2007/2008 JUEVES FLAMENCOS. MANUELA CARRASCO
A sip... of pure flamenco
Susana Muñoz Bolaños. Seville, October
25th, 2007
‘Un sorbito de lo sublime’.
Manuela Carrasco: baile. La Tana, Samara
Amador, El Simón, Antonio Zúñiga:
cante. Torombo: baile. Román Vicenti, Joaquín
Amador, Ramón Amador: guitars. 2007/2008 Jueves
Flamencos Series of Seville. Centro Cultural Cajasol (Sala
Joaquín Turina). Seville, October 25th, 2007. 9
p.m.
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Manuela Carrasco
(Photo archive Daniel Muñoz) |
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Like in a family, with warmth and proximity.
That’s how Manuela
Carrasco performed her show ‘Un sorbito
de lo sublime’ (‘A Sip of the Sublime’),
within the 2007/2008 Flamenco Thursdays Series at Cajasol,
a show which has been a hit since 2005. Accompanied by
her entire group, the Triana-born artist came out onto
a sober stage sheathed in a black dress with white polka
dots, a bullfighter’s jacket and magenta complements,
to perform a beaten-out bulería. And she did so
with the strength and temperament she features, swiftly
warming up a jam-packed theater which bade her farewell
following her first task with great applause. A red kerchief
around his neck, Torombo continued por alegrías,
accompanied by the sharp, powerful voices of El Simón
and Antonio Zúñiga in intense, electric
baile which he went with from one end of the stage to
the other in one phase after another of heel tapping and
spins, drawing cries from an audience full of Japanese
and Anglo Saxon spectators.
Each wrapped in Manila
shawls, the girls - as Manuela calls them - Samara
and La
Tana, later leapt out on stage as a duo, face to face,
to perform bulerías full of sensuality in a mutual
understanding of voices which was rewarded with applause.
Before a devoted crowd, Manuela Carrasco returned to perform
alegrías, with the company of every vocalist in
her group and the guitars of Román Vicenti and
Joaquín and Ramón Amador. She offered elegant
baile which she went around the stage with, with maximum
concentration in the heel tapping and a finale which drew
olés from the crowd. Next, the voices of Antonio
Zúñiga and El Simón por martinetes,
with a deep, intense performance, disfigured by a sound
system which left a lot to be desired. And after the musical
rest, the intensity of the bulerías por soleá
by Torombo, with a performance full of genius and strength,
which once again drew cries and continuous, passionate
applause from a more than devoted crowd even before concluding.
The voices of Samara and La Tana returned
before the close to perform tangos in a sweet, elegant
face-off in which the cantes and bailes are mixed with
lyrics full of warmth and love. Despite the sound problems,
the performance of the three guitarists as accompanists
was generously applauded. The icing on the cake was provided
by the Sevillian bailaora with her elegant soleá,
performed with serenity and feeling. Slow, natural, deep
movements, with her arms outstretched to the heavens and
her eyes closed, which she concluded with spectacular
heel tapping amidst clapping, to the point of turning
it into unbounded bulerías. Manuela bade farewell
to an entirely devoted crowd with a bullfighting veronica
with her mauve shawl. The audience, on their feet, stamped
and gave an ovation, asking for more, much more than this
‘Sorbito de lo sublime’ which left you hanging.
The next date: her show ‘Romalí’ at
the Fundación Tres Culturas on November 9th.
