In the middle of the chamber of the biennial of Flamenco from Granada, The Sacromonte Abbey hosted one of its star shows in which the conjugation of flamenco and other music determined a proposal with ups and downs. It was the newly released Enrique Morente Foundation which introduced the artists and thanked the Biennial for counting on them. Chencho Medina, alma mater He briefly did the honors by telling us the reason for his participation, which was none other than the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Enrique's album. It makes its way to walk and the 150th anniversary of the poet's birth Antonio Machado. And gave way to the voice of Soleá Morente who expressed his gratitude for being there. In his speech, he included a phrase his father used to sing in the bulería. For my Manuela: "If I say gypsy I say wanderer, if I say freedom I say a lie." To this verse Soleá added "If I say Ruibal I say art, if I say Carmen I say life."
The Sacromonte Abbey is an unbeatable space, with a vast cloister where the main fountain divides the quadrangle, inviting you to find a position in your chair to view the stage in all its breadth. The program was twofold. On the one hand, Javier Ruibal. And from the other, Carmen Linares. There's no need to say enough about the Cadiz native (El Puerto de Santa María), thanks to a long and perfect career built on effort, tenacity, and quality. However, it's hard to understand why he's on one of the main stages of the Biennial of Flamenco. I repeat, flamencoThe artist himself went so far as to say: what recklessness! And although we were able to find a glimpse of flamenco in a sort of tanguillos and bulerías in minor keys, the rest was a repertoire of singer-songwriters, excellent, impeccable and full of nostalgia. He set to music works by Federico Garcia Lorca (It's true, For your love the air hurts) in a melodic way, in the style of a professional singer-songwriter, to change the subject to one of his flagship songs, Save me. Accompanied by the percussion of Javi Ruibal and the guitars of Edu Espín y José Recacha, interpreted I dream that I dream of you, At the Hour of Death, To Morente, Aurora, The Gypsy Geisha, Only the Dose Makes the Poison y The Rose of Alexandria. In discharge of Ruibal it must be said that he is the most flamenco among all the ones there are, so each of his songs exudes a halo of cante undercover that may justify his being at the Biennial.
The second part was performed by the singer with the longest history and the greatest tradition on the stage in recent decades. The great Carmen Linares gave her all, cante from the depths, with a raspy voice, exhausted and consumed by the years but with a flamenco quality that any singer today would love. He dedicated heartfelt words to Morente, to his friendship, to his family present there, except for Estrella, and told some anecdotes. (Ruibal did the same) of his friendship with this singing house.
«The great Carmen Linares gave herself bare-chested, taking out the cante from the depths, with a raspy voice, exhausted and consumed by the years but with a flamenco quality that any singer would love today.
With the guitars of Salvador Gutierrez and Edu Espín, and the palmas and choirs of Rosario Amador and Ana María González, started with cantiñas, those that he recorded on the album in the anthology The woman in the cante, to which he added a kind of romeras. Through tangos he ran through a stylistic range of challenges in almost all the variants of Granada. He appropriated the poem Andalusians of Jaén, not only to remember Enrique but to affirm that he was the first singer who began to make cantes with poetry, as she herself said, although she did not remember that it was Pepe Albaicin in 1958 the initiator in this with the Ballad of the three rivers. In any case, he performed masterfully in peteneras and tarantas. Carmen was very talkative, recounting her youth alongside Ronco del Albaicín, her beginnings, her adventures, and her experiences in the capital. She sang tientos, remaining alone with Espín's sonanta to once again feel the echo of Morente in seguiriyas, in his own, yes, his own, his style, his own stamp. It's undeniable that he was a creator and therefore should be recognized. And he was so in the seguiriya, in tangos, and almost everything he sang. Carmen switched guitars for Salvi Gutiérrez's, and we immediately heard in the singer the tones that Enrique infused into this. cante in the first thirds of each verse, ending with that of the Twin, very swaying and velvety, without stridency.
He tackled fandangos from Huelva, To the Virgin of Beauty, with lyrics Juan Ramon Jimenez, also rescued in the great anthology of the Woman in the cante, as necessary as flamenco, in which they participated Ana María and Rosario, who performed two great fandangos.
The cold was setting in and the night was coming to an end, but they wouldn't let him go. The audience, standing, made him sing bulerías, another of Enrique's creations with lyrics by Antonio Machado, in a marked tribute to the 150th anniversary. He invited the youngest of the family, Soleá, onto the stage for a one-on-one between the two with I listen to the chants.
Credits
Morente: the path is made by walking
I Biennial of Flamenco from Granada
Sacromonte Abbey, Granada
13th September 2025
Singer-songwriter: Javier Ruibal
Cante: Carmen Linares
Guitars: José Recacha, Salvador Gutiérrez and Edu Espín
Percussion: Javi Ruibal
Palmas and choirs: Rosario Amador and Ana María González
Collaboration: Soleá Morente
