Seville's Bienal de Flamenco
to include new venues
The twelfth
edition of the festival will program
acoustic spaces in historic buildings
Flamenco-world.com
The Bienal de Flamenco is invading the
heart of old Seville. For its twelfth edition which will take place between September
3rd and October 6th, 2002 the flamenco festival will offer unamplified cante concerts
in historic buildings such as palaces, patios and plazas throughout the city.
These 'unplugged' recitals will form part of the schedule of approximately sixty
shows so far confirmed, in addition to premieres by Sara Baras, Antonio Canales,
Javier Latorre and Eva la Yerbabuena, the works 'Galvánicas' by Israel
Galván, 'Del Alma' of Isabel Bayón, 'Orestes en Lisboa' by playwright
Francisco Suárez and a theater presentation of Caballero Bonald's novel
'Ágata, ojo de gato' based on an idea by Manuela Carrasco.
The Casa de Pilatos, the Santa María
Plaza or the Patio del Archivo de Indias may be a few of Seville's historic spaces
that the city's Bienal de Flamenco will take over in its thirteenth edition. The
festival has decided to add historic buildings from the old town to the capital's
theaters, cultural clubs and courtyards to serve as settings for introducing a
new concept for performances: acoustic cante recitals. Manuel Herrera, director
of Seville's Bienal de Flamenco explains "what we want to do is offer an
intimate sort of flamenco in dignified locations throughout the city which will
allow cante to be enjoyed without the need for amplification". The project
which appears on the program as 'Tematización del casco antiguo' [ambience
for the old town] of the Seville city government's Area de Cultura, could be connected
to the part of the program designated as 'Bienal va por barrios' [the Bienal neighborhood
by neigborhood], a sort of preamble to the actual festival that has been carried
out during July and August since the tenth edition in various parts of the city
with settings such as the Triana Hotel, the San Jerónimo monastery, La
Buhaira, the Muelle de la Sal and the Cortijo del Cuarto.
Juan Suarez, Juan Ortega and Manuel Herrera
These recitals form part of a program whose
sixty performances, a score of which are premieres, "guarantee a festival
with which Andalusia offers its most original music to the world" as Herrera
states. In this "showcase of flamenco creativity" budgeted at 1.5 million
euros, the participation of stars like Sara Baras with her 'Mariana Pineda', a
work with music by the guitarist Manolo Sanlúcar; Antonio Canales with
'Minotauro'; El Mistela with 'Bailografías'; 'Del Alma', Isabel Bayón's
debut with her own company; Javier Latorre with the comic work 'Rinconete y Cortadillo';
and Israel Galván with 'Galvánicas' has already been confirmed.
To represent the Bienal's receptiveness to
the so-called 'new tendencies', the program is to include 'Orestes en Lisboa',
a work by the playwright from Extremadura Francisco Suárez with the participation
of artists like Manolete and Carmen Cortés. In addition, new productions
by dance companies such as those of María Pagés, Eva la Yerbabuena,
Manuela Carrasco and Juana Amaya will be included, as well as musicians like Dorantes,
Tomatito, Cañizares, Vicente Amigo and Gerardo Núñez and
singers Chocolate, José Mercé, Paquera de Jerez, José Menese,
Carmen Linares, Agujetas, Lebrijano, Estrella Morente, Arcángel and Marina
Heredia.
"Concise, profound and austere"
An austere poster designed by Seville
painter Juan Suárez is the letter of presentation for this string of scheduled
artists. The painter, who belongs to the generation which followed Luis Gordillo
who created the poster for the 2000 festival, says his creation represents that
which "brings me into flamenco". From the Cádiz town El Puerto
de Santa María, the artist describes his work as "concise, profound
and austere". On a blue background with black letters he has "a swath
of white, elongated, almost a toothpick to represent the blade, the knife, the
gash...an anecdotal reference to the flamenco knife or switchblade of Marina".
All that "flamenco has which is festive" is "luminously" summed
up in a polychromatic upper stripe and another along the side.
With this image which "is going
to sell this edition of the festival throughout the world", Manuel Herrera
hopes to see another of his objectives regarding the festival fulfilled: "To
consolidate flamenco as a tourist resource of the first order". Aware of
this, the Junta de Andalucía's Consejería de Turismo worked shoulder
to shoulder at the Feria Internacional de Turismo (Fitur) with the Bienal de Flamenco.
At the presentation of the twelfth edition of this trade fair tourism councillor
José Hurtado emphasized that "flamenco is a fundamental tool for promoting
tourism, and a dynamic element in this important Andalusian industry". For
this reason the Consejería decided to use the most important flamenco stars
to promote tourism abroad as has been the case with "Flamenco Festival USA",
or the naming of Sara Baras as promotional image for the region's tourist offering.
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