|
|
MÁLAGA EN FLAMENCO 2007. ESTRELLA
MORENTE, ‘UNA ESTRELLA’
Estrella, sky and waves
Silvia Calado. Málaga, August 30th, 2007
‘Una estrella’. Estrella
Morente: cante. Montoyita and Monty: guitars.
Antonio Carbonell, Ángel Gabarre, Enrique Morente
Jr., Soleá Morente, Remedios Heredia, Victoria
Carbonell: choruses and clapping. Popo: box drum. Málaga
en Flamenco 2007. Playa del Palo (Málaga), August
30th, 2007. 8 p.m.
Estrella Morente & group
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)
The fiesta por bulerías is her
prologue. The entire family dyed in white. Cheering, clapping,
bang, boom, fire. Just like at home, with the guitarist
going around in slippers and the cantaor wearing sunglasses.
But then the eclipse Estrella
Morente comes as if out of the sea, decked out in
a foam-white dress, her shoulders swept by the breeze,
a flower next to her face and a white fan brushing the
swell. The alegrías resound. And at her first moan,
the tide breaks against the jetty in the background. ‘Coquineras’
off her first album, but according to this moment, to
the here and now. With an old-style echo. A ‘lerele’
and the motor of a paraglider. Tangos granadinos, chewed
over, with hips. She plays with the lyrics and with clapping
her hands. She reinvents herself as she goes along, like
her father. She risks and triumphs. But the chorusing
sextet muffles more than what is necessary. She then recalls
a bit of the Morente-style ‘Lorca’, precisely
sketching out “mare, llévame a los campos”.
And she moves away, swaying her hips up to a defiant stance.
She takes the soleá por bulerías
as an orphan poppy, curling the phases. More jondo lyrics:
“The things this madman comes out with; he neither
tells the truth nor lies”. Little literary jewels
of flamenco which have to be remarked on from time to
time. Alone with the guitar, the cantaora identifies with
the lands of Almería, making use of that cante
she was accompanied on by Sabicas
at the age of seven. With each moment of silence, she
(is inspired) inspires… letting the sea sing, a
perfect chorus. The sweetness goes to extremes, if there
was still any room for more, in the cante por granaínas.
The most piercing moan was yet to come. And it came. From
an airplane soaring overhead like a shooting star. Now
it’s time to stand up, shed her skin and become
a singer. She calmly flaps the fan, striking poses for
the photographers, reeling off the verses of ‘Nostalgia’.
Chavela Vargas, La Niña de los Peines… and
Estrella Morente all fit in the same voice. She knows
how to journey to the past, be a woman and many other
women, like the Ana in the latest film by Julio Medem.
With her chaos included. And meanwhile, she overdoes the
acting a bit too much. But that powerful old-time diva
stage presence pleases the audience a great deal …
Estrella Morente (Photo Daniel
Muñoz)
Night has now fallen at the start of
the second part. And the stars come out to take a peek
at Estrella. She is backed by the family once again. She
shelters her shoulders from the chill of the salty night
air with a thin black crepe shawl. And following quite
a few installments por bulerías, she finds the
right moment to give back to Enrique
Morente that gift entitled ‘Estrella’,
which contributed to changing the future of cante through
the album ‘Despegando’. The result is exciting.
Again, she shifts her eyes towards other horizons. And
she sings ‘Oye’ por bulerías. The artist
grows. Her sweetness becomes fierceness, sticking in some
changes, such radical turns in her voice, that it’s
thrilling. Hardly having uttered the first sentence, the
audience applauds. ‘Volver’, the bolero from
the film by Almodóvar. But she wants to repeat
herself as little as possible; she’d rather reinvent
herself. And she offers a vibrant, broad, firm version
sprinkled with something sea-like. The crowd, absolutely
in love, reveres her on its feet. Children, youths and
old people. And she returns the burst of affection with
a lovely song ‘a capella’ by Niño de
las Moras, which she offers to Málaga and the Mediterranean.
As the climax, fiesta (family included). And it’s
with a rumba, but savory, coming straight from the other
side of the ocean, strung with jaleos from ‘Negra,
si tú supieras’. The celebration is full-fledged,
both on and off stage. Estrella Morente kicks up a racket
at Playa del Palo. Everybody left singing “quimbara-quimbara-quimbarimbambam”.
That’s how the ‘minors’ of flamenco
behave.
Photo
gallery . Estrella Morente, by
Daniel Muñoz
Click the images to enlarge |
|
 |
 |
(Photo:
Daniel Muñoz)
|
(Photo:
Daniel Muñoz) |
(Photo:
Daniel Muñoz) |
| |
|
|
| (Photo:
Daniel Muñoz)
|
(Photo:
Daniel Muñoz) |
(Photo:
Daniel Muñoz) |
|
|
And tomorrow...
Rubem Dantas/ Encarna Anillo
Rubem Dantas
and José Luis Ortiz Nuevo, Málaga
en Flamenco's director
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
|
| |
|
Rubem Dantas, ‘Festejo’
(Playa del Palo, 8 p.m.). Málaga en
Flamenco 2007 bids farewell to the special
seaside stage of Playa del Palo with ‘Festejo’
by Rubem
Dantas. The biennial festival’s
director, José Luis Ortiz Nuevo, confirms
the fulfillment of “the expectations
we had for this location, where the echo of
the sea joins with the work, talent and passion
being provided by the artists, creating a
complicity leading the audience to approach
flamenco from different viewpoints”.
And the next one is the viewpoint of percussion,
by Rubem Dantas, the percussionist who carried
out the ‘order’ by Paco de Lucía
to make percussion impose itself in flamenco.
As Dantas said at a press conference, the
concert will have a first part that will reflect
the contents of the new album he is about
to release, ‘Festejo’. And to
do so, “I’ve gathered musicians
from all over the world, since I see music
as a union of people”. The second part
is a tribute to Paco de Lucía and Camarón,
as “I can’t conceive of a tribute
to Paco if Camarón isn’t there”.
And he’s shaped it just with percussion
and a cante quintet to perform songs by the
guitarist and by the cantaor, but also by
Falla: “We have to go to tradition.
To me, Falla would be its grandfather, and
Paco, its father”. The show starts at
the beach at dusk..
Encarna Anillo, ‘Barcas
de plata’ (Castillo de Gibralfaro,
11 p.m.). And then nearly at midnight at the
imposing Gibralfaro Castle, Cádiz-born
cantaora Encarna
Anillo is going to preview her début
album, ‘Barcas de plata’. The
young artist, who Ortiz Nuevo defined as “the
expression of sweetness and beauty; whole,
radiant, beautiful”, is going to be
accompanied by a mighty group. Juan
Diego and José Manuel León
figure on guitar, and she brings in Carmelilla
Montoya as guest artist. Encarna Anillo was
thrilled as she explained “this was
the day I’d always dreamt of”.
She defined the album, backed by Miguel Poveda,
as “a record with classic cante, but
at the same time fresh, from 2007”.
The repertoire, which she will sing live in
its entirety, includes “soleares from
Córdoba and Alcalá, milongas
by Chacón and Marchena, a tribute to
La
Perla, a malagueña by La Trini,
tangos by the Montoya family”. The album,
whose title is inspired by dusk at La Caleta,
will be released before year’s end.
More information
Encarna Anillo previews her début album
‘Barcas de plata’ at Málaga
en Flamenco 2007
|
|
|
|
