FESTIVAL DE JEREZ 2009
JUAN DIEGO, ÁNGEL MUÑOZ & ADELA CAMPALLO,
‘INSPIRACIÓN’
Other communication
Silvia Calado. Jerez, February 28th, 2009
‘Inspiración’.
Juan Diego: guitar, music. Ángel
Muñoz, Adela Campallo: baile, choreography. Londro,
Eva Durán: cante. Enrique Rodríguez: trumpet.
Jorge Gómez: acoustic guitar. Juan Peña
‘Chispa’: percussion. Macano, Bo: clapping.
Tomasito: guest artist (vocals, baile). Antonio Valiente:
lighting. Chipi Cacheda: sound. 13th Festival de Jerez.
Teatro Villamarta. Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz,
Spain), February 28th, 2009. 9 p.m.
Adela Campallo
and Juan Diego
(Photo Javier Fernández) |
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In scarcely two days, the showcase
which is Festival de Jerez has already displayed two
diametrically opposite ways of tackling flamenco dancing.
The first one took the theatrical prism. The second,
the attitude of a music concert. And the latter was
precisely the ‘innovation’ proposed by ‘Inspiración’.
Juan
Diego laid out the musical scores in a band format.
And Ángel
Muñoz and Adela
Campallo had to choreograph and perform them as
such.
The venture turned out to be harder
than expected, since the bailaores had to sacrifice
a lot of their weapons in order to put the movement
at the service of the music. More so if possible, when
the music in question doesn’t begin with commercial
layouts, but with respirations, inspirations and expirations,
with feelings and subtleties not always easy to share.
Perhaps because of it, some pieces left a certain aftertaste
of blurring surely avoidable with a traditional layout.
But that would have been the easy part. The hard part
was for the bailaores to manage to go beyond the limits
of the stage in very few minutes, besides contributing
their plastic and percussion arrangements to the pieces.
In that sense, the two dances in a
couple (that format so in disuse) turn out delightful.
And not just because of the balanced tandem they form.
Together, they danced the seguiriya ‘Musgo’
and the bulería ‘Malika’, pieces
in which they explored the three-dimensionality of danced
dialogue. Then solo, the bailaora asked for space por
soleá, which she performed in all of its extent
and with all of its folds, combining contention and
temperament. In his solos por rumba and por alegrías,
the bailaor remained faithful to the idea of baile-for-toque,
devoting himself to condensing his neat, energetic manners
‘at the service of’.
And the thing is that baile was just
another ingredient in this concert - with the right
sound and lighting - which provided a preview of the
contents of what will be the Jerez-born guitarist’s
second solo album. From what was heard last night, he
delves deeper into those manners of his which he had
already shown on ‘Luminaria’. He comes from
Jerez and goes through the previous tocaor generation,
but he goes towards himself and towards the world. And
on that road, he gives guitar a broad, sincere perspective
with no hang-ups. That might be why he can move with
native ease from the personal intimacy of ‘Steve’
to losing himself amidst his group like just any jazz
man. By the way, he knew how to choose each of his accompanists
wisely. Without being usual instruments in flamenco,
both Jorge Gómez’s acoustic and electric
guitars as well as Enrique Rodríguez’s
trumpet and flugelhorn managed to find their right place
in the narration contributing, especially the latter,
instants of sophisticated jondura.
Eva Durán, Tomasito
and Juan Diego
(Photo Javier Fernández) |
The same thing was achieved by cantaores
Londro and Eva
Durán, both of them more than able in every
tessitura: sweet in the guajira, professional in the
lereles and deep in more compromising styles like martinetes
and soleares. The clapping by Macano and Bo, and the
simple rhythmic bases by Chispa completed the group.
Almost. Since it wasn’t closed entirely until
Tomasito burst onto the stage,
turning any shortage of electricity into a surplus.
He waved banners such as ‘El fino’, made
the audience laugh with his spontaneity, presented each
member of the company and was the master of ceremonies
at the jam-party of this show which, still with the
problems natural for a premiere, showed that other ways
of communication are possible and that, every once in
a while, it’s worthwhile to demand as much from
your hearing as from your sight.
María
José Franco, ‘Bailando para
mí’
Sala Compañía,
midnight
María
José Franco
(Photo Javier Fernández) |
|
Dancing,
dancing and dancing. Without letting up,
without complications, without holding
anything back. María
José Franco appeared that direct
at the Sala Compañía with
the premiere of ‘Bailando para mí’.
The Cádiz-born bailaora left behind
the complexities of ‘De grana y
oro’ in order to focus solely on
the feedback between baile, cante, toque,
compás… and a violin. With
the group behind her hard at work, the
artist linked one baile to the next, clearly
appearing as a bailaora from head to toe,
from heel to wrists. And the thing is
she might just as easily do her utmost
in a complex score of footwork por farruca
wearing trousers and with two guitars,
as sketch with her stylized body the spirit
of styles like the seguiriya, as put on
a shawl as wings, as alternate with the
overwhelming masculinity of Juan Ogalla,
as carry the sensuality por tangos to
an extreme or sprinkle charm por alegrías.
And moreover, she had the skill to thread
with extreme care and the best taste each
and every bead on that glittering necklace.
María José Franco doesn’t
just exist, but rather she’s there
… and growing.
Further information
Interview
with María José Franco,
bailaora
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More
information, audio, orders
