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“De la Galera al Arco”
Teatro Lope de Vega, Sevilla.
A show promoted as a “work” which recreates the four
decades of singer Pansequito’s career turns out to be ninety
percent the normal everyday repertoire of Pansequito and Aurora
Vargas, no complaints in that department, but you could hardly call
it a “work”. One has the feeling they started to put
together an ambitious presentation but the scriptwriter quit after
the first act and left with the costume manager and stage designer.
It all starts out quite promisingly…two actors sitting up high
in a private box talk about Pansequito’s early career and
a tavern scene materializes where Manolo Caracol, interpreted by
his greatest impersonator, Collantes de Terán, sings a medley
of Caracol’s hits while a round lady dressed as an oldtime
waitress (I thought this was only forty years ago) looks on approvingly
and three palmeros play the part of customers sitting at a table.
But just when you’re getting into the reality show mood, a
half-hour piano solo breaks the magic, ostensibly representing the
link between Pansequito, Caracol and Arturo Pavón, but the
premise is shaky and the musician is not Pavón as announced,
but young Pedro Ricardo Miño. The length is excessive by
any standard, and from that point on nearly all pretense of being
a “work” is abandoned. A taranto played on the piano
and sung by Pansequito is danced by Carmen Ledesma (I see…that’s
the tablao years), then Pansequito sings por soleá, again
to the piano. The audience goes wild but the product is simply not
convincing, the sound of the piano is far too aggressive to adequately
accompany Pansequito’s cante, not the fault of young Miño
whose talent is undeniable, but of the instrument itself.
Diego
Amaya appears with his guitar and saves the day returning the cante
to its place of honor and reminding us that flamenco, like just-caught
fish, the less you manipulate it, the fresher it tastes.
text & photo: Estela
Zatania
Manuel Agujetas, Gualberto
y los Smash.
MONASTERIO DE LA CARTUJA. 22:00 h
Savage
It’s no a criticism, nor an insult…it’s an
adjective that fits like a glove. Manuel de los Santos Pastor “Agujetas”
affects everyone somehow or other. He might feel like shards of
broken glass on your veins, maybe you see him as an anachronisim,
a wise, grumpy old man, but one thing is for sure, you’ll
never forget the name.
Four verses of soleá. Clipped lines later linked in a lesson
well-learned. The Carapiera style to finish and it’s nice
to hear this unusual style. The siguiriyas are visceral and dark.
The fandangos accuse bravely and brazenly. Martinete to finish.
He wasn’t as ‘on’ as on other occasions, or as
‘beastly’. He had a hard time with the cante and fought
with it. The repertoire was short, later expanded with some cantes
accompanied on the sitar by Gualberto who was magnificent. One cante
was dedicated to the King of Spain. He seemed rushed at some points,
as if offering a few flamenco details to round out the night of
rock music which was to follow with Gualberto and Smash. And here
I am still trying to figure that one out…..
Text: Kiko
Valle.
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