At Seville’s last Bienal, with over a hundred
different shows and a marked preference for artists of the
province, it was actually hard to come across any flamenco
person from Seville who wasn’t involved in the festival
one way or another. But the name of Javier Barón was
glaringly absent, surprising considering that his show “Dime”
received the the Giraldillo for best work at the previous
Bienal in 2002.
We have no information about the reason for this unforgivable
omission, but Thursday evening, November 18th, 2004, at Seville’s
Joaquín Turina Centro Cultural the dancer left no doubt
that he continues to be one of the most important stars of
the current scene. Perhaps a clue is to be found in the title
of the show, “Flamenco y punto” (‘just plain
flamenco’), which might be construed to be a protest
against the overdose of contrived, indigestible works that
characterized the last Bienal suggesting that anyone who came
knocking with straight, traditional flamenco and no additives
had little chance of participating the megafestival.
Throughout his career Javier Barón has always shown
absolute artistic integrity with a dance style that is understated
and elegant, distilled to its most sincere and flamenco essence.
Maturity without stodginess, intelligence without pretense,
a compact and very masculine style that crosses generations
incorporating details of Vicente Escudero or Güito as
effortlessly as those of Canales, Galván or Andrés
Marín. Dignity in a day and age short on said quality.
Barón belongs to an endangered flamenco species, respectful
of the roots at the same time that he exhibits an unmistakable
personal style. His shows are characterized by minimalism
that never degenerates into coldness or boredom and manages
to move with the most subtle gestures.
Maturity without
stodginess, intelligence without pretense
Aside from Javier, one female dancer, two singers, two guitarists
and a percussionist…who needs anything else? A guitar solo
shared by the two guitarists serves as introduction and leads
seamlessly to the first dance, tientos tangos, or actually,
tangos tangos, because the singers don’t sing tientos
but rather classic tango verses at the speed of molasses in
January giving new dimension to the definition of “slow”
and recalling the decade of the seventies when singers like
Turronero, Juan Villar and Pansequito recorded “slow
motion” tangos.
A cante solo, siguiriyas no less, was just a bit more than
David Palomar could chew on with his Camarón projection,
but immediately following came the sound of a cajón
announcing Barón’s alegrías sung by Rafael
de Utrera with cantes of Utrera. Pilar Ogalla danced a taranto
– the lady is competent but has more choreography than
inspiration. Another cante solo, fandangos naturales by Rafael
de Utrera, leads into Barón’s soleá at
a very slow tempo that takes coherence and vitality from the
singing. The compás accelerates and we are shepherded
into soleá por bulería with a few minutes of
the primitive “compás de Lebrija” which
is becoming popular lately.
In the fresh and original fiesta finale Rafael de Utrera
sings Enrique Montoya’s classic song “Señorita”
and David Palomar shows he’s quite a good bulerías
dancer and singer, the guitarists really cut up and a good
time is had by all with this “just plain flamenco”…including
the audience.
