The work is a suite for voice and chamber orchestra, directed by Enric Palomar

Flamenco-world.com, March 2004

Flamenco once again sings poetry. Miguel Poveda has conceived, with the direction and music of Enric Palomar, a work focusing on poems from exile by Rafael Alberti. This suite for voice and chamber orchestra was recorded live at Barcelona's Auditori in May 2003. The Catalan cantaor, on this his fourth album, turns into cante jondo a selection of verses from the books by the Cádiz-born poet 'Entre el clavel y la espada' ('Between the Carnation and the Sword') and 'Baladas y canciones del Paraná' ('Ballads and Songs of Paraná'). But it is not all flamenco, since in this repertoire - whose music is performed by Taller de Músics' Big Ensemble - there is also room for the milonga and tango, musical airs from the Argentina in which the Generation of '27 poet took refuge.

Miguel Poveda (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Following a prolonged absence, the young cantaores are back in the record news. The first to return is Miguel Poveda... and in a special way. The Catalan cantaor presents 'Poemas del exilio. Rafael Alberti', a suite for flamenco voice and chamber orchestra, directed by Enric Palomar, also author of the music. The album was recorded live with Taller de Músics' Big Ensemble at the Auditori in Barcelona in May 2003.

Miguel Poveda adds a jondo voice to a selection of poems that Rafael Alberti wrote in exile in Argentina, excerpts from the books 'Entre el clavel y la espada' (1939-1940) and 'Baladas y canciones del Paraná' (1954) which, according to Enric Palomar, make up "an imaginary line beginning with the initial despair and uprooting and on to a smooth visionary optimism". Poems like 'Dejadme llorar', 'A la soledad me vine' and 'Se ha roto el río' reflect, in the view of the president of the Rafael Alberti Foundation, María Asunción Mateo, that "for nearly forty years, the separation of his landscapes inspired most of his work, which acquired the strength that can only be given by the nostalgia of he who has lived far away for so long".

About the music, Enric Palomar comments that the work's concept is "to sing Alberti sifting him through with new flavors, where the concertina and the native rhythms work as evocative". Joan Albert Amargós explains that "in 'Poemas del exilio' there is a wise use of rhythmics beginning with flamenco styles". And he concludes that "the composer's success is in using these elements to create a better symbiosis of styles". Thus, the orchestration is sustained in flamenco structures (martinete, farruca, tanguillos, tangos, soleá through bulerías...), without standing in the way of music of Buenos Aires airs such as the milonga and the tango itself, or classical and contemporary style.

About the cante, as the work's director points out, "having Miguel Poveda for this work is a privilege of quiet words and half-veiled eyes ready to listen to him. His susceptibility and his art fill everything he sings with contents". Amargós elaborates that "one of the most interesting points is the transformation undergone by Miguel Poveda's flamenco voice, at the service of a score that has great inventiveness in both the melody and the harmonics".

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