MARIO MAYA, A LIFETIME
Fernando González-Caballos

Monday 13th August, 2001
XLI Festival de Cante de Las Minas. La Unión

Program:
Laura Vital
José Mercé: Aire

Everyone was geared for a great night because the show of shows was about to begin. The Town Hall and the organizers of La Unión's Festival Internacional de Cante de las Minas again would offer a tribute - and this time truly well-deserved - to the dancer and choreographer Mario Maya Fajardo. A man of few words "because dance is my thing", the maestro publicly thanked the festival's recognition of a lifelong career, from his debut with Manolo Caracol, through the time he spent in Pilar López' company, until he was finally able to make a name for himself within the world of flamenco together with his friend El Güito and Carmen Mora with their legendary Trío Madrid.

Photo: José Albaladejo

Nowadays everyone is familiar with the career of this man from Córdoba raised in the heart of Granada's Sacromonte. It's possible his work is much more important than some people believe, since presentations such as "Camelamos Naquerar" [we want to speak] have contributed to the fact that an ethnic group until recently marginalized, has been able to earn respect in a pluralistic society such as exists today. Certainly the debt that José Soto Soto and all the gypsies owe to Mario is in direct proportion to the sales figures which move the flamenco record industry and the ignorance of those who, riding the crest of the wave of fame, don't remember the history of their people and of those who fought to give it its rightful place.

Nevertheless, José Soto Soto is much more than a mere flamenco singer, he is José Mercé, a social phenomenon who has, beyond any doubt, surpassed in popularity each and every one of his predecessors becoming, over the years, something akin to a rock and roll star.

A well-known professor of language, German to be exact, once said that the limits of the word are also the limits of reality, in other words, that which cannot be told cannot be possible. Perhaps for this reason, the emotions which today bind my hands when I try to describe the events of last night, cause me to wonder whether it wasn't some sort of nightmare.

How can the organizers of an international festival such as that of Las Minas de la Unión entertain the conceit of having a Cathedral of Cante and a knowledgeable audience? People of all ages and classes showed up to see the foremost figure of cante in a strange show in which the amplification was worthy of a neighborhood street party and the uncomfortable atmosphere of disrespectful murmuring marked the difference between what it was, and what it could have been. The person in charge of programming had the bright idea of featuring the flashy winner of the Bienal 2000 as the opening act for the singer from Jerez...really! The show for the 13th was going to be one step beneath a dual of giants.

In spite of everything, José showed himself to be an old hand who had a bag full of tricks to save the night, even though he got up several times, visibly irritated. The boy from Santiago knows his profession like few others, which is why he's the artist he is. So after making his way through soleá, between Alcalá and Jerez, and showing that he knew how to handle a taranto and some fandangos of Bizco Amate and El Gloria, he left the audience with his group. The sound system was a nightmare for Diego del Morao in the the tangos, and he really made a scene in "Aire" with the continuous feedback. The audience broke out in cheering which only served to keep José's cante from being heard. Moraíto Chico's Rocayisa gave the singer a break shortly before doing the well-known bulerías version of "Al Alba". "La Vida Sale", "Pendiente", both bulerías - with a little dance bit included - served as closing, and two encores from his previous hit "Del Amanecer" served the singer of the day to put the final flourish on his performance in la Unión.

Translation: Estela Zatania