"The Feria Mundial del Flamenco shows that the fight for flamenco is a collective enterprise, not the work of a lone ranger"

Silvia Calado Olivo

The business that revolves around flamenco is being guided by the hand in taking its first hesitant steps in its international development. The Ist Flamenco World's Fair which will be held in Seville from the 4th to the 7th of October, 2001, has created a pioneering forum in the commerical promotion of this art. Manuel Herrera Rodas, director of the Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla, appears satisfied at seeing all predictions surpassed, but without losing sight of the need for permanent appraisal of this event where art and business go hand in hand.

Manolo Herrera

What are the principal objectives of the Ist Feria Mundial del Flamenco?

We believe that the Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla, more that a mere succession of shows that comes around every two years, no matter how important the event may be, ought to be a great showcase of all the products flamenco is capable of generating. A commerical avenue that Andalusia, being the source of flamenco, must take advantage of. With this idea in mind, our objective was not only to establish the Bienal as a great festival with well-defined characteristics, but also to endow it with a permanent infrastructure that would serve as an international reference for all things flamenco. At the same time, we would fall short of this aim if we were unable to promote and market everything that flamenco is capable of producing. And not only from the staging and artistic angle, but incorporating all the related industries and specialized crafts of flamenco: fashion, record companies, audiovisual producers, the world of the guitar and instruments of accompaniment... Taking advantage of the expertise of Fibes (the organizational entity of the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos de Sevilla) in organizing trade fairs and congresses, we feel it is necessary to join forces in order to provide the ideal locale and setting for this commercial commodity so inclined to generate income. Thus the Bienal will manage to diversify its functions with both artistic and commercial activities.

As of now, have expectations been fulfilled regarding the organization of this event?

Yes, because aside from marketing flamenco products, we believe it was also our duty to stir people's imaginations - in a certain sense, to shake society up, as well as public institutions, so that we all realize that the fight for flamenco is a collective enterprise, not the work of a lone ranger. We have tried not only to work with institutions which have the obligation of cooperating towards this end, such as the Cultura y Turismo councils of the Junta de Andalucía, but we have also tried to get through to all the municipal governments and delegations throughout Andalusia in order to include and promote flamenco-related artesan crafts which in today's global arena are considered part of the undergound economy. Thus we have managed to get shoemakers specialized in making dance shoes, designers of flamenco fashions, capo makers, peineta factories and guitar-makers to rub elbows with artistic promoters and programmers within the flamenco genre, or artistic representatives and managers. With all these people, we are presenting a great and varied package, diverse and pluralistic, which will give testimony to the permanent positive evolution which, from the economic standpoint is the driving force in the world of flamenco.

Has the fair fulfilled its aspirations to internationalism?

We are aware of the fact that the terrorist attacks in the United States are having negative repercussions in any event of international character. Nevertheless, we are getting positive feedback from all the exhibitors and furthermore no one has announced plans to cancel their visit. The fair will include important commercial representation with participating businesses from the United States, Canada, Japan, Asia and Europe. To channel these contacts we have the collaboration of the Instituto de Fomento de Andalucía, the regional management of the Instituto de Comercio Exterior, and the international departments of the Consejería de Turismo. They have managed the international angle in attracting programmers and foreign journalists. The Bienal trusted responsibility for external relations to Pepe de Lucía in light of his experience and management capacity abroad.

Can you preview the bottom line at this point?

Despite the fact that all predictions have been surpassed, we can't sell smoke nor be foolhardy enough to think that with the first edition everything has been accomplished. Trade fairs earn a reputation in their second or third editions which furthermore is when they tend to get sorted out. Right now there is a large offering, but we still don't know if all that is available is of interest. This forum is joining two types of fair: those devoted exclusively to an internal market of buyers and sellers, and those whose main characteristic is their need to appeal to the public at large with enticements such as the presence of first class artists, fashion shows, performances or gastronomy.

The entire infrastructure of the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos de Sevilla will be at the disposition of the business end of the fair, and another 7,500 square meters have been allotted to serving the general public. Although based on Fibes' experience we have endeavored to harmonize all the different concerns, it is possible that when we take stock we might see that it is necessary to enhance the business portion or scale back the public portion. Obviously we will have to correct any defect or deficiency that we encounter along the way and improve with an eye to the future. We are satisfied, the objectives set forth have been covered, but we must be on our toes and not rush to congratulate ourselves on how good we are. We need to permanently reflect our objective, which is nothing more than to raise the commerical value of flamenco and demonstrate that it is an extremely interesting tourism product for Andalusia. We must never forget that rocks, monuments, gastronomy, sun and surf can be found everywhere, but more and more people want to find the identity of small towns via tourism. Today's world works on other interests such as encounters between cultures, civilizations and ethnicities. For this reason we deem it important that flamenco be offered from Andalucía as a product of our land born in authenticity.

