Susanne Zellinger
Last night with these words the queen of gypsy dance accepted a prize that most flamenco followers thought should have been awarded much sooner. Accompanied by her two daughters and her husband, she stepped onto the red carpet of the Box Cartuja Auditorium.
The first mention of a red carpet was in Greek history when Agamemnon won the war of Troy. To celebrate his return, his wife placed a long red carpet in front of the palace. At that time red – or purple – was the most expensive tint in the world, because it had to be extracted from a secretion of purple snails. Twelve-thousand snails were needed to make 1.5 grams of dye.
After her excellent performance in yesterday’s event, we would have liked to lay out another carpet for Manuela Carrasco, but this time of gold. When it was all over, she gave us three minutes of bulerías we’re going to remember for a very long time because we were there.
But there were more flamenco moments with the duo of Alonso Núñez Fernández, Rancapino Chico, awarded the “Nuevo Compás” prize, with his girl, his niece Esmeralda Rancapino, and the wonderful sevillanas of the maestro Rafael Riqueni, winner of the previous year’s edition. And from Granada there was Alba Heredia to pay tribute to her idol Manuela with her dancing.
Many artists were in the audience: Josemi and Antonio Carmona, José Galván, Alba Molina, El Farru and his cousin Polito and many others who enjoyed this special night.
The gala, which for the first time was open to the public, and which could be followed by live streaming from the Fundación Cruzcampo website, donated the total box-office take to the Fundación Alalá, another nice gesture. We hope there will be many more editions of the Compás del Cante, and that they will all be as nice as this one was.
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Photos: Belén Vargas
