PITINGO. PRESENTATION OF ‘PITINGO
CON HABICHUELAS’
Jondo and soul
S.C. Madrid, February 14th, 2007
‘Pitingo con Habichuelas’.
Pitingo: cante. Juan el Camborio: guitar.
Iván and Maica Sitte: choruses. Sebastián
el Pelao and Fernando Soto: clapping. Sala Galileo Galilei.
Madrid, February 14th, 2007. 9 p.m.
Pitingo and Maica Sitte (Photo
Daniel Muñoz)
Although ‘Pitingo
con Habichuelas’ was already presented last
summer at the Sabatini Gardens, its official presentation
was still missing, the celebration amidst friends. And
Antonio
Pitingo set the date for Valentine’s Day at
Madrid’s Sala Galileo Galilei. The Huelva-born cantaor,
though accompanied by just one Habichuela, guitarist Juan
el Camborio, was able to uphold the repertoire from his
début album with ease and security. And above all,
his differential value: flamenco soul. To do so, the choruses
were fundamental by siblings Iván and Maica Sitte,
who harmonized the voices with taste and quality nearly
unheard of in flamenco. Between cantes, he explained it:
“These two types of music run through my veins.
I started singing soul when I was twelve, and since then,
I’ve alternated both kinds of music in my artistic
career which I’m now attempting to mix”. And
the truth is that the songs most immersed in that fusion
were the ones that got the most olés from the noisy
but friendly audience. The artist from Huelva really had
to put up a good fight to make himself heard over the
din from the crowd, especially in the traditional cantes.
His recreations of granaínas, fandangos and soleares
were also subject to touches of soul, with a mellow result
which was more than pleasing to the ears of enthusiasts
hungry for something new. And you can see there are a
great many of them, judging by the tremendous welcome
received by the more collateral songs like ‘Los
quereles’, ‘Familia Habichuela’, and
‘Gwendolyn’ por bulerías and even that
version of ‘Yesterday’ with which he provides
a sneak preview of his second album... which he is already
working on. New air which will continue to blow.