Can the Fair be construed as a first step in giving cohesion to the sector of businesses related to flamenco?

I would say so. And it also has to be a first step in creating the great Andalusian recording industry. The Fair brings to light the enormous contrast between the large multinational recording companies with their management and marketing capacity, and the small Andalusian recording company from a town or private individual who, with a love for flamenco put together a little local enterprise whose volume of business is limited to the release of three or four records a year. We must move forward uniting our interests, because Andalusia must be at the forefront of flamenco records and videos. To acheive this it is not sufficient to create an important union of businesses, but also to support everything involved in the promotion of the region. If not, we run the risk of seeing commericial, group or journalistic interests determining the future of flamenco. And we mustn't lose sight of the fact that we are always throwing up our hands because this is disappearing or because the public's taste is altered, without realizing that we are also helping to globalize culture, and by extension, flamenco. If what we really want is leadership in an art form that is so totally ours, we have to place our bets on the infrastructure which can manage it.

Does the Fair's wide acceptance indicate a growing professionalism in flamenco?

The first steps are being taken so that flamenco will be treated with the same commercial and promotional procedures as other types of music. The fact that there are more and more artists who have chosen to be handled by a manager and be answerable to a specific recording company has represented a major breakthrough. We have many examples of great flamenco musicians who as soon as they went down the path towards professionalization really took off in an impressive way. That's what it's all about. It's inconceiveable that in the twenty-first century we're still fantasizing about caves and collective dwellings which are merely places to hold in the memory, but never to be idealized as adequate venues for the contemporary development of art. Flamenco has to be developed on the best stages the world has to offer and be spread via the most sophisticated means of communication that we have at our disposal. And that's a question of professionalization.

How will the roles be distributed when the Bienal and the Feria fall in the same year?

We're going to concentrate on the programmers, expand their stay so they can attend the greatest possible number of performances. There'll be a kind of fair, not material, to show about a hundred programmers from all over the world the array of shows from the festival. Coinciding with the end of the Bienal, a Fair with the same characteristics as this first edition will be held. In this way, the festival's shows will also be the Fair's shows, and businesses will have the opportunity to utilize all of Seville's venues to present their offerings.

Why hasn't the Bienal taken advantage of the Fair to show off the works in whose production it has collaborated?

The people who should have offered to present those shows are the very businesses and artists who brought their shows to the Bienal. And it hasn't even been the case with those that did not go on to be performed again. Everything that will be offered at the fair is the sole responsibility of the exhibitors, neither Fibes nor the Bienal are offering contracted shows. It's businesses, record companies or institutions that are interested in commercially showcasing their product in the framework of the fair. It's a marketing concept.

By the way, is the festival getting over the traditional problen of lack of continuity in its shows?

If we analyze last year's shows, it's true there were a few that were not presented again because they weren't well-received by the public. Each one takes a risk upon presenting a work, and occasionally they present extremely interesting productions which are only accepted by a minority audience, which makes it difficult to break out. Nevertheless, the majority of this last year's edition have make it; Sara Baras' Juana la Loca; Eva la Yerbabuena's 5 Mujeres 5; María Pagés is still presenting her Tirana from the 1998 edition...

But isn't it a little disappointing that when they are later presented no one remembers to point out that they were conceived for the Bienal?

That's another problem that will have to be resolved, because it has to do with whether or not production costs can be contributed. And it's not a question of relinquishing performances. We're aware that once these shows leave here they lose their denomination of "show premiered at the Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla". But it tends to happen mostly because the business is more interested in vanity and the curiosity of selling the novelty to audiences in Madrid, Barcelona or Bern. Nevertheless, I'm aware that artists with lesser names have had doors opened for them thanks to the Bienal's seal of approval.

We don't have the economic capacity to get into huge superproductions like Sara Baras is preparing for the next edition, whose cost may surpass 360,000 Euros (sixty million pesetas). This is something that still has to be worked out. And of course we can manage to present low-budget shows, but the ideal would be to create four or five big productions which later on the Bienal would be in charge of marketing. But not even by putting together all the money of all the participating institutions would we have that capacity. So we are forced to wade through those murky waters where we are simultaneously showing our crutch and hiding so that the bull doesn't get us.

Assimilating that financing problem, don't you consider the possibility of allowing private investment?

I'm aware that one of my failures as director of the Bienal is not having been able to attract private iniciative to promote these shows. I don't know if it's because people still need to be educated in the value that flamenco can have as an economic resource, or if we haven't been able to sufficiently motivate capital to be invested in flamenco. Neither important enterprises nor savings capital from the region have responded to the Bienal in any concrete way, not even incorporating them as part of the organization by means of the creation of a great mixed institutional and private enterprise. Perhaps the Feria Mundial del Flamenco will be able to take up this challenge.

Translation: Estela Zatania