Magna antología
del cante flamenco. Special Feature
The great cante
lesson
Martín Guijarro, April 2005
Translation: Joseph Kopec
Nearly thirty years after the
first anthology of flamenco history, the company Hispavox
again engaged in another great record project. ‘Magna
antología del cante flamenco’ (‘Great
Anthology of Cante Flamenco’) saw the light in 1982,
with the motivation that, still, “enthusiasts are
in part badly-oriented”... and that, despite the
fifteen anthologies which had thereto been released. José
Blas Vega, director of this ambitious project, wrote that
they hadn't “been very successful due to a lack
of selective criteria of contents and performers (...)
and others due to excessiveness in entrusting it to a
sole performer”. The medicine to remedy these supposed
shortcomings would therefore be to have the broadest and
most qualified group of artists; and to build the most
clarifying style scheme. The result was a ‘great’
work whose value has multiplied with the passing of two
decades, constituting a fundamental course - now on ten
digital albums and in a book - to understand cante flamenco...
and learn to enjoy it.
Magna antología del
cante flamenco (10 Cds + BOOK)
A total of seventy performers from three
generations left their cantes recorded in the anthology.
On the one hand, great figures who went to the recording
studio; and on the other hand, “veteran cantaores
who recalled rare or lost styles and recorded them in
the suitable ambience in the expeditions around Andalusia”
that Blas Vega went on from 1970 to 1975. There is therefore
a place for “curious people and even those from
outside this (flamenco) world”. To mention some
of the top names from the most veteran generation, there
is, beginning with Diego el Perote - born in 1884 -, Aurelio
Sellés, Bernardo el de los Lobitos, Pepe el de
la Matrona, Pericón de Cádiz, Agujetas el
Viejo... Of those born between 1909 and 1930, standing
out are figures such as Manolo Caracol, Antonio Mairena,
El Sevillano, Juanito Valderrama, Borrico de Jerez, La
Perla de Cádiz, Fernanda
de Utrera, Sordera... Of the then-youngest ones, Terremoto
de Jerez and Enrique Morente figure, along with Chocolate,
among many others. Together with them, of course, all
the top guitarists: Niño Ricardo, Morao de Jerez,
Félix de Utrera, Perico el del Lunar, Luis Maravilla,
Pepe Habichuela, Paco de Lucía...
Click the
image to enlarge
250 cantes
Two hundred and fifty different styles
are included in the ‘Great Anthology of Cante Flamenco’,
with the interest that, as Blas Vega comments, “thirty
percent is about to disappear”. They are all organized
into ten big groups, one per record: ‘Romances or
corridos, cantes without guitar and port seguiriyas’;
‘Jerez siguiriyas, Cádiz siguiriyas and Cádiz
and Seville siguiriyas’; ‘Liviana, serrana
and alboreas siguiriyas, Cádiz and Jerez soleares
and Jerez, Utrera and Alcalá soleares’; ‘Triana
soleares, soleares, the caña, polos, peteneras
and Cádiz bulerías’; ‘Bulerías
and tangos’; ‘Tientos, alegrías and
cantiñas’; ‘Málaga cantes, fandangos
and malagueñas’; ‘Chacón malagueñas,
Chacón malagueñas and granaínas and
mining cante’; ‘Huelva fandangos and personal
fandangos’; ‘Miscellaneous cantes and Latin
American cantes’.
Afterwards, each one is organized into
the shape of a tree, into families, and lastly, styles.
For example, in the case of the Málaga cantes group,
it is divided into two families, which its different ‘children’
are included in: the fandango family groups the rondeñas,
jaberas, Comares fandangos, Málaga mountain verdiales...;
and the derived fandango and malagueña family contains
Cordovan verdiales, Lucena fandangos, Juan
Breva cante...
The complete book accompanying the records
comments on every single style, every single classification,
with a historical introduction for each cante and style.
It offers information about the “chronology of birth,
development and ethnic and geographical affinities, of
creators and geographical schools”. Moreover, all
the lyrics that are sung are transcribed, with the peculiar
phonetics of Andalusian dialect, specifying both the author's
and performer's names. The book concludes with a rather
practical appendix: an alphabetical index of the cantaores
who perform to be able to locate them in the collection.
As adornment, the pages are illustrated with color photographs
of the performers whose value has increased over time,
like that of the anthology itself.
Click the
image to enlarge
For all audiences
All this material makes up a whole which,
as Manuel Ríos Ruiz recommends in the prologue,
“has to be listened to with the greatest thoroughness,
with dynamic ease; that is, with combined tact and eagerness,
for the proposed and desired effect to come about, which
is none other than to get across everything that should
be known, for its proper understanding, about a unique
art”. And that, not only with a didactic perspective,
but above all a democratic one since, in the words of
Blas Vega, the ‘Great Anthology of Cante Flamenco’
is conceived to “be of use to the curious, musicians,
investigators, cantaores and in general, to all enthusiasts”.
Click the
images to enlarge
‘Great Anthology of Cante Flamenco’,
seen from a current perspective, is recommendable for
different reasons. On the one hand, it makes it possible
to listen to voices that have now disappeared, as well
as the then-young voices of those who are today revered
maestros. On the other hand, it constitutes a practical
guide to distinguish between cantes and discover their
genesis and evolution, including neglected and seldom-practiced
styles. It could perhaps be taken as a correspondence
course, with a program to be followed completely freely...
The truth is that, no matter what the reason is, this
encyclopedic work deserves a privileged place in the record
collection of all those wishing to draw nearer to, go
deeper into, reaffirm themselves and, in short, delight
in cante flamenco.
magazine@flamenco-world.com
