Israel Galván ‘fights’ against Los 3.000 in a wrestling match between creators

The Sevillian bailaor takes part in the series ‘La Lucha Libre vuelve al Price’, which is to be held at Madrid’s Price Circus from January 23rd to 31st, 2010

S.C./Flamenco-world.com, January 2010
Cover photo: © Daniel Muñoz

The Price Circus recalls its origins. The Madrilenian amphitheater reopens its ring to offer “8 únicas veladas” (“8 evenings only”) of the series ‘¡La Lucha Libre vuelve al Price!’ (‘Wrestling Returns to the Price!’) from January 23rd to 31st, 2010. But now the rounds won’t be violent, but rather artful. Four fights will be held each evening and one of them is the one featuring Israel Galván vs. Los 3.000. The avant-garde bailaor will face the flamencos from the Sevillian neighborhood of the same name, “villains” such as El Bobote, El Bizco Eléctrico, Caracafé, El Turco and El Dientes. They share each evening, presented by Pepín Tre, with other fighters, dancers, acrobats and musicians like Sol Picó, Igor Yebra, Carles Santos, Serouj Kradjian, Raúl Márquez and Ara Malikian.

Israel Galván with Bobote and Eléctrico (Photo Féliz Vázquez)

After dancing ‘Solo’, Israel Galván tackles something even more difficult. The Sevillian bailaor, an agitator of contemporary flamenco, is one of the stars of the fights between creators which are going to take place at the Price Circus in Madrid in the last week of January. The bailaor will face off with Los 3.000, a group of flamencos coming from the Sevillian neighborhood Las Tres Mil Viviendas. They include the well-known clappers and bailaores Bobote and Eléctrico, who already collaborated with Galván in his show ‘Arena’. And the duo is joined by other “villains” from the neighborhood like Caracafé, El Turco and El Dientes, among whom there is a boxer and a fandango cantaor.

The relationship between flamencos and the circus goes way back. “When Israel Galván was invited by the new Price Circus to its arena, the memory of flamenco was revived: the galas at the Price, copla duels, Porrinas against Farina, ‘fandangazos’, joke fights… a whole more or less illegitimate family tree which didn’t hide a common origin”, the program explains. It was even related to a photograph from 1937 in which, before performing at the Price, Vicente Escudero and his gypsies from Sacromonte were depicted by the ‘Heraldo de Madrid’. And the photo’s caption insists on presenting the contrast “between the refined stylist, the dancer and the rest of the troupe, something dark and primitive which unfolds at his feet”. It is a matter of inspiration, but the encounter of Israel Galván vs. Los 3.000 “promises to be a walk on the wild side of life”, something which the flamenco artist’s audiences expect from him. And the referee is going to be ‘flamencomic’ José Luis Ortiz Nuevo.

In total, there will be 8 evenings of this production by the Teatro Circo Price which “wants to recover the ambience of those old-time combats held at the old building at Plaza del Rey. But on these 21st-century evenings, the fight will be between creators”. Who, by the way, “have more freedom than fighting in them”. Each night, the ring will host hand-to-hand combat between acrobats Francesca Lissa and Celso Pereira, musician Carles Santos - winner of the 2008 National Music Prize - against himself, the miscegenation fight between pianist Serouj Kradjian and violinist Raúl Márquez, as well as dancers Sol Picó and Igor Yebra with the music of Ara Malikian.

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