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Argentina
Text: Antonio Conde At the half-way point of the festival, there are still problems with the sound. And I don’t mean problems that can’t be resolved. Either the volume is so high we can’t enjoy the singing of Extremeño as happened a few days ago, or the technicians forget to turn up the master volume so we can hear the guitars. Unforgivable shortcomings for professionals. And worse yet, they know the problems but do nothing, despite sound tests that exist to avoid such things. Technical issues aside, yesterday was one of the most complete offerings. At eight in the evening, the privilege of seeing Carrete de Málaga on a small stage, dancing as if for each one of us individually. Within the series “Irse por las Ramas”, the performances couldn’t be more varied. Carrete appeared as he is: improvising. Alegrías and taranto, each one in its own particular dimension. Carrete’s dancing is how it was forty years ago, figurative, expressive, but somehow different, extremely spontaneous. It’s hard to rehearse with him because he’s always changing things around. But best of all is his ability to change without putting the other musicians out of whack. From his arms to his continuous sweeping of hair, he couldn’t be more flamenco. It was like an appetite-opener of what would be seen on Satuday night, a taste of sweet honey.
At ten P.M., as on other nights, there was a double program of cante and dance. Huelva singer Argentina came with the intention of sending her voice out to every corner of the venue. Two guitars (Eugenio Iglesias and José Quevedo “Bolita”), two palmeros (Bobote and Torombo) and a percussionist (Tete Peña). A very complete group to give life to the singing. And again the technical problems. Bolita’s guitar louder than that of Iglesias, and even drowning out the voice. Maybe on stage they couldn’t tell the difference, but from the audience, it was all too obvious. Aside from this, Argentina did quite well. Garrotín and tangos de Málaga to get warmed up, then malagueña, abandolaos and fandangos del Albaycín, all escorted by the backup musicians. The singer then remained alone with Eugenio Iglesias for taranta and cartagenera. A change of guitarist, and it was siguiriyas with Bolita accompanying, and despite his excellent playing, he trampled the voice now and again. From this point on, the singer just got better and better, intense alegrías that ended with bulerías, fandangos por buleráis and as always, the fandangos of her hometown with a certain Morente sound.
A very brief intermission, and then we had Rafaela Carrasco on stage. She debuted a new show with some significant changes, especially in the music. I couldn’t get the idea behind it all, and I don’t think anyone else could either, although I understand this is a work in progress, not a finished product. The story-line is different from beginning to end. Antonio Campos must have ended up exhausted with all the singing he had to do, as he had the sole responsibility of carrying the vocals. Another singer would have been a good addition. He came on with a guitar and sang an original verse of Mario Maya’s. Guitarist “Canito” was the next victim of technical problems. Standing with his guitar, and walking around the stage, Rafaela danced bulerías to his music. This is a piece borrowed from the dancer’s work “Vamos al Tiroteo” in which she dances around her back-up musicians. The same thing happened afterwards with Campos. Up to this point, we only had a few scant minutes of Rafaela, followed by fandangos, liviana and serrana sung by Campos as Rafaela watched him, sitting in her chair. Something is definitely wrong with this show, and there was precious little dancing. There is a different but good musical concept. Rafaela as always, in her line, was conventional in tangos. The pseudo bossa nova rhythm provided by “Canito” made the number exceptionally contemporary, and the dancer added the flamenco spin. This was practically all we saw of dancing. Campos sang fandangos to which Rafaela danced briefly. A tambourine set the mood for some Granada music while Rafaela again gave a brief flash of dancing. Overall, a daring undertaking the Seville dancer has embarked upon, in great need of more substance to communicate what she is trying to show.
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