FESTIVAL DE JEREZ 2008. MARÍA DEL MAR MORENO, MERCEDES RUIZ & FERNANDO TERREMOTO. '¡VIVA JEREZ!'
And long live me!
Silvia Calado. Jerez, February 22nd, 2008
'¡Viva Jerez!'. María del Mar Moreno, Mercedes Ruiz & Fernando Terremoto : guest artists. Angelita Gómez: special collaboration. Londro, Mateo Soleá, El Pescaílla: cante. Santiago Lara, Santiago Moreno, Manuel Valencia: guitars. Pedro Navarro: percussion. José Zarzana: piano. Luisa Terremoto, La Bastiana, Juani Peña, Rosario: baile, choruses. Luis de la Tota: clapping. Francisco López: directing. Javier Latorre: choreographic coordination. Paco Cepero: musical coordination. 12th Festival de Jerez. Teatro Villamarta. Jerez, February 22nd, 2008. 9 p.m.
Mercedes Ruiz (Photo Daniel Muñoz)
"Long live Jerez!... And long live me!" That's the full war cry, the one going from the collective to the individual. Because Jerez flamenco comes from the people, but it's defined by what its artists contributed to it and by what they are contributing to it. And that's why the show isn't reduced to the isolationist scheme which has been considered 'jerezano'; rather, it displays the art made by those from here in its evolution and with its influences. Not everything here has been nor is bulería. So it's a pleasure to hear not just the malagueña de Antonio Chacón, but also the milonga. More so if the one searching inside to perform it is an artist of the bearing of Fernando Terremoto. And the same in the baile. If María del Mar Moreno performs the rawest seguiriya imaginable, with cante and knuckle tapping, Mercedes Ruiz opens the range to styles like the farruca - without forgetting that the bailaor family that created it has Jerez DNA -, of course, taken to her time and to her person.
From the group to the person. That's the journey laid out by this show posing as a musical, Festival de Jerez's first production of its own following twelve years of success. Even though it needs to be shortened (last night it lasted three hours, counting the intermission and ovations), the show dazzles for its workmanship. Director and ideologist Francisco López has applied all of his know-how to it in the scope of lyrical poetry, surrounding himself with a creative crew of substance. Javier Latorre moves and connects the parts 'Gades-style', Paco Cepero helps in the musical with his half a century of wisdom, Jesús Ruiz dresses up the stage and the characters with wines and landscapes, Olga García does the lighting with a more spatial sense than psychic. And there's more than an operatic touch in the whole ...
Miguel Téllez on 'Viva Jerez' (Photo Daniel Muñoz)
Even with its little streak of drama. The chorus is a character in itself, that popular flamenco clinging to the fields, streets and courtyards. And in the show it moreover offers comic details which lighten the plot following the tensest moments. The gags by Luis de la Tota, El Pescaílla and Mateo Soleá stand out, as well as the ones carried out by the gang of women led by Angelita Gómez. What a pleasure her baile is, so light, so usual; and what a pleasure that of her gang, so trimmed, so synthetic. The guitars also shape up that chorus and, except for the farruca by Santiago Lara, a more leading role by toque is missed, even a figure comparable to the guests on cante and baile. There are three of them. Fernando Terremoto is indisputable, in his lineage and in himself. And although his name didn't appear in such large letters on the bill, Antonio Malena did demonstrate his presence as a cantaor and not just appearing together with Moreno... which is already a lot. Not in vain, his voice is the last one heard in the fandango epilogue. Also worthy of mention is El Londro, a display of how personal you can get here. María del Mar Moreno tests herself as a complete artist, as Pastora Imperio and La Argentinita were, unafraid to moderate her voice if the script so requires. The copla-style cante-baile by Chavela Vargas turned the theater upside down. But the pulsometer reached its peak with Mercedes Ruiz, a very complete bailaora who overwhelms with her virtuosity, but also with her bearing and with her balance, with memory and with projection. And in the show, that's the demonstration that Jerez flamenco is (and has been) what its artists are, its people, its individuals.
'Viva Jerez' (Photo Daniel Muñoz)
And tomorrow ...
· Antonio el Pipa, 'Puertas adentro'. Teatro Villamarta (9 p.m.)
· Lola Greco, 'Deoperaflamenco'. Sala Compañía (7 p.m.)
· José Menese, Bodega Los Apóstoles (midnight)
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Lola Greco
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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The second day of the festival continues to be made in Jerez. Antonio el Pipa presents his latest show, 'Puertas adentro', at the Teatro Villamarta. Life, death and love inspire this work, the antithesis of his previous 'De tablao'. A couple of hours earlier, dancer and bailaora Lola Greco will premiere 'Deoperaflamenco', a show in which she unites "my two passions". The artist, together with Francisco Velasco and her sister Carmela Greco, will perform both classical and flamenco, although "there's no fusion; it's all pure and well differentiated". Following the appearance by the daughter of the mythical José Greco at Bodega de San Ginés at noon, the International University of Andalusia announced a new edition of the course 'Los flamencos hablan de sí mismos' ('Flamenco Speak about Themselves'), which will be held at the headquarters of La Cartuja in Seville from September 22nd to 26th, 2008. The presence of lecturers such as Vicente Amigo and María Pagés has already been confirmed. |
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