2005 MONT DE MARSAN FLAMENCO FESTIVAL. SARA BARAS

‘The flamenco star’

Silvia Calado. Mont de Marsan, July 4th, 2005

‘Sueños’ (‘Dreams’). Sara Baras: baile, direction and choreography. José Serrano: guest artist. Auxi Fernández, Raúl Fernández, Cecilia Gómez, Ana González, Charo Pedraja, Raúl Prieto, María Vega. José María Bandera, Mario Montoya: guitars. Miguel de la Tolea, Saúl Quirós: cante. Antonio Suárez: percussion. José Amador: violin. Espace François Mitterrand. Mont de Marsan (France), July 4th, 2005. 9 p.m.

Sara Baras (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

The heart of flamenco has shifted for a few days to a little spot in southwest France. The Landes region has completely absorbed expressions of Spanish culture such as bullfighting, and more and more, flamenco too. Seventeen years have already gone by since the first edition of the Mont de Marsan Festival, an event which draws enthusiasts from halfway around France and part of its neighboring country. And without skimping on grandeur. The inauguration of this new edition, which Flamenco-world.com is going to follow up daily until Sunday, July 10th, was taken care of by Sara Baras. She, the star, the baile diva. Just a few days ago we were witness to the earthquake brought about by the Cádiz-born artist at the Flamenco Pa Tos Festival, battling with a double-edged sword: intimacy, proximity to the audience. Leaving ‘Sueños’ in its very essence, she managed to come out smelling like a rose. At Mont de Marsan, she had to face just the contrary, a huge venue filled to the rim. The show, recovered six years after its premiere following the two shows with storylines ‘Juana la Loca’ and ‘Mariana Pineda’, had to be brought entirely and with the whole company in action.

Incited by the headline in the regional newspaper (‘L’étoile du flamenco’, ‘The flamenco star’), the restlessness could be felt before the crowd, which, sporting their best attire, started to take their seats nearly an hour before the show was to begin. And, with the curtains now open, they would still have to wait half an hour longer to see Sara Baras on stage. ‘Sueños’ has a long prelude in which the musicians first pave the way, coming in with bulerías on guitar, cante, violin and percussion. Next, five bailaoras and two bailaores offer a second prelude with a martinete, aided by cane percussion. Everything grounded, everything forceful. A third introductory piece dresses up the ladies in batas de cola and black Manila shawls in order to perform, more with their body than their feet, ballad-like jaleos. When everything goes silent and they pick things up on the left, making heard the measured dragging of their shoes and their dresses brushing against the floor, Sara Baras comes in on the left dressed in white. Appearance. Standing still, she starts to move her arms... let it not be said she is just a heel-tapping virtuoso. Although she is so as well and proves it. But what comes now is a dance for two with José Serrano as her partner. The soleá through bulerías makes enough room to alternate between solos and duos, between music and just rhythm, between honey and salt. A wide range of fandangos, among which we mention the sevillanas (the ones by Isidro Muñoz performed by Camarón in his day), provides a friendly breather.

Sara Baras (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Farruca and courage

And the thing is that the guitars are going to become furiously melancholic, the violin is going to start to cry and Sara Baras is going to come out in a vest and trousers to dance her now famous farruca. She performs it like a bullfighter who comes out into the ring, waiting at moments when you can hear a pin drop - just a brief pitter-patter of feet... or nothing -, with the bullfighter's passes with the cape, with the build of a courageous woman. The artist's beauty triples. And the crowd gives her a standing ovation, applauding and stamping their feet. The guest fills in for her with a seguiriya solo in which he pulls out all the stops. A call by the box drum brings Sara Baras back out on stage. She comes out dressed in red, wrapped up in an embroidered shawl. She spreads her wings and takes off in flight in a number that quickly becomes bulerías, a perfect setting for the most flamenco Sara, the one who finishes things off by arching back her shoulders. As close as she can get to the crowd, she is generous in this baile of hers combining her esthetic grace with the feeling of a neighborhood courtyard. Generous, she doesn't see it time to finish. There is now thunderous applause. The crowd asks for more and they are given more. All the impressions get a response. The photographers keep on shooting away. A photo of hers will certainly not be missing from the next exhibit by the daily newspaper ‘Sud-Ouest’, like the one inaugurated this afternoon at La Minoterie with highlights throughout the festival's history. And the party continues on stage with bulerías. A bit of lyrics go out to her: “The way Sara Baras dances, she's too much to take”. A little dance by a cantaor, another cantaor, the box drum player, the guest... and two hours after the curtains had opened, the Sara Baras earthquake lets up. But not that of flamenco, which goes on shaking up quite a few people well into the wee hours of the night at Bistro de Marcel with Leo de Aurora playing the guitar and singing some lyrics, cheered on by a curious pair of clappers, consisting of Blanca del Rey and Japanese bailaor Shoji Kojima.

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