SUMA FLAMENCA 2010. JOSÉ MERCÉ, ‘RUIDO’
The art of finishing off a job
Silvia Calado. Madrid, June 12th, 2010
Translation: Joseph Kopec
‘Ruido’. José
Mercé: cante. Moraíto: guitar. Daniel
Méndez: guitar. Manolo Nieto: bass. Cesario Moreno
‘Güito’: box drum. Marcelino Fernández,
Antonio de los Reyes, Rafael de los Reyes: clapping, choruses.
Suma Flamenca 2010. Teatros de la Canal. Madrid, June 12th,
2010. 8:30 p.m.
José
Mercé, 'Ruido'. Suma Flamenca 2010 (Photo Daniel
Muñoz) |
Finally. José
Mercé now has his album ‘Ruido’ out
on the market while he’s singing it on stages. He
based his appearance at Suma Flamenca 2010 on the repertoire
of this seventeenth album. But after opening with the sweet
song ‘Contigo’, as is his custom, he took his
time to stick in three “traditional, classical, age-old
cantes”, accompanied by Moraíto’s essential
guitar. Malagueñas, seguiriyas and a soleá
- with an old-time outline and new lyrics - were the “hard
core” of the recital, but this time the performance
didn’t come up with enough strength to fully captivate
the audience.
Nor did he seem to manage to do so while
he started reeling off the premiering songs, backed by two
guitars, a bass, percussions, choruses and clapping. The
alegrías ‘Pan y pico’, with their rumba-like
refrain; that track with a jaleo air entitled ‘Amanecer’;
the bulería which is the album’s title cut,
with a noteworthy performance on guitar by Daniel Méndez
(or de Morón)… shaped up this first round.
And, as an hors d’oeuvre, Moraíto’s
infallible instrumental por bulerías. But experience
told him that he had to resort to the heavy artillery and
encourage the audience to sing his version of ‘Al
alba’ with him in order to guide the final stretch
of the recital. And it was effective.
Now accompanied by the warmth of the crowd
and their enthusiastic cheers, he performed the songs with
the liveliest rhythm on the album: the tangos-tongue-twister
‘De rima en rama’, the song por bulerías
‘La llave’ and the colombiana rumbera ‘Todos
seremos’. Then Mercé did load up with energy
and knew how to deliver it. And that, despite the perpetual
inconvenience of having to read the lyrics on the stand.
A grand finale por bulerías from his native land,
from his Jerez, which was sung and danced at the edge of
the scene, without mikes or sheets in between, served for
him to finish off a job in grand fashion which wasn’t
easy for him this time around. And that can only be done
by those who are quite high up in this business of the music
profession. The key to the upcoming concerts might be for
both the artist and his audience to get acquainted with
the new songs.
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