PITINGO, ‘OLÉ Y AMÉN’. PREMIERE
A cantaor and his formula
S.C./ Flamenco-world.com, December 27th, 2010
Photo
gallery. Pitingo. ‘Olé y amén’.
Premiere. By Daniel Muñoz
‘Olé y amén’.
Pitingo: cante. Juan Carmona: guitar. Jesuli
del Puerto: second guitar. Juan Carmona, Benji: percussion.
Eli Soto, Noemí Humanes: voices. Piripi: hand clapping.
Rocío la Turronera: dance. Guere: bass. Jorge Fernández:
drums. Jorge, Michael: sax, trumpet. Víctor Alonso:
piano. Gospel choir: voices. Teatro Calderón Häagen-Dazs.
Madrid, December 27th and 28th, 2010. 9:00 pm
What does a ballad that is an international
hit like ‘Without You’ have to do with a cante
por malagueñas? The answer is: Pitingo.
The Huelva-born cantaor has become a unique link between
flamenco and pop-soul songs. He, his throat, his musicians,
his stylism and above all, his audience. He has built a
formula which is his alone - he named it soulería
- and which he applies to the different repertoires he chooses
for his albums. ‘Olé y amén’ is
the third. As on the previous one, he gathers two or three
classical cantes (but with soul-style quejidos) with a few
more-than-contrasting hit songs. And that dead-easy recognition
with a view to the receiver makes a premiere look like the
closing concert of a tour, with the crowd on their feet
- every other song - singing and dancing with their idol.
He makes it simple, with a close, interactive attitude well-aware
that the performance has to be a fun, shared experience
to tell about.
Pitingo came out welcomed by cries of “¡guapo,
guapo!” (“Handsome, handsome!”). He sang
an unaccompanied soleá around a little table in order
to get in tune. Shortly thereafter he was standing with
the mike in his hand, allowing himself freedom of motion,
to warm up some malagueñas accompanied on guitar
by Juan Carmona, his right-hand man. Then he took the changing
fandango to soul, while the spotlight insisted on lighting
up the faces in the audience of the unique Teatro Calderón.
Before continuing, he thanked his die-hard fans and dedicated
the concert to Enrique
Morente whom, as he told, he met one night at the gatherings
at (the bar) El Mago and, after listening to him, he asked
him to repeat the cante he had just done, a fandango by
Antonio el de la Calzá. He recalled that first encounter
and the support he always offered him. And immediately afterwards,
he got down to performing ‘Compromiso’ por bulerías,
whose rendition was sealed forever by Fernanda
de Utrera. Even so, he tried to give it his vocal trademark,
full of virtuosity, tense cut-offs, power and warmth. Insisting
on the flamenco cuplé, he performed a potpourri which
had room for everything from the zambra caracolera to the
sevillana from Barquerito de Lora, with the memory of those
who give glory to glory in between. But unexpectedly, ‘Yesterday’.
And as a refrain, “cómo quieres que te quiera”
(“How do you want me to love you?”). The crowd
was screaming, the spotlights doing their job, the springs
working… You got the feeling that everything was (really)
going along as planned.
The typical double box-drum solo was also
carried out with a view to the crowd. Winds, keyboards,
bass, drums and gospel choir joined the celebration. After
a reasonable length of time, the star reappeared in a new
suit with sequined lapels and a tuxedo shirt… dressed
for the occasion of the live premiere of the album’s
title cut. And he was a huge hit with the song and its story,
by then integrating the pit with the stage and stretching
his smile, arm and mike out to the audience. He let up briefly
with the ballad ‘Without You’, popularized as
you well know by Mariah Carey, and attacked once again with
the most dynamic version on his second album, that of ‘Killing
Me Softly With His Song’. Straight off, he asked the
crowd to do what they felt like, that is, to get back up
off their seats. No sooner said than done.
A contradictory double interlude gave the
theater some fresh air. First, the gospel choir all by itself.
Next, a bailaora por bulerías. And after presenting
the other half of the musicians, he sweetened the ambience
with his version of ‘Cucurrucucú, paloma’,
with Caetano Veloso as a reference. Then back to the recognizable,
to ‘I Just Called To Say I Love You’ which Stevie
Wonder used to hammer us with. The atmosphere was such that
there were now those who took advantage to take photos of
themselves with the singer in the background. Sheer madness.
And to finish things off, Donna Summer’s ‘She
Works Hard For The Money’… and translated as
‘Lucha por su dinero’, now by Pitingo. As the
first encore, he moved towards salsa with ‘Devórame
otra vez’, which brought the people up in years in
the audience to their feet. He recovered those of us who
had tuned out of the show by then in extremis with
a grand finale por bulerías which, given the time
of the year it is, had the air of a Jerez zambomba. Making
everyone happy is impossible. Making many happy… is
too easy?
Photo
gallery.
Pitingo, by Daniel Muñoz
Photos © Daniel Muñoz,
December 27th 2010
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