Granada was filled with tourists, both Spanish and
from abroad, for the long Spanish holiday weekend that was
aptly chosen by the organizers of Granada’s Fifth Autumn
Festival to offer five days of diverse high-quality shows
complemented with live performances at the Peña la
Platería. Unfortunately, due perhaps to organizational
problems, the theater was little more than half full throughout
the festival even for the main dance attraction, Juan Amaya
from Morón de la Frontera.
A guitar solo by young maestro Paco Fernández to open
was web-received and it defined the ambience of fresh and
traditional flamenco that was to hold throughout the evening.
Because of the limited number of performers, and the strong
personality of singers Enrique el Extremeño and José
Valencia, the presentation might be described as “two
singers and a dancer”, a comment that is not intended
to be negative in any way. The diminished role of cante in
many of the extravagant works included in the last Bienal
de Flamenco de Sevilla was frankly disappointing and off-putting.
A virtual medley of a capella cante that included martinete,
cantes de trilla, carceleras, debla and tonás served
to introduce a siguiriya danced by Juana in red satin. The
promising child of eleven who surprised this reviewer so many
years ago, has amply fulfilled that promise and is now a fine
mature artist. It was a shame that her daughter, young dancer
Nazaret Reyes, who causes a stir every time she gets up on
stage and was announced as guest artist, was unable to be
present.
Seville dancer El Torombo who was not announced on the program
offered his alegrias dance. Ignoring the concept of “less
is more” he danced overzealously with the occasional
posture from another era, but showed flashes of genius all
the same. José Valencia backed him up with his inspired
cante that included styles of Pinini.
A cante solo of tangos and these two voices continued to
be a strong point of the show. Valencia in A position sang
stylized traditional forms, and el Extremeño in E position
sang some Extremadura specialities.
Soleá por bulería leads into soleá for
Juana and once again the cante is the center of attention
until the end where the dancer, now quite at ease and having
a great time, triggers cheering and applause again and again
with her temperamental style, instinctive compás and
personality.
At
this point and with these ingredients the long fiesta finale
was as natural as it was spontaneous, the audience was right
in the groove and responded as noisily and enthusiastically
as if it had been a packed house and the two singers, stars
in their own right, once again brought shouts of “ole!”
with their delightful dance bits.
A half hour later at the Peña La Platería Granada
singer Juan Pinilla offered his recital with the guitar accompaniment
of Rafael Santiago.
