Cante: José Mercé. Guitarra: Manuel Moreno
“Moraíto Chico”. Second guitar: Juan Diego
Mateos, Diego del Morao. Bass: José Manuel Posada “Popo”.
Keyboard: José María Cortina. Percussion: Israel
Mera Luis de Periquín. Voice: Desiré Soto, Marcelino
Fernández.
Text: Estela Zatania
His flamenco voice, his extraordinary
knowledge, his compás and his Moraíto.
On Thursday March 3rd no one at the Festival de Jerez had
to check what was on that evening. José Mercé
and Moraíto would take care of filling up the Villamarta
theater with admirers yearning to hear material from the famous
pair’s latest record “Confí de Fuá”
performed live.
And the boys from Santiago didn’t let their audience
down – that sort of dedication, professionalism and
of course artistic quality is the recipe that has made the
dynamic duo into the superstars of flamenco when so many singers
are playing dominoes down at the corner bar crying in their
wine over the bad times traditional flamenco is going through
these days. That’s how it goes, and if Mercé
and Moraíto found a way to partially save the situation
incorporating pop songs into their repertoire, they deserve
all the admiration of flamenco fans. Thanks to these two,
we can still hear high-quality interpretations of such basic
cantes as tonás, malagueñas, siguiriyas and
soleá, the cantes Mercé opened with. Make no
mistake, a varied repertoire is not the same thing as the
manipulation of forms that so many singers have resorted to
in the name of “evolution”. If José Mercé
wants to do an Elvis impersonation, so be it if that makes
it possible for us to continue enjoying his flamenco voice,
his extraordinary knowledge, his compás and his Moraíto.
After the flamenco portion of the show there were instrumental
solos by Juan Diego and Diego del Morao. The singer began
his pop music offering with “Confí de Fuá”
from his most recent recording of the same name, which might
indicate the relatively modest reaction the song had, and
the uproar the verse caused. Chorus, bass and other musicians
appeared to interpret some “temitas” or little
themes, the term that sounded alarm bells for Juan Maya ‘Marote’
the late guitar genius from Granada (“there didn’t
used to be ‘temitas’, we just played and sang”),
but which establishes the important frontier between cante
and song.
Moraíto interpreted his original tangos with its haunting
chorus, and with his wall-to-wall smile, Mercé did
several songs, not only from “Confí de Fuá”,
but also earlier recordings such as “Aire” and
“Lío”. It’s good music, no one has
any doubts about that, and one of the best pieces is the title
song from “Aire” recorded in 2000, cohesive and
well-constructed, and which still sounds good after five years.
The important frontier between
cante and song
For his curtain call, and at the audience’s insistence,
José sang “Al Abla”, Eduardo Aute’s
beautiful creation which in this cantaor’s voice acquires
an irresistible flamenco warmth and texture. “Unas bulerías
por Santiago”, and we come full circle, back to where
the recital began and to the most traditional kind of flamenco
to the delight of nearly everyone in the audience. A woman’s
voice shouts “José, a little dance!”, because
we all know both he and the guitarist will dance, both of
them delightfully, and we leave the Villamarta feeling a lingering
flamenco glow to head for the Pepe Alconchel peña to
see Yessica Brea’s group.
