XL CARACOLÁ DE LEBRIJA (Sevilla)

XL CARACOLÁ
DE LEBRIJA

Saturday, July 16th, 2005.
11:00pm. Athletic field of the San Francisco Convent. Lebrija
(Seville)

Text & photos: Estela Zatania

It was the fortieth anniversary of the Caracolá,
and no expense was spared. The summer cante festivals continue
to reinvent themselves and stake a claim on flamenco-lovers’
vacation calendar – the good ones survive, and some
not so good ones as well. Since 1965 the Caracolá has
had its ups and downs, but the night of Saturday, July 16th
we’d come to celebrate this important anniversary, be
moved the presentation of the Caracol de Oro to Fernanda and
Bernarda de Utrera, feel the presence of the late María
la Perrata, regret the absence of maestro Antonio Núñez
“El Chocolate” and above all, enjoy the singing,
dancing and guitar-playing of some of flamenco’s biggest
current stars.

Opening the evening, master of ceremonies Manolo Curao dedicates
the festival “to the memory of all those people who
made these four decades possible” and presents the local
group “Generaciones” representing the singing
families of Lebrija and environs. Juana Vargas, the charming
fiftiesh semi-professional cantaora opens with tangos de la
Repompa with plenty of flavor, to end with less exotic styles
and relinquish the stage to Anabel Valencia for bulerías
who sings Tío Choza material and adds some cuplé.
The women continue to take turns for a most welcome opening.

A full rich voice, free
of cheap effects and flourishes, allowing the cantes to speak
for themselves

Fernando de la Morena & Fernando Moreno

José María Castaño saves me the trouble
of finding appropriate words to describe Fernando de la Morena’s
singing: “cante which is more spoken than sung, compás,
visceral”. Occasionally we use the word “veteran”
as a euphemism for “old” – in this case
however it serves to describe a singer with a discreet but
long and admirable career, knowledge that comes only through
a life-time of experience and an artist characterized by good
taste and unfailing dignity. Fernando delivers his material
with a full rich voice, free of cheap effects and flourishes,
allowing the cantes to speak for themselves. Wisdom, rhythm
and lots of feeling, plus the crisp solid accompaniment of
Fernando Moreno for soleá, fandangos, siguiriya and
bulerías, ending in major key: “the secrets you
tell, stop being ours”. And the secrets of Jerez cante
this man shared with the audience earned him a warm standing
ovation.

Cante is like that – the
muses are there lurking in the most standard material for
those gifted souls who know how to bring them in

Next up, a singer as universal as local: Juan Peña “Lebrijano”,
a major star of flamenco singing, elegantly adapting to being
sixty-something without sacrificing the experimental leanings
and attention to tradition that have always characterized his
work. On this night, in his hometown, with his people, he’s
in good voice, strong, at ease and vigorous with his nephew
Pedro María on the guitar, both finding inspiration in
the habitual repertoire. Cante is like that – the muses
are there lurking in the most standard material for those gifted
souls who know how to bring them in, and when the feat is accomplished
we call the person “maestro”. Such is the case of
Lebrijano.

Mercé and Morao are incapable of emitting
a single sound that isn’t dripping with the flavor of
tradition and seasoned with contemporary details

José Mercé

The last time José Mercé sang at the Caracolá
Lebrijana, which was in 2001, a security escort was required
to control the crazed adolescent girls who chased after the
flamenco singer recently turned flamenco pop singer thanks
largely to the success of this recording “Aire”
the year before. But that type of audience is far more capricious
than flamenco fans, so the young girls and the escort have
disappeared, and we’re left with the unmistakable and
profound sound of a first-class cantaor. Dedicating his performance
to “to my people, to Fernanda and Bernarda”, he
began por soleá. His magenta silk shirt, his Morao
on the guitar (“Moraíto” has fallen into
disuse) and his hotline to the crux of cante joined forces
to delight a knowledgeable and grateful audience. He dedicated
the siguiriya to maestro Chocolate, and the fandangos he sang
next repeatedly triggered a thousand perfectly synchronized
“ole’s”. The backup for the bulerías
is hot and raring to go with Gregorio and Chicharito on manual
percussion – read “palmas” those of you
who thought flamenco couldn’t exist without cajón.
Mercé and Morao are incapable of emitting a single
sound that isn’t dripping with the flavor of tradition
and seasoned with contemporary details. Mercé’s
little dance brings more applause, and “Aire”
is translated to the level of standard bulerías simply
by omitting the pop chorus – these two guys know their
business.

After a brief intermission the Caracol de Oro is presented
to Bernarda de Utrera representing her sister Fernanda as
well. With the family in the front row, it was an emotional
and folksy presentation. With the delightful unpredictability
that comes with old age Bernarda allows herself impertinent
remarks: “….and here we have Manuela Carrasco, who
doesn’t even look gypsy at all…”, a sentence
which brought much applause and laughter and caused the beautiful
dancer to flash a smile so warm it chased away the nip in
the air that had rolled into the athletic field from the Andalusian
countryside. When Bernarda complained of the cold, Manuela
hastened to place her large Spanish shawl on the singer’s
shoulders, but Bernarda protested “no no no, it won’t
look good on me”, and again the audience broke into
delighted applause and laughter. We were then treated to Manuela
dancing bulerías to Bernarda’s singing, and Curao
was right on target when he said those five minutes had made
the whole night worthwhile.

An intense world of rhythm,
polkadots, tradition and strength

Emotional tribute to the sisters
from Utrera

Miguel Funi & Manuela Carrasco

A quick reshuffling of the stage, and a dozen individuals
take their places. The faces, the walk, the clothing…it
all indicates we’re coming in for a landing on Planet
Manuela Carrasco. An intense world of rhythm, polkadots, tradition
and strength. The dancer’s appearance, as always, is
breath-taking – great stars know how to come on stage
and raise goosebumps before they even begin. Manuela just
becomes more beautiful with each passing year, and unlike
so many other dancers her age, her dance continues to improve,
which is quite a mouthful. The feet are more sure and clean,
the short bursts of movement more perfect, the silences more
pregnant, the strength better administered. Each member of
the group does a solo turn and while there’s no weak
element, noteworthy is singer María Vizárraga
for her compás, originality and vitality, Samara, Manuela’s
daughter, for her explosive delivery and ravishing beauty,
Torombo for a crazed dance inspired in the Farruco line and
which lasts just long enough so as not to become tiresome
and Rafael del Carmen who continues struggling admirably to
get a grip on all that technique. But above all, Manuela,
the goddess. A picture-postcard of flamenconess, all this
and the lady can dance too. After an hour the group wraps
it up….and eighty percent of the audience files out.

Only diehard fans remain for Miguel Funi, with his elegant
dance and unmistakable way with the cante, accompanied by
Antonio Malena, son of singer Curro Malena who follows Funi
to close the festival with soleá, fandangos de Huelva,
siguiriya and bulerías.

Text & photos: Estela
Zatania

More information:

XXXVIII
Caracolá lebrijana – Lebrija – 2003

XXXIX
Caracolá lebrijana – Lebrija – 2004