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Text: Antonio Conde The 18th edition of the Ciutat Vella festival is continuing with a wide variety of parallel activities, not to mention the shows in the evening. The first day we saw “A Cara o Cruz” directed by Silvia Prio, a story of love, sacrifice and passion, with Carmen Montero and Diego Amaya. On Thursday evening it was the documentary “Cuando los Genios se Admiran” with the recorded participation of Enrique Morente, Niño Miguel, Niño Josele, Juan and Pepe Habichuela, Paco Toronjo and Ángel Vega. In addition to this, there were workshops in the afternoon with Belén Maya, Juan Carlos Lérida, Marco Vargas and Florencio Campo. And last night we were able to enjoy some singing and dancing. The double programs offered are a perfect mix of the two disciplines.
The first performer to take the stage was Juan Manuel Mora. This Catalonian who lives in Madrid is managing to make a name for himself in cante. And rightly so. I confess I’d never heard him live before, and I was pleasantly surprised. Accompanied on guitar by Juan José Ramos “Niño de Manuela”, and despite some nervousness at the outset, his recital was a fine demonstration of flamenco knowledge. He began with granaína and media granaína, with Chacon-style melisma, faithful to the original register and personalizing the endings, while Paco de Lucía harmonies came timidly from the hands of Niño de Manuela. Mora moved up to tangos, from Granada and Triana, moving on to Cádiz with alegrías, arriving in Córdoba and ending with the aroma of salt-spray. His voice is clean and crystalline, a river of cante that reached the heights with siguiriya. He dedicated the recital to Morente and ended with bulerías of Paquera, Capullo, Gaspar de Utrear and Carmen Amaya, with the guitar of Juan José Ramos, and together they made a tough act to follow.
Belén Maya brought an intimate show, surrounded by an unbeatable back-up. With some changes since the debut, it’s the same Belén as always, but reinvented. It’s the experimentation of her dancing on her dancing. After the singing of Jesús Méndez as introduction, Belén’s alegrías filled the stage. Classical, with an engrossing personality, especially in her hand and arm movements. If anyone was thinking there’s nothing else to say in dance, they were wrong. Rafael Rodriguez’ guitar employs a different language. The sound he gets out of the strings is fascinating, without distracting from the essence of the dance and yet adding to the whole. Jesús’ soleá recalls Manuel Torre at every turn. After this, some danced tangos of Sacromonte highlight Belén’s capacity and knowledge of diverse body registers at her disposal, putting them into use with surprising ease, then ending with taranto and cartagenera. Bulería cante to give Belén a chance to get ready for the caña. This kind of caña has become fashionable in recent years. Follow-through in the movements, with the aid of the shawl, her dancing is intimate as she plays freely with the tempos. The fiesta finale was soleá por bulería, now provocative and curvy in her gestures. We don’t want to forget Felipe Mató who filled in Belén’s absences from the stage, reinventing the element of dance transitions. A change well worth considering.
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