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SPECIAL COVERAGE: BIENAL DE FLAMENCO DE SEVILLA 2010 “CONCIERTO DE CLAUSURA” Paco de Lucía Guitar: Paco de Lucía. Second guitar: Antonio Sánchez. Harmonica: Antonio Serrano. Percussion: Piraña. Double bass: Alaín Pérez. Cante: David Maldonado, Duquende. Dance: Farruco. How distant that magical night of the inauguration of the 16th Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla in the Maestranza bull-ring seems now. Miguel Poveda thrilled nearly seven thousand people, filled the Seville night with music and the Guadalquivir river briefly stopped flowing to have a look at the historic scene before continuing its journey to Sanlúcar. That was just three and a half weeks ago, and the flutter of hundreds of fans was visible proof of the hot sticky weather that night. For the closing night, there was a heavy winter rain and low temps.
The 2010 Bienal has come to an end, and it has done so as spectacularly as it began, with a megastar, certainly the only flamenco artist known all over the planet; you could land in the most forgotten town of the smallest country, and if you say “flamenco” to the first person who walks by, they will most likely answer with the name of our natural resource, professional genius and number one guitar-player: Francisco Sánchez Gómez, “Paco de Lucía” for his followers and for history. So outsized is his personality and work, that no type of special staging was required for the occasion beyond what Paco and his people regularly offer in all their appearances. The same thing we saw two months ago at the Festival de Cante de Las Minas de La Unión, or the Jerez bull-ring shortly thereafter. At the great Maestranza Theater which has often been packed to the rafters during the Bienal, on this night there was added expectation and excitement. It’s always thrilling to see the long heartfelt ovation that receives the maestro when he appears onstage with his guitar at the beginning of a recital. The “ole!” is inside everyone’s head, ready at any moment to acknowledge receipt of the famous energetic phrasing, the almost intimate compás that never fails to surprise… Or when the sound of a powerful clean picado suddenly rips through the air sending an electric charge to all those present and there are shouts of “Paco, we love you!”, “Paco, you’re number one!” Bulerías in myriad forms, no capo but he finds a special brilliance in the eighth position where he moves as easily as the rest of us walk around the house; the fretboard is his plaything, he was the one who revealed it unto us. Paco had earlier expressed the weight of responsibility that came along with playing in Seville, and yet he seemed more relaxed than on the two previous occasions mentioned above. He looked happy, he smiled and joked with the other musicians. And more bulerías…it’s clearly the form that inspires him most, and he never seems to stop finding hidden nooks and crannies in its compás. And so much musicality. So many young guitar hot-shots forget the importance of musicality, and become obsessed with technique and novel chords. Finally, it’s the Farruco moment, and the young man jumps from his seat to offer a sample of what would come in the second part. Impressive as always, but not quite as together as on other occasions…the pitfalls of improvisation, because this has nothing to do with choreographies. After intermission, the tangos of the Reina Mora. When Duquende and David Maldonado sing it’s pure nostalgia for Camarón, and you realize the tremendous impact of the latter who brought us those oriental-tinged sounds that were always there, and put them into permanent circulation.
The jazz sound with double bass and percussion threaten to devour the flamenco, but Paco, with the force of his music, does not let that happen and keeps the flavor on track. Towards the end, hundreds of people disobeyed the prohibition and cell phones lit up all over the theater taking snapshots. The surprise ending was the overwhelming dancing of little Carpeta, Farruco’s brother, and so ended, the concert, the night and the Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla on its thirtieth anniversary.
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