|
Friday,
August 11th.
XV Festival de Cante de Las Minas. La Union.
Broken
cantes and sudden ruffles
The first
day hosted Esperanza Fernandez, Pansequito, Aurora Vargas and Eva la Yerbabuena
Esperanza
Fernandez
Esperanza Fernández
The first gala
of the festival, after the inaugural speech and the performance of the past contest's
winners, was opened by the Sevillian cantaora (flamenco singer) Esperanza Fernandez,
who sang for the first time at La Union "por solea", demonstrating that she had
come not just as a mere formality, and she stressed this by performing a series
of dark and hurting "seguiriyas" of Paco la Luz. She publicly protested because
of the bad acoustics and she continued with "tientos-tangos", and then more "fiesta"
(party) with her "cantiñas del Pinini" and "por bulerias" performed at
a distance from the microphone (see video), including gallant steps to the sound
of the furious strumming of the guitar of Miguel Angel Cortes.
Pansequito
Aurora Vargas
Aurora Vargas
Pansequito and
Aurora Vargas maintain a stable and parallel format, with the same guitar player
and "palmeros" (musicians who stress the rhythm with their clapping). He kept
to merely three cantes (types of flamenco songs): first "alegrias", followed by
a marathon "por solea" with a vigorous final sprint and finally some well-introduced
"tarantos". Aurora also began "por alegrias" and realized some broken local "cantes",
which were the "tarantas" and the "cartageneras". Nevertheless, the most vibrating
moments came with the "tangos", which she began after trying her voice, and which
served to recall the accident ("a tremendous crash") suffered by her long-time
guitar player (Niño de Pura, much acclaimed during the whole performance)
and by the "ritmeros" (same as "palmeros") Bobote and Electrico (still with some
bruises). She bravely tuned some "fandangos" on the top of her voice chanting
"de la playa las arenas" ("the sand from the beach") and she easily
won herself the crowd with the "bulerias" that she dedicated to her colleagues,
"who have re-born after their accident".
Pansequito
Eva
La Yerbabuena
Eva La Yerbabuena
Eva brought her
circumstantial show, a blend of her shows ‘Eva’ and ‘5 mujeres 5’(which she will
perform at the upcoming Bienal), in which she has taken the flashes of the "granaina"
with "bata de cola" (flamenco dress) from ‘Eva’: Measured dancing with marked
poses. As the cantaores appeared one after another (Enrique Soto, Segundo Falcon
and Arcangel, all of them fantastic) in a series of "martinetes", they prepared
the way for the "seguiriyas" with which Eva captivates with the ruffles detached
"por bulerias".
This was followed
by the rumba of the guitar player Paco Jarana accompanied by Salvador Gutierrez,
including brief touches of flute and percussion, and there She Eva continued with
her delicate dance, swirling round, as in a chrysalis in the following "rondeña".
She then appeared with a different tailored suit with ruffles for the "cantiñas",
as the cantaores rapidly changed from one style to the other, but preferentially
with "bulerias de Cadiz".
It's not even necessary
to stress the perfect symbiosis, the synchronization with the music prepared for
her by her husband Jarana. Four hours after the start of the opening gala came
the first closing act in the "solea por buleria al golpe (to the beat)" which
Eva insinuatingly performed amidst the cantaores, among whom Arcangel raised the
final note.
Luis Clemente
|
