Vicente Soto, Enrique Morente and Rafael Amargo prepare projects
based on the work

Flamenco-world.com, March 2005

“At a certain village in La Mancha, which I shall not name, there lived not long ago one of those old-fashioned gentlemen who are never without a lance upon a rack, an old target, a lean horse, and a greyhound”. Four hundred years ago, Miguel de Cervantes wrote this universal sentence with which he begins ‘The Renowned Don Quixote de la Mancha’. Musicians, writers, playwrights and dancers take part in the commemoration of such an exceptional anniversary. And flamenco is not to be left out. Vicente Soto, Enrique Morente and Rafael Amargo are some of the artists who are going to present projects inspired by the classic of world literature in this Cervantine year.

Vicente Soto. ‘Quijote Flamenco’

He has just released his new album ‘eStar Alegre’, but Vicente Soto Sordera has other projects on his hands. Used to relating flamenco to literature, he now sets himself the challenge of seeking out jondura in ‘Don Quixote’. The show consists of a selection of eight texts, adapted to cante flamenco by writer Pedro Atienza. Vicente Soto explains that there are “eight serious cantes, among them, a milonga, a bambera, a cante through soleá and a cante through romance, and afterwards a tribute through bulerías to close”. The Jerez-born cantaor adds that this ‘Quijote Flamenco’ is a show “without extravagance, performed by a sextet with guitar, percussion, cello and piano”. The artist is aware that “it being such an important year, we once again join flamenco and good literature, as I've already done with very important poets”. The performance is scheduled for April 18th, 2005 at Albacete's Circus Theater within the official program of acts for the 400-year anniversary, sharing the bill with Sting and Ainhoa Arteta. It will moreover be taken to stages in Plasencia, Alcalá de Henares, Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna, where it will be broadcast by Austrian national radio and television.

Vicente Soto 'Sordera' (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

‘Quijote Flamenco’ Tour by Vicente Soto Sordera

April 12th
Plasencia (Cáceres, Spain)

April 18th
Albacete. Circus Theater (Castile la Mancha, Spain)

April 22nd, 23rd and 29th
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid, Spain)

May 11th
Vienna. (Austria)

May 12th
Budapest (Hungary)

May 13th
Bratislava (Slovakia)

December 1st
The Hague (Holland)

Enrique Morente. ‘¡Al fuego con los libros!’

It is not the first time Enrique Morente has approached ‘Don Quixote’. Over a decade ago, he presented a show in the Granada town of Santa Fe about the Knight of the Sad Figure entitled ‘El loco romántico’ (‘The Mad Romantic’). Next June he is scheduled to present a new project at the 2005 Barcelona Grec Festival, entitled ‘¡Al fuego con los libros!’ (‘Burn the Books!’). As he told the daily newspaper ‘El País’, “what I try and capture there is the madness of some people who go around the world thinking they can fix it, those wonderful people who are tragic and comic at the same time, that mixture of utopia and sadness which is so well-told in Don Quixote”. The idea moving him to undertake this show is “that the sole hope in life is that there are still Don Quixotes and Sanchos out there who keep this a halfway decent place to live”.

Enrique Morente (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Rafael Amargo. ‘DQ, un pasajero en tránsito’

Rafael Amargo joins up with La Fura dels Baus to carry out ‘DQ, un pasajero en tránsito’ (‘DQ, a Passenger Passing Through’). The show, just like ‘Poet in New York’, will combine dancing with audiovisuals and theater, all of which is presented “with the esthetics of a video game”. Given that “I owe it a lot of respect”, they only use the Cervantine classic as a source of inspiration. The storyline narrates the experiences of a young man who discovers the novel on the Internet, “turning himself into a Don Quixote, a lover of the novels of chivalry”. To contrast with the contemporary work of the Catalan theater group, the Granada-born bailaor and dancer offers a look at Spanish ballet dancing. The show premieres at the Peralada Festival (Gerona) in summer 2005 and afterwards performances are scheduled in other Spanish cities such as Alcalá de Henares, Valencia and Granada. The international agenda already has dates in Paris and Tokyo.

Rafael Amargo (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

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