18th MONT DE MARSAN FLAMENCO FESTIVAL 2006. LA FARRUCA, ‘GITANAS’

They say that in Seville...

Silvia Calado. Mont de Marsan, July 7th, 2006

Photo gallery / Online video

‘Gitanas’. La Farruca, Angelita Vargas, Carmelilla Montoya, Pilar la Faraona, Saray Reyes: baile. Juana la del Revuelo, Encarna Anillo, María Vizárraga, Mara Rey: cante. Antonio Rey, El Perla, Ramón Amador: guitar. 18th Mont de Marsan Flamenco Festival 2006. Espace François Mitterrand. Mont de Marsan (France), July 7th, 2006. 9 p.m.

La Farruca (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

They say that La Farruca had a singing café where the most temperamental flamenco women there were in Seville would appear. They were artists with bearing, bailaoras and cantaoras who used to make the very foundations of La Giralda quiver. There were nights when, wrapped up in brilliant frilled dresses, they took over the tablao in the sole company of three guitarists. It is said that they would warm up the ambience in the room por seguiriyas, intertwining in an apparent chaos of markings, arm movement and guts, forming a whirlwind which shook even the eucalyptus trees by the river.

The youngest of them, Saray Reyes, would afterwards open the time for solos with her electric alegría. She knew the secrets of the maestras and she added fresh flurries to it all. If anyone dared to show up behind the scenes, they might catch a glimpse of one of those women doing her hair and making the sign of the cross in the dressing room before going into action. She had a copper-colored face and her name was Angelita Vargas. She used to dance slowly, ever so slowly, por tientos. She would warm up her body and feet, scarcely strolling around, challenging with her regard, until the matriarch cantaora, Juana la del Revuelo, took the time to tangos and all hell broke loose. That was when it was necessary to bring out Carmelilla Montoya, a slender gypsy with a broad smile who would move around so lightly that she seemed to float. She had traces of Triana and dazzled with her steps on air when she used to dance soleá por bulerías. And the young cantaoras would have to get up, one by one, to swing her with their warm coplas.

	Juana la del Revuelo (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

And at that late night hour, Juana la del Revuelo couldn’t hold back and would come out at the foot of the stage to sing por bulerías. She used to explain them with dramatic art, splitting her voice at times, waggling her breasts and hips, while she received more and more olés. A polka dot dress, cloud-white apron and funny bloomers whose picots could be made out when she broke out dancing. And Pilar, who was called La Faraona because of her grandiose figure, would be inspired by her colleague’s cantes and came out to dish out art with a few strolls. They say her robust body would turn up a patch of land when she went into a flurry. And they say that her sister, the beautiful Farruca, would stick a cantaora in the dressing room to have her sing por soleá for her while she put on that praised black dress that used to mark her curvaceous figure. She would take people’s breath away when she danced, and they came to admire her from everywhere in the city, and they say, even from abroad. She used to cover the stage with the temperance of a lioness before the hunt and broke out, when nobody expected it, into bursts of strength in which she never lost her elegance. “Majesty!”, they used to shout to her while she danced por soleá in the middle of a circle of four cantaoras. When sparks were flying at the café, guitarist Antonio Rey would start to play the canastera and all the gypsy women would gather once more to dance once by one, in a lively intertwining which they bade farewell with... until the following night. They say that, with the echo of the crowd’s applause still lingering in the air, they would gather behind the scenes and give thanks to God.

To Eva.

Photo gallery . Festival de Mont de Marsan Click the images to enlarge
Angelita Vargas (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)	Encarna Anillo and La Farruca (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)	Juana and La Faraona (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)
Gitanas (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)	Juana la del Revuelo (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)	Farruquito and la Farruca (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

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