20th MONT DE MARSAN FLAMENCO FESTIVAL 2008
LEBRIJANO · JOSÉ DE LA TOMASA · ANDRÉS PEÑA & PILAR OGALLA
Inspiration
Silvia Calado. Mont de Marsan, July 10th, 2008
Mont de Marsan 2008. Photo gallery (2), by Daniel Muñoz
El Lebrijano : cante. Pedro María Peña: guitar. Agustín Henke: percussion. Juan Sanjuan, Juanito: clapping, choruses/ José de la Tomasa : cante. Antonio Carrión: guitar/ 'A fuego lento'. Andrés Peña, Pilar Ogalla : baile, choreography. David Lagos, Luis Moneo, Inmaculada Romero: cante. Alfredo Lagos, Javier Patino: guitar. Carlos Grilo, Alfonso Carpio: clapping. Luis el Zambo: guest artist. 20th Mont de Marsan Flamenco Festival 2008. Café Cantante at Place St-Roch. Mont de Marsan (France), July 10th, 2008. 7:30 p.m.
Lebrijano (Photo Daniel Muñoz)
And it came. The sublime instant, the magic of cante. It's a sudden, aloof, winding phenomenon. But when it happens, all the wait makes sense. No sooner did Lebrijano utter 'thunder'... than he felt El Camborio's stab in his very own flesh. It has no explanation, but it might have consequences. The cantaor is still recovering from a recent operation, with his belly stitched up and bandaged. And he made up for what physical strength couldn't provide with feeling. Genius is a part of him.
Joining it is something that only happens at Mont de Marsan. And that's the comradeship. There's no other festival where another twenty artists are there in the front row cheering, seeing and raising each bid up on stage. But the devotion of the audience, the respect which this crowd attends the Café Cantante with is also matchless. "You all make Mont de Marsan a unique flamenco capital in the world", he told them before charging with cantiñas. He spoke to them, told them, carried them off the ground. And he sketched the paths of his music in the air with his finger.
José de la Tomasa (Foto Daniel Muñoz)
Then his hand rested on his wound. Soleá. Mother's grief. Perrata of mine. Seguiriya. Further inside. "Long live geniuses!", José Valencia shouts to him. The bulería provides the counterpoint. Another of his hymns. Other proof that cante accepts renewal. "Oh, poor heart of mine, why do you all mistreat it". And clapping por Lebrija. But he will still make a last stab felt, the galleys cante of 'Persecución', which he transferred to present-day Italy. The crowd rise to their feet, asking him for more. And he returns kissing the floor, shooting off a 'traquititrá' with the enjoyment of someone who feels touched by inspiration.
It was inevitable for José de la Tomasa to dedicate his cantes to him next. The Sevillian cantaor, treasurer of one of the fundamental cantaor lineages, that of Manuel Torre, used the soleá, taranto and even alegrías to lead towards the seguiriya, "my family's national anthem". The lyrics are his which he looks inside with in such a dramatic way. The audience asks him for more, and with Luis el Zambo still present, as he comments jokingly, he devotes himself por bulerías. In no time at all, Rafael de Utrera, José Valencia, El Cabeza and Juan Reina got up on stage to cover him with clapping. And he grows in that cante which, he warned, isn't my thing. Matters of inspiration. The hug which Juan Peña came out to give him seemed to seal an unforgettable evening of cante. But there would still be more. Bailaores Andrés Peña and Pilar Ogalla stress their affection for cante jondo in 'A fuego lento'. And not just by taking accompanying voices with them as reliable as those of David Lagos and Luis Moneo, but also by inviting Luis el Zambo just for the pleasure of listening to him sing. And the Jerez totem also had its night. Both in the seguiriya and in the soleá por bulerías, with the backing of the powerful guitar of Alfredo Lagos , he touched the listening audience.
Pilar Ogalla and Andrés Peña (Photo Daniel Muñoz)
But it was just a detail - now then, magnificent - within a show of painstaking presentation in which the interrelationship is stressed between the vertices of the baile-cante-toque triangle. The Jerez-born bailaor opted for formal purging, contention and elegance, brimming over with expressive rhythmic references por bulerías. The Cádiz-born bailaora devoted herself to balancing plastic art and temperament. But neither passed the thin line of emotion. As you might suspect, the grand finale was great, a succulent desert for an 'exceptionnelle' evening.
Related activities
Since Marco Vargas and Chloé Brûle starting things off last year, street shows have become yet another attraction in Mont de Marsan. The new show is that of Rosario Toledo and David Palomar , who with 'Del primer paso' challenged the hot sun in Place St-Roch's esplanade a little while before the Café Cantante opened its doors. The cantaor and Cádiz-born bailaora's show has an open heart. Serious, unaccompanied cante. Serious, unadorned baile. And a common thread as simple as it is effective; that process in which the dancer falls prey to the jondura of flamenco to the point of swapping her slippers for heels. All of it in a matter of twenty minutes. Synthetic, direct, specific. And so near that you can feel them breathe. Flamenco was never so close. Long live boldness.
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Mont de Marsan 2008. Photo gallery (2), by Daniel Muñoz
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David Palomar and Rosario Toledo
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
David Palomar and Rosario Toledo
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
Lebrijano
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
Pilar Ogalla
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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Luis el Zambo
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
Luis el Zambo
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
Alfredo Lagos
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
Grand Finale. Andrés Peña and Pilar Ogalla
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
And tomorrow…
· Espace François Mitterrand (9 p.m.)
'De la mar al fuego': Lebrijano , Luis el Zambo, Mariana Cornejo, José de la Tomasa, Pepa de Benito, El Junco, Concha Vargas...
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