FESTIVAL DE JEREZ 2009. ABOUT ‘INSPIRACIÓN’ BY JUAN DIEGO, ÁNGEL MUÑOZ & ADELA CAMPALLO

Ángel Muñoz and Adela Campallo dance to the sound of ‘Inspiración’ by flamenco guitarist Juan Diego

The show premieres at the Teatro Villamarta on February 28th, 2009

Silvia Calado, November 2008

In flamenco, the usual thing is for the musician to adapt to the baile, for the bailaor to order the sound tailored to his movements. But exceptions sometimes come about. That is the case of ‘Inspiración’ (‘Inspiration’), a show in which Ángel Muñoz and Adela Campallo dance to and choreograph the music from what will be Jerez-born guitarist Juan Diego’s upcoming album. In the premiere at Festival de Jerez 2009 – on Saturday, February 28th at the Teatro Villamarta – Tomasito is also to take part as guest artist, and a complete lineup of musicians including cantaores Eva Durán and El Londro, trumpet, acoustic guitar, percussion and compás.

Adela Campallo and Juan Diego on 'Inspiración' (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

The seguiriya ‘Musgo’, the bulería ‘Malika’, the soleá por bulerías ‘Solera’ and the alegrías ‘Chipi=Cali’ are some of the pieces on the upcoming album by Juan Diego which bailaores Ángel Muñoz and Adela Campallo perform in ‘Inspiración’. The show, which premieres on the second day of Festival de Jerez 2009 at the Teatro Villamarta, thus inverts the traditional relationship between guitar and baile.

Here, the Córdoba-born bailaor and the Sevillian bailaora are the ones who perform and choreograph the music, in this case, by the Jerez-born guitarist. And they do so as a couple as well as solo. As Ángel Muñoz comments, “we met each other at the studio, but it wasn’t hard at all for us to adapt to one another. She combines the aggressive as well as the sweet and the temperamental. We don’t even have to speak to one another to understand each other and that’s the greatest thing up on stage”.

Juan Diego’s aim, heading up ‘Inspiración’, was for that communication to be fluent. The guitarist, who recently won the Copa Jerez, set out “to do a show which wasn’t very complicated for it to flow well, so that more than for us to remember the arrangements, we remember the changes in atmosphere and in the energy levels”.

Adela Campallo on 'Inspiración' (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

And involved in that mission is the entire troupe of artists which, besides the guitar and baile, includes cante by Eva Durán and El Londro, acoustic guitar by Jorge Gómez, trumpet by Enrique Rodríguez, percussion by Juan Peña ‘Chispa’, clapping and choruses by Macano and Marcelino Fernández, and Tomasito as guest artist. They all form a team since, as Juan Diego spells out, “nobody’s in charge here; the music’s in charge here”.

From the United States to Jerez

‘Inspiración’ has its precedent in an assignment for the American audio firm BOSE. With the purpose of making a demo for its new sound system, it recorded a flamenco show in which Juan Diego experimented with the possibility of treating the bailaores as equals; that is, as musicians. And to that end, Ángel Muñoz and Adela Campallo offered themselves as performers and choreographers. Parallel to this production, tackled with a crew of over thirty technicians coming from the United States to the Madrilenian set El Álamo, the guitarist has recorded with producer Stephen Ruggere all these new scores (which he authors together with Antonio Soteldo ‘Musiquita’) that will make up his second solo album. It is scheduled to come out on the market in the first half of 2009.