Everyone knows the love and interest for flamenco that he professed Manuel de Falla at the beginning of his career as a composer. Encouraged by Pedrell, father of Spanish musical nationalism, approached the study of folklore and also of flamenco, which already appears in his opera The Brief Life, premiered in 1913 in Nice. The overwhelming personality of Pastora Empire It involved the composition of one of his most famous works, The Witch Love. Gypsy play in one act and two scenes, written and dedicated to the Sevillian artist, for her to perform, sing and dance, premiering on April 15, 1915 at the Lara Theater in Madrid.
On Friday, May 16, I had the opportunity to see for the first time Witch Loves, a film that will be released in June, framed in everything that surrounded the creation of this emblematic work. Although it goes further, by contextualizing the life of the Cadiz composer at different stages of his career as a musician and promoter of important events, such as the Contest Cante Jondo from 1922 in Granada, including in this tour his relationship with other relevant artists and his exile and death in Buenos Aires.
Manuel de Falla is played by the actor Jesus Barranco, the main protagonist of the film, accompanied by Lucia Alvarez, who gives life to Maria Lejarraga, creator of the script for this and other works that were published under her husband's name, Gregorio Martinez Sierra. Between the two, the story of the birth of Amor Brujo unfolds, with the musical numbers that are part of it, boldly recreated and updated by artists flamencoand top-level classics in various musical numbers. It also incorporates other works by the Cadiz-born maestro, thus expanding the musical repertoire of Spanish nationalism that viewers can enjoy.
The feature film shows us different musical scenes that occur, not necessarily chronologically, in the author's artistic production, beginning with the Betic Fantasy, masterfully performed by Rosa Torres-Pardo, who plays a leading role by appearing in most of the film's musical numbers in which the piano appears. The Moorish Cloth Series Siete Canciones Populares Españolas It is interpreted in a very personal way by the singer Israel Fernandez, who will also appear at the end of the film, singing the Polo shirt . Juan Manuel Canizares performs two pieces: the Homage pour Le Tombeau by Claude Debussy, a very personal interpretation of this delicate work that allows for multiple perspectives when approaching its interpretation, and the Miller's Farruca de «The Tricorn», in a spectacular arrangement incorporating a newly composed introduction and the dance of Patricia guerrero, with a superb choreography and interpretation by the dancer from Granada, who will also dance the Fire Dance with plan. Rocio Marquez She is another of the artists who shines in her performances, with three moments in the film of great realism and impact: Song of Pained Love, Song of the Will-o'-the-Wisp y Song of the Game of Love. Antonio Serrano intervenes with his exciting harmonica in The Brief Life, to Constanza Lechner at the piano and Helena Martin in the Spanish dance with a shawl, achieving a picture of great plastic beauty.
Other musical numbers, all of good quality, are Nights in the Gardens of Spain as a duet, with the piano of Alexis Delgado y Torres-Pardo; girl, with the cello of Adolfo Gutiérrez Arenas; Pantomime, with Ana Maria Valderrama to the violin; Dance of Terror, with Serge Bernal in Spanish dance; and Jot, with the voice of carmen paris. All of them also with Rosa's piano, who also plays Andalusian with the recitation of one's own Lucia Alvarez.
«Amores Brujos is a feature film that you enjoy from the first moment. Any music lover, lover of flamenco or not, you will appreciate its multiple artistic values in the form of dances, cantes, songs, dances, settings, scenarios, dramaturgies and emotions»
They parade through the film Federico Garcia Lorca, a friend of Manuel and a great promoter of the Competition and the influential conferences on the Cante Jondo and the concept of Duende in the flamenco; Pastora Pavón, Manuel Torres, Antonio Gades, Laura de Santelmo, Joaquín Turina, Claude Debussy…and countless historical documents and anecdotes. Some will miss Antonia Merce Argentina, creator of the most successful version in ballet form from 1925, and who was followed by everyone else later, a premiere that was directed by Falla himself. The most sybarites will demand the presence of the Daighilev's Ballets Russes to Massine as the main star. Introduced to the Spanish scene by Manuel de Falla, who met them during his time in Paris, they were the creators of various avant-garde works that were extremely important for the history of dance and also for the flamenco, between them The Tricorn -The Three-Cornered Hat- (1919), which has music by Falla, and Box Flamenco (1921), both with sets by Picasso, works that would later inspire the birth of the first Spanish Ballet company, precisely the one that created Argentina around 1927.
The plot takes place in privileged settings such as the Velázquez and Goya galleries at the Prado Museum, the Ateneo and the Student Residence in Madrid, and Manuel de Falla's house and archive in Granada.The Alhambra, the Royal Colosseum of Carlos III of El Escorial, and other iconic locations are the setting for various scenes in the film. Some of the scenes are expertly shot outdoors, relating to the plot of Amor Brujo, such as the spell where the gypsy woman is cast in front of a fire surrounded by water, performed by actress Clara Muñiz, claiming her love in a beautiful setting surrounded by magic and nature that enriches the film's already beautiful photography.
The difficulty of filming live musical numbers, the eternally unfinished business of Spanish cinema, can lead to a loss of credibility and communication with the viewer, something that occurs in some of the musical scenes and recitals in which the artist's interpretation does not coincide with what is heard and seen. In this respect, the film owes a debt to the cinema of Carlos Saura, also in photography, with visual proposals close to those that the Aragonese filmmaker promoted since his pioneering sevillanas (1992) and Flamenco (1995), which he maintained until the end of his career. Some of Manuel's compositions conceived for orchestra are arranged for piano, with the resulting absence of their characteristic symphonic color. In this respect, the piano perhaps plays a significant role.
Witch Loves It is a feature film that you enjoy from the first moment. Any music lover, lover of flamenco or not, you will appreciate its multiple artistic values in the form of dances, cantesongs, dances, settings, scenery, drama, and emotions. You will also be moved by the wonderful performances of the protagonists in this story full of enchantment, love, and charm. It is only right that the script highlights and delves into the importance of María Lejárraga as the author of the story, largely silenced by the circumstances of the role of women in Spanish society of her time, a figure that needs to be vindicated. María Lejárraga is present in the musical numbers during the filming of the Amor Brujo scenes, as if supervising the final artistic result of Falla's compositions, forming part of the scene's figuration.
The film includes subtitles inclusive and audio-described on a permanent basis in all screenings in movie theaters, which represents a laudable precedent in the film industry to facilitate the enjoyment of cinema by deaf and blind people, which we hope will continue and set a precedent.
