Three-hundred
and sixty-five days ahead, “full of guitar sounds, dancing and voices
in our plazas, pubs and street-corners” said Luis Rodríguez
of the town hall’s cultural department at the presentation of the
“Año of Flamenco”, year of flamenco, an initiative
that was born with the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the
Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco. At the Bodegas Campos in Córdoba,
with the distinguished presence of Antonio Fernández Díaz,
“Fosforito”, and the absence of mayor Rosa Aguilar, the año
de Flamenco, with 350 events was officially presented when the first semester
is near its closure.
The Year of Flamenco 2006 is part of the larger project of the Capitalidad
Europea de la Cultura, Córdoba, “capital of European culture”
in 2016. Flamenco is one of Córdoba’s cultural focal points
and in fact this “Year”, in the words of the cultural representative,
aims to be a “tribute to all those who have contributed to this
ancestral tradition”
Curro de Utrera with El Pele. Photo: Rafael Manjavacas
The program aspires to be reflected in the seasons of the year and the
shows are grouped under various banners – Gala Presentations, Festivals
of Winning Artists, Contrasts, etc. – which will take place in the
capital as well as throughout the province. Congresses, workshops, conferences,
round-table discussions, cinema, expositions, special publications and
other parallel activities also form part of the initiative.
Although some of the events have already taken place, over the rest of
the year performers such as Rafael Riqueni, El Lebrijano, Calixto Sánchez,
Chano Lobato, Luis de Córdoba, El Pele, Daniel Navarro, Merche
Esmeralda, Curro Malena, José de la Tomasa, Manuela Carrasco and
Rancapino among many others will appear in Córdoba.
Acting as unofficial president of the presentation, Fosforito (one of
the flamenco artists most closely related to the Córdoba contest
and who recently received the last Llave de Oro (golden key), the Medalla
de Oro de Andalucía and will be the subject of numerous tributes
throughout this year), declared never to have sought any prizes but “only
to have struggled to survive and give his utmost”. A survival alluded
to by Luis Rodríguez from the mayor’s office who said “it’s
been 50 years and another 50 that are to come”.
