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Young
Performers Contest III
Lope
de Vega Theatre.
Wednesday, October 4th. 9:30 PM
The
shading of the suite by Gualberto and the daguerreotype of Hurtado in a day overshadowed
by the contest.
TWO
MISCELLANEOUS ARTISTS AND ONE POINTLESS CONTEST
Andrés Peña
Out of twelve
competitors, three stayed for the third and last day of the contest. Two of them
were winners, singer Laura Vital and dancer Andrés Peña; the bad
news came to Santiago Lara. The problem with the jury, who was aggravated with
the pre-selection process, resembled the programming of the Bienal: misleading,
precipitated and pointless. "Oh you guys are exploiting flamencooo!"
screamed a famous singer from Triana, endorsing himself, while the jury and the
organization didn’t know what to do with themselves.
Laura Vital
If
José Quevedo "El Bolita" became a little nervous when he opened
with his baroque fandangos, it was impeccable compared to the follow-up
performance of David Lagos, who sang appreciable malagueñas and
trotting bulerías. How could Laura Vital do the very same songs?
She lengthened the twin malagueña and changed the bulerías
that she had prepared with caracoles, more appropriate for her tone that
was marked by the guitar of Manuel Alfonseca. Her lack of real pain in the seguiriyas
made one think of other names…
…But,
the Lámpara Minera prize was taken by a young and beautiful girl? Well
here we have this sanluqueña tied to the sponsoring foundation.
And the last bright star of La Unión was a youth of 19? Well here
there is one who is 16, insecure and surely traumatized by being unjustly put
after a creator like El Bolita de Jerez, the let down must have hit him, and likewise
for Rafael de Utrera, after having left moments of brilliance and experience throughout
this Bienal.
At
least this third session of the contest enabled us to hear two of the best current
voices, that of Lagos and Arcángel,
who sang next to Enrique Soto for the dancer Andrés Peña (under
the same team as La
Yerbabuena) ,
with the guitars of Paco Jarana and Salvador Gutiérrez. Solid seguiriyas,
without abusing or exaggerating, with sparkling movements in the soleá
por bulerías. They did it with the only prize holder that had some
kind of sensibility.
Antonio
& David Hurtado
‘El
oro de las Hespérides’
Lope de Vega Theatre
Wednesday,
October 4th, 11 PM
ETHERAL
ALLEGORY
While
the jury continued to fuss and fight, "El oro de las Hespérides"
was presented, a metaphoric work by the Hurtado brothers, based on their recent
album, "Pentagrama
flamenco" ,
that has its compliment in the book, "El arte de la escritura musical flamenca",
also written by both. These conscientious grandsons of Juanito
Valderrama
made the live
CD with the vocal assistance of their mother, Lola Valderrama, adorned by original
pieces in the luxury of her two pianos and virtual oboe (smaller string and percussion
sections), sharing everything under the pompousness of the subtitle: "Mythological
symphony of the legendary genesis of the art of Flamenco."
Gualberto
García
"Flamenco
Constellation"
Joaquín Turina Hall
Wednesday,
October 4th, 7 PM
BEHIND
THE STARS
Gualberto,
the legendary troublemaker of Triana, proposed a new tour of his best work in
latest years –that of which consumes him mostly in aromas of orientalism, baroque,
flamenco and rock: it gives form to the conceptual symphony that tours around
in his head, inside his lyrical constellation of pulsating galaxies of many musicians.
Thirty years ago he recorded "Behind the stars" (Smash, 1969) with El
Lebrijano
and with
Morente in 1975,
with Camarón
and Agujetas
shortly after.
He
limited himself (expanding) on sitar and flamenco guitar, and played the veena
for the first time in public (precursor to the sitar), which "I bought on
the internet and am learning to play on the internet." Dark tones in rhythm
and melody with the same hand, an oriental Ry Cooder por seguiriyas, a
Nyman-style cameraman raising up with bulerías de caracol accompanied
by his strange orchestra.
In
the initial rhythms he already highlighted parts of the bulería
with flamenco guitar and tinaja, that of his usual Álvaro Garrido
from the group Caravasar. In addition he uses a harp and upright bass (Polkicheva
y Nikolov); his principal support was in the soprano voice of his pregnant daughter
Maili, who spoke with her violin – she has played years in a prestigious orchestra
in Chicago- on various occasions. A flamenco comet over the conductor of this
space odyssey that weaves different styles: bulerías, soleá de
Cádiz, seguirillas, fandangos, sevillanas bíblicas, alegrías,
tangos, campanilleros… it take us out there, behind the stars.
Luis
Clemente
Translated
by Jessica Lorber
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