El Pipa, Agujetas, Poveda, Linares and Mercé will all perform in La Unión

Flamenco-world.com, August 2006

Photo gallery, by Pepe Albaladejo
© Festival de La Unión, 2006

Vicente Amigo delves into his back-catalog and pulls out ‘Poeta’. With this concierto for flamenco guitar and orchestra, based on the poems from ‘Marinero en tierra’ by Rafael Alberti, he kicked off the proceedings at the 2006 Festival del Cante de las Minas on Friday 4th August. The festival - now in its 46th year - will run until 12th August in the town of La Unión (Murcia, Spain). Accompanied by the Murcia Symphony Orchestra, the guitarist from Córdoba gave the first of a series of flamenco gala evenings. The previous evening had seen Milagros Mengíbar dance at the opening ceremony and performances by the winners of last year's cante and baile flamenco awards: Gema Jiménez and Daniel Navarro.

Carmen Linares (Photo: Festival de La Unión. Pepe Albaladejo)

With the proceedings under way at the magnificent old market building in La Unión, the guitar concert was followed by cante and baile. A well-worn trio of voices took care of business on the evening of Saturday 5th August: Agujetas, José Menese and Nano from Jerez. The dance came from Antonio el Pipa, who offered the Murcia crowd a taste of his latest production ‘De tablao’, accompanied by artists such as Juana la del Pipa and María José Franco. On Sunday 6th August, a new date with orthodox cante: with performances by tried and trusted artists Carmen Linares and Luis de Córdoba, who both received awards at previous editions of this festival. It was left to young vocalist Miguel Poveda - winner of the 1993 ‘Lámpara Minera’ award - to round off the proceedings, accompanied on guitar by Chicuelo and with Luis el Zambo as his special guest.

Forthcoming performances

The festival in the old mining town, which dedicates its forty-sixth edition to bailaora Cristina Hoyos, will run until 12th August with two gala evenings and other four evenings given over to the contest. Merche Esmeralda, Manuela Carrasco, José Mercé and Diego el Cigala are among those scheduled to perform at the so-called ‘Cathedral of cante’, before making way for hopefuls in the prestigious Lámpara Minera awards for cante, Desplante award for baile and Bordón Minero award for guitar.

Click the images to enlarge
Carmen Linares (Photo Festival de La Unión. Pepe Albaladejo)	Agujetas (Photo Festival de La Unión. Pepe Albaladejo)	José Menese (Photo Festival de La Unión. Pepe Albaladejo)
Miguel Poveda (Photo Festival de La Unión. Pepe Albaladejo)	Vicente Amigo (Photo Festival de La Unión. Pepe Albaladejo)	Luis de Córdoba (Photo Festival de La Unión. Pepe Albaladejo)

magazine@flamenco-world.com