2009 NÎMES FLAMENCO FESTIVAL. TRIBUTE TO JOSÉ
GALVÁN
Gregor Samsa won
Silvia Calado. Nîmes, January 23rd, 2009
‘Homenaje a José Galván’.
José Galván, Israel Galván, Pastora
Galván, Eugenia de los Reyes: baile. David Lagos,
José Valencia, Javier Rivera: cante. Pedro Sierra,
Alfredo Lagos: guitar. 19th Nîmes Flamenco Festival.
Nîmes (France), January 23rd, 2009, 9 p.m.
Who’s the strange bug now? A decade
has gone by since in ‘La metamorfosis’ (‘The
Metamorphosis’), Israel
Galván played the role of Gregor Samsa, Kafka’s
character who, due to being different, is hounded by the
family’s strict family conservatism. But now we find
out that Gregor - Israel, won in the end. Now his ways are
socially recognized, now his ‘oddities’ are
normalized, accepted and honored. They’ve even been
passed on to his sister Pastora, who has absorbed them with
astounding native ease. And they also affect the cantaores
and guitarists, and the way they tackle their music. He
is no longer the bug. The bug is to the right of the wall.
Following its applauded collaboration last
year in a tribute to French amateur Pepe Linares, the Nîmes
Flamenco Festival also decided to pay tribute to José
Galván. And, in passing, to satisfy everyone’s
curiosity. Let them clear up how from that source, the greatest
baile revolution in the last few decades has arisen, which
flabbergasted the audience here four editions ago with ‘La
edad de oro’. And the response wasn’t on this
stage as such, but rather in its relation to ‘La metamorfosis’,
which has been radically answered in this decade.
The gala focused on highlighting abysses
and distances. The opening number showed the three of them
por tangos. The father flanked by his two children, dancing
to the same music, but different planets. José took
over the stage por soleá, which he danced extensively,
with innocent manners, with limited resources, with iterative
solutions … but with a surprising effect on this crowd
given to orthodoxy. Pastora
Galván chose cantiñas and bata de cola
for her solo. And she showed how well her metamorphosis
has suited her in ‘La francesa’, with a baile
based on slowness and control of the intensity, a conscious,
non-conformist baile, without losing an ounce of her feminine
charm.
Finally, Israel Galván. For his
piece, sketches of estranged alegrías, he used a
wooden pedestal, on which he struck, slid, decomposed, sculpturized
himself. And with him, the cante of David
Lagos, who was superb in such a complex tessitura. Then
the strange bug came back, singing to his wife, Eugenia
de los Reyes - also retired for thirty years -, ‘Limosna
de amores’ with Rafael Rodríguez on toque,
for her to give it a certain danced form. And all of a sudden,
back to their children’s turn. A spotlight for each
of them. A cantaor for each of them. Israel and David. Pastora
and José
Valencia. Cutting dance. Chiaroscuro dance. Piercing
voices. And amidst the semi-darkness, a dream excerpted
from ‘La francesa’: she with rattles to the
orientalized sound of Pedro
Sierra. There are no concessions to the crowd. Nor obliging
endings or looks. There’s still more left from Israel,
the purest, most sober, devilish and impressive one, dialoguing
por tonás with David Lagos. And from that contention
and bareness, to the accumulation in the back of everyone
to accompany the nearly twenty minutes of seguiriyas by
José Galván, whose long experience had to
be revered by the audience, half of his life being dedicated
to teaching the precepts. The Théâtre rose
to its feet, the maestro gave thanks, and with his entire
family, offered a historic grand finale, with his wife,
children, grandchildren, daughter-in-law, niece and the
whole group. As a climax, the grandfather showed off his
grandson, Jacob, Israel’s son, who he’s already
teaching steps to. The story goes on …
The 19th Nîmes Flamenco Festival
didn’t end with Los Galván, but rather with
‘Mujeres’.
It was Mario Maya’s three Graces - Merche Esmeralda,
Belén Maya and Rocío Molina - who on Saturday
and Sunday provided the climax for this edition of the French
festival, which took these two performances as a tribute
to the recently deceased baile maestro. But we have to elaborate
that, erroneously, both the organization and the French
press have attributed the show’s choreography to Mario
Maya, when his role in this show was as artistic director.
And from that post, he left his artistic greatness in this
show which has been earning applause all over the world
for a year now. And he did so in Nîmes, which is already
getting ready for next year’s anniversary festival:
“Twenty years, twenty days”.
