THIRTEEN DANCERS
IN THE CITY OF IDEAS
Fernando González-Caballos
Saturday
11th August, 2001
XLI
Festival de Cante de Las Minas. La Unión
Vicente Amigo: Ciudad de las ideas
Ballet Español de Murcia: A tiempo de fuego
If there's
any flamenco guitarist today capable of resolving any kind of rhythmic intricacy
with devilish ease, that's Vicente Amigo. The lonely guitarist's chair waited
patiently for the boy from Guadalcanal to sit down and blow the mind of each and
every person who had come for the presentation of his latest record, Ciudad de
las Ideas at La Unión's Festival de Cante de las Minas. He had barely gotten
seated when the first notes of Callejón de la Luna began to float
through the improvised auditorium which is the public market of Murcia. That taranta
from his first record - De mi Corazón al Aire - served as introduction
to Tío Arango, a soleá which I would venture to say is one
of the most precious jewels of what might possibly be his finest recorded work
to date.
Photo: José
Albaladejo
"Let's
see if we can all get grooving, okay?" were his only words before taking
off for Huelva in search of a Mensaje [message] in the form of a fandango to which
Blas Córdoba, El Quejío, the sextet's regular singer, gave voice.
In this way, the logical journey through his recordings passed through Vivencias
Imaginadas before letting loose with this new Ciudad de las Ideas which
is based on a poem by Kavafis.
The
fact is, each time Vicente Amigo embraces his instrument, good taste flows freely,
making us dream in alegrías, on the first fret in 'la' (A), with a Tarde
de Caramelo [candy afternoon], changing to minor key towards the end of the
composition where he constructed the best variations of the whole piece. "Let's
do some tangos", Compare Manuel, bulerías will come in its own good
time with Ojos de la Alhambra letting the arrangement race straight to
its finale. Just then, as if by magic, the full weight of the Moslem presence
made itself felt on stage, wrapped in a soleá to Córdoba, by which
means the musician paid tribute to his adopted city. And what a tribute it was!
A little bit of rumba, for a change of pace, and Tatá, after which
it was time for a gentler mood with Bolero a Vicente and Tres notas
para decir que te quiero [three notes to say I love you] to bulerías,
wrapping up with the zapateado Vivencias Imaginadas. But as happens, the
audience refused to let the guitarist retire from the stage without leaving a
little present, obliging him to adjust the capo to the third fret in 'la' to crank
out some extraordinary bulerías.
Second
parts are rarely better than first, and such was the case last night in La Unión.
A tiempo de fuego, the latest work of Murcia's National Ballet directed by Carmen
and Matilde Rubio, seemed to have serious lapses, as the choreographies lacked
any kind of criteria. In fact, I'm still wondering, how can you begin a dance
with tarantas, switch to alegrías, martinete, and close with bulerías?
And it has nothing to do with being classic or modern, but something much simpler:
it's about not mixing apples and oranges, because you run the risk of not knowing
what you're doing. Like that guajira with bulerías closing and a touch
of longing, without so much as a simple fan. It's quite a task to find justification
for the disproportion between the two shows presented on Saturday, which is why
more than ever I agree with what Joselero from my hometown used to say. It's that,
how can you possibly compare gold to copper?
