Flamenco cantaor El Lebrijano
returns
García Márquez’s dedication in the
shape of an album
‘Cuando Lebrijano canta se moja
el agua’, composed by Dorantes, comes out on April
29th
Flamenco-world.com, April 2008
“When Lebrijano sings,
water gets wet”. Gabriel García Márquez
wrote that sentence some years ago while he was listening
to the cantaor. And Lebrijano
has thanked him for the dedication with a record based
on his work. The words by ‘Gabo’ entitle album
number thirty-five by the Sevillian cantaor, a record
made beginning with the texts from novels such as ‘No
One Writes to the Colonel’ and ‘One Hundred
Years of Solitude’. The music has been entrusted
to pianist Dorantes and guitarist Pedro María Peña
by this artist who, in passing, is celebrating his half
a century of dedication to flamenco cante.
El Lebrijano (Photo
Daniel Muñoz)
El Lebrijano has plunged into Gabriel
García Márquez’s literary universe.
The magical realism of the Colombian ‘Nobel’
has been transformed into flamenco cante. The texts of
novels like ‘No One Writes to the Colonel’
and ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ have been
adapted to flamenco metrics. And for example, the monologue
of ‘Isabel Watching the Rain in Macondo’ takes
the shape of a bulería. The lyrics have been adapted
by Casto Márquez, a job which has been approved
by the author.
‘La cándida Eréndira’,
‘La Santa’, ‘El rastro de tu sangre
en la nieve’ and ‘Espantos de agosto’
are some of the nine songs included on the album. The
music is the work of his nephew David
Peña ‘Dorantes’, pianist and composer,
who has also had the participation of his brother, guitarist
Pedro María Peña, the cantaor’s usual
accompanist. The album has been forged for some time now.
Back at the 2007 Guadalajara Book Fair, El Lebrijano offered
a sneak preview, at the same time as he met up with his
old friend ‘Gabo’ at the Mexican literary
event.
With this album, María la Perrata’s
son moreover celebrates his half a century of commitment
to flamenco cante. His career is dotted with records of
traditional cante, of commitment and also of intercultural
encounter. Titles highlighting his discography include
‘Persecución’, ‘Encuentros’,
‘Casablanca’, ‘Lágrimas de cera’
and ‘Tierra’. His latest albums have also
moved around on diverse fronts; proof of it is ‘Yo
me llamo Juan’ and ‘Puertas abiertas’,
a face-off with Moroccan musician Faiçal.
