Madrid, June 17th. The fourth day of the Madrid festival
“Flamenco pa’ tos” was all sold out and Niño
Josele, Duquende and Manolete closed out a series which this year
was characterized by its high artistic level.
After a presentation by Juan Luis Cano and Guillermo Fesser, with
the announcement by Juan Verdú of Gomaespuma’s return
to radio in September, the stage fell into blackness to receive
the young man from Almería, Niño Josele. The intimate
illumination lent gravity to granaínas played with elegance
and clean technique, then followed by soleá. Percussionist
Piraña appeared on stage to round out a bulería por
soleá. A simple but showy round of chords at the end, accompanied
by a loud flourish of the cajón caused one to wonder whether
it wouldn’t have been better to tone the whole thing down
a bit, or if that was the genuine feeling of the moment. Either
way, the result worked and was well-received the by the audience.
Next up, Alain Pérez, artistic child of Celia Cruz and son
of Gradelio Pérez came on to accompany Josele with his customary
good taste on the electric bass. The wonderful tango piece titled
“Madera Negra”, in the line of Paco de Lucía
could even have passed for a composition by the maestro from Algeciras.
It’s interesting to note that every musician on stage at this
point, currently accompanies Paco on his world tours. Worthy of
note was the accompaniment of Piraña whose main sound comes
from the use of one high and two bass sounds for each compás.
This percussionist is characterized by the wise use of complex simplicity
which rejects commercial concessions. All in all, a good performance
by Niño Josele and his group.
Duquende, Niño Josele, Alain Pérez
Duquende, the flamenco singer from Catalonia with the powerful
voice, came on stage to be accompanied by Niño Josele, opening
with tarano on the fifth fret. Take note that on this occasion the
singer showed himself to be improving considerably after all these
years, freeing himself of the marked Camaron influence and exhibiting
a style which is truly his own. Piraña came on once again
for an upbeat soleá in which his use of a closed fist gave
an interesting dry sound. Alain Pérez again for some gypsy-sounding
tangos, followed by a very well-received bulería and a round
of fandangos. Duquende was right up to the challenge, offering quite
a respectable performance.
After
intermission, the much-awaited appearance of Manolote. The presentation
opened with a trio of singers, Manuel Malena, Johnny Cortés
and Bocadillo, singing tonás which was quite effective. The
veteran dancer then appeared to dance soleá beginning from
a seated position with a cane, accompanied by the afore-mentioned
singers, as well as guitarists Basilio García and Felipe
Maya. Dancers Judea and David then danced a siguiriya which was
followed by Manolete’s alegrías solo. The line and
projection of this dancer transport the spectator to a tablao of
decades ago with his style of times past which in itself was perhaps
the most interesting element. Manolete’s personality with
an air of absolute seriousness managed to put everything in place,
and despite a noticeable lack of rehearsal by the group, it was
a dignified performance.
And thus came to a close the fifth edition of “Flamenco pa’
tos”, now an important date on Madrid’s flamenco calendar,
with the proceeds going to educational projects in third-world countries,
