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ROSES AND CAMELLIAS
Fernando González-Caballos
Tuesday,
August 14th, 2001
XLI Festival de Cante de Las Minas. La Unión
Mayte
Martín: "Querencia" (Cante)
María Pagés: "Flamenco Republic" (Dance)
The
last show of the Festival del Cante de las Minas de La Unión began an hour
and a half later than had been announced because, as has been the norm in this
XLI edition, the technical fine-tuning once again was responsible for yet another
delay in the performances of Mayte Martín and María Pagés.
Nevertheless, it was worth waiting patiently, because in the end it all came out
fine.
For
the first time during this festival, both scheduled programs triumphed together,
and on their own respective merits, because as everyone knows, "las rosas
y las camelias no se pueden comparar" ['you can't compare roses and camellias'].
Photo: Anahí
Cármody
The
1987 winner of the 'lámpara minera' [miner's lamp], Mayte Martín,
came to present her most recent recording, Querencia after several years of not
having appeared in a land which "brings very fond memories". And since
she was feeling good, she decided to start off with bulerías with Ten cuidao,
a song by Rafael de León and the maestro Solano. Then she dedicated a vidalita
to the maestro Valderrama, before taking on a petenera by the horns, "poor
maligned song", and dedicating it A Pastora. "A couple of malagueñas"
with 'Del convento las campanas' [the bells from the convent] of Don Antonio Chacón,
finishing off with rondeñas, served Mayte to demonstrate that she was in
top form. The good job done by Juan Ramón Caro in the accompaniment helped
the singer's amazing ear grab the audience's enthusiasm with a warm-up in which
her very special diction allowed her to squeeze some seguiriyas out of her throat,
on the sixth fret in 'la', with Cagancho's Reniego yo, before getting into the
very thick of it with Pena's ending verse. Fandangos and a bit of cantiñas,
from Utrera, with Pinini and Manuel de Angustias, all the way to Cádiz,
ending up with the titirimundis ending, served as an introduction composed by
Mayte to a beautiful violin version of Pastora's petenera. At that point José
Luis Montón on the guitar, and Marc Miralta with the Indian tabla joined
in on the fiesta to put a different spin on some bulerías to which the
audience reacted with an ovation that lasted nearly ten minutes.
"I'm.....I'm....well,
as long as I'm here I might as well sing a little por Levante, no?" No sooner
said than done, without wasting any time she offered the audience a taranta and
a minera after which she withdrew from the stage. Nevertheless, the people were
having such a good time they wouldn't stop applauding until they made her come
out again to sing some bulerías, offering a kind of medley of female singers
with a nod to Juana la del Revuelo, Fernanda de Utrera, and la Niña de
los Peines, among others.
Then
it came time for the dance with María Pagés and her Flamenco Republic,
a show which has received good reviews in each and every one of the theaters where
it's been presented. Knowing how to make the most of the technical limitations
and the reduced size of a stage such as that of La Unión, is all the more
admirable, and we have to take our hats off, given the control and ability demonstrated
by the dancer and her group during the course of the show.
The
young guitarist from the Macarena, Rubén Lebaniegos, winner of Córdoba's
National Contest, was in charge of controlling the musical reins of the show,
always under the watchful eye of Manolo Soler. In spite of the fact that he still
seems too mechanical and cold, he rose to the circumstances and was responsible
for the compositions Cañizares put together for a production that is anything
but humble. The rhythm of bulería por soleá was for the full company
to accompany Pagés in her first dance, before being left alone for a garrotín
in which she raised her arms high and was able to mark the compás with
spasms from the hip. The shawl for the alegrías served as an improvised
screen so that the dancer could change costume and dance tangos, farruca, and
rumba. Nevertheless, the cante por tonás of Rosalía de Triana and
the seguiriya of Manuel Vallejo sounding from old records, helped give María
Pagés her best moments of the night, despite the fact that it was in the
enjoyable final part of the show that the audience had the best time with the
challenges and rivalries of an improvised fiesta.
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