
Marín and Javier Barón, was
presenting her credentials solo for the first
time. On the other hand, that of the harvest
… Since she is fruit of the course program
at Festival de Jerez. She was a student and
now an artist on the bill. And she displayed
her credentials with ‘Leoleolé’,
a series of bailes, accompanied by guitars
(one of them, that of Tino
van der Sman) and cante, in which she
shows the first steps of her search by means
of decision and plastic art.
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And
tomorrow…
• Israel Galván, ‘El final
de este estado de cosas’. Villamarta
(9 p.m.)
• A4 Compañía, ‘Mis
mujeres en esencia’. Sala Compañía
(7 p.m.)
• Ezequiel Benítez • Antonio
Malena. Bodega de Los Apóstoles (midnight)
Israel Galván
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)
The end draws near. Just
three days away from the conclusion of Festival
de Jerez 2008, Israel
Galván arrives with his prophetic
‘El final de este estado de cosas’.
The show, premiered at the biennial Málaga
en Flamenco 2007, “tries to take to
flamenco those sorts of obsessions related
to the tale and the passages of the Apocalypse”,
in the words of director Pedro G. Romero.
Conversing in the show with the avant-garde
bailaor are guests such as Diego Carrasco,
David Lagos, the group Orthodox and Proyecto
Lorca, among others. In the evening at the
Sala Compañía, bailaores La
Truco, Inmaculada Ortega, La Talegona and
Miguel Cañas will offer the show ‘Mis
mujeres, en esencia’, inspired by “the
reality of a vagabond”. And late night,
Jerez-branded cante at Bodega de Los Apóstoles,
taken care of by Ezequiel Benítez,
previewing his album; and Antonio
Malena, who already took part in the inaugural
show ‘¡Viva Jerez!’, performing
“traditional cante of the land”.
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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 Son de la Frontera, flamenco group
Interview
with José Manuel León, flamenco
guitarist
Interview
with David Palomar, flamenco cantaor
Visit the international flamenco festival
agenda
www.flamencofestival.info
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