2005 MONT DE MARSAN FLAMENCO FESTIVAL. DIEGO EL CIGALA

The cante musician

Silvia Calado. Mont de Marsan, July 6th, 2005

Diego el Cigala. Manuel Parrilla, Paquete: guitars. Sabú: percussion. Yelsi Heredia: contrabass. ‘Flamenco du XXIème siècle’ (‘21st-Century Flamenco’). Antonio Rey: concert guitar. José Maya: baile. Espace François Mitterrand. Mont de Marsan (France), July 6th, 2005. 9 p.m.

Diego el Cigala (Foto: Daniel Muñoz)

Another star shot down onto the festival's main stage. Diego el Cigala, who together with piano maestro Bebo Valdés has sold thousands of copies of ‘Lágrimas negras’ worldwide, came to satisfy the expectations of the Mont de Marsan crowd, “where there's such a good following”. A high stool, a long drink, a towel... and a blessing. Sabú marks the beat. Martinete. A little warm-up. The soleá takes shape in his warm throat. Diego el Cigala is a good cante musician. Setting up alongside Manuel Parrilla is Paquete, two guitarists who have learnt to complement one another. And a Cuban contrabass. ‘Se equivocó la paloma’ by poet Rafael Alberti was turned into fandangos. His voice down to earth, low. The group has taken shape. It starts to sound fluent and grand. Deluxe arrangements for a bulería tune.

Ramón el Portugués' eldest son took the sonanta to Levantine territory. The Madrilenian cantaor goes down into the mine in the first stage, but just in the first stage. He takes the rest of the journey through tangos, while the band sticks to eastern latitudes. A beautiful combination. A delight to your ears. The performance keeps on using the rhythm. “And you, and you, you're making me fall in love with you, with that way you have of dancing tangos”. An apparently simple refrain which encloses an entire world. The music sounds clean, fluent, fun. The key might lie in the communication: all the musicians on stage seek each other out, listen to one another. While the cantaor is wiping off beads of sweat, Sabú beats out a solo on the box drum. “Well, bless my soul!”, Cigala exclaims. He sings bulerías to Amparo. And rumbas to all the cantaores throughout history. From Antonio Chacón to Camarón de la Isla.

	Photo. Daniel Muñoz

Here, unlike in Madrid, nobody shouts out for ‘Lágrimas negras’, but when he intones the first few verses of ‘La bien pagá’, the audience melts. The music in his voice. The guitars creating a space completely different to the piano's. A quest for beauty's details. The front row - full of colleagues in the business such as Blanca del Rey, Leo de Aurora, José Valencia, Pastora Galván, Rafael Campallo...- is delighted. Diego el Cigala is generous. And there's going to be a grand finale. Moreover, he invites out bailaor José Maya (formerly Joselillo Romero) and guitarist Antonio Rey, the openers. And what a finale. Even Paquete, who holds back all he can, ends up doing a little dance. And José Maya really gets inspired at the end, overcoming the differences he'd had with himself in his solo performance through seguiriyas and soleá. He even gets the chance to sing some lyrics, so that Diego el Cigala can keep on having a grand old time of it while dancing bulerías. As do his French fans, who have already broken the rules and are at the foot of the stage, taking pictures of everything moving on stage with state-of-the-art cell phones.

Learning flamenco Felipe Mato with Marie-Virginie (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)       Very close to the Mont de Marsan bullring, flamenco flows from morning to evening. The School of Music and Dance is home to the baile, toque and compás courses organized by Taller Flamenco. Blanca del Rey, Belén Maya, Ángeles Gabaldón, El Gamba de Jerez... are just some of the instructors who come and bequeath a bit of art to the students coming every year from all over France. Drawing attention amongst them is Marie-Virginie, a twelve-year-old girl who has surprised the maestros with her edge, her flamencura. And also a pupil over two meters tall (six foot five and a half inches) whose unique physique is dazzling. The atmosphere in the building, the coming and going of people, the lesson reviews at the entrance taking advantage of the sunshine, the guitarists warming up their hands while waiting, the sound of the heel tapping emanating from the classrooms... make it a worthwhile visit. Moreover, at five-thirty every afternoon there is a lecture on some flamenco-related subject. On Wednesday anthropologist Cristina Cruces spoke about women's role in baile, illustrating the exhibit with videos as curious as that of a party in a Triana courtyard with El Titi. Preceding her the day before was the festival's artistic director, Javier Puga, with the presentation of sound and audiovisual clips the festival has built up over its seventeen-year history. The next lecture is of special interest. Japanese bailaor Shoji Kojima is going to recount his passionate love story with flamenco. And he's promised to dance. He was already getting the soleá ready at a studio yesterday, with absolute precision and professionalism. From Japan to France... with flamenco in between.

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