SPECIAL FEATURE. ENRIQUE MORENTE,
PREMIERE OF ‘PABLO DE MÁLAGA’ AT THE
REINA SOFÍA MUSEUM
New ‘Morentian’ revolt
Silvia Calado. Madrid, June 11th, 2008
‘Pablo de Málaga’.
Enrique Morente: cante. David Cerreduela,
Paquete: guitars. Bandolero: percussion. Ángel
Gabarre, Enrique Morente Jr.: clapping, choruses. Alfonso
Losa, El Popo: baile. + drums + electronic music. Reina
Sofía Museum. Madrid, June 11th, 2008. 9 p.m.
Enrique Morente. Premiere
of 'Pablo de Málaga' (Photo Daniel Muñoz)
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It is still just a sketch, but it’s
already impressive. Just like it happens to Enrique
Morente himself with all of those penciled rough drafts
of ‘Guernica’. And there they were, just a
few meters away, emanating inspiration and meaning for
this new revolt by the Granada-born cantaor. ‘Pablo
de Málaga’ faced the crowd for the first
time at the Reina Sofía Museum, just a few meters
away from the painting, a few days before it sounds at
the Frontón Jai Alai in the Basque city which is
a symbol today of all undesired wars, of all their undesirable
pain.
Which aren’t just a thing of the
past. And that’s why the first onslaught on the
album and in the concert is entitled ‘Guern-Irak’.
The machine-gunning of the civilian population by the
national faction when it was fleeing along the highway
from Málaga to Almería in 1937, the later
bombing of Guernica by the German Condor Legion... the
still bloody invasion of Iraq which was led by the United
States in 2003. Sensations, pain, weeping, rage and shooting
which are expressed here in the shape of avant-garde cante.
That is what Morente advocates; a committed way of singing
which - via Picasso’s literature - does without
the constraints of rhyme, the constraints of phases, of
norms which, as he demonstrates, are not a prerequisite
of ‘jondura’. What counts is the esthetic
value of the words, but uttered in such a form that their
substance hurts. Moreover, tonight the cantaor sang brimming
over with strength, with intention, with expression. And
thus stringing things along while hardly catching his
breath, but with rests, with surprising vocal turns, with
his superimposed echoes, with his never-before chromaticism.
‘Autorretrato’, ‘Compases y silencios’,
‘Adiós Málaga’, ‘Montes
de Málaga’... and the announcement of ‘El
pastor bobo’ as a connection with ‘Omega’
, which this new album is a continuation and consequence
of.
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Enrique Morente. Premiere
of 'Pablo de Málaga'
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
Besides acting as a cantaor and creator,
Enrique Morente acts as an orchestra conductor, but instead
of with a baton, with looks. Those who don’t catch
it are left out. And the only ones entirely inside were
percussionist Bandolero and guitarist David Cerreduela,
who carried the weight and the pace in this preview of
what promises to be the live version of ‘Pablo de
Málaga’. Which will be incredible when it
manages to square off its lineup, when it gets rid of
absolutely unfavorable commitments - such as that of the
so-called ‘bailaor’ Popo - and when everyone
and everything, including the machines, perform at the
same level of boldness as the cantaor (which occurs on
the album). Even so, we have to congratulate everyone
because Morente’s new revolt is here, with his humble,
eternal promise that “I’ll make a better album
for you soon”.
