According to the press release from the dean of French festivals flamencoThis thirty-seventh edition aimed to "mark a special moment by paving the way for the Centenary celebration of the Generation of '27, a fundamental cultural and artistic movement of 20th-century Spain whose influence on the history and recognition of flamenco It was decisive."
The second volume of the Art Festival Notebooks Flamenco He does, in fact, dedicate several articles to the most flamenco of the poets of the Generation of '27, Federico Garcia LorcaIn an equally logical way, the programming was presided over by the sign of the «jondo", inevitably associated with the "spirit." With no fewer than eighteen concerts and shows—nine of them free—over five days, attendees were able to experience the richness and diversity of the flamenco contemporary, from tradition to the avant-garde and in all its disciplines.
For the past four years, the festival has undergone a profound renewal thanks to its director, Lionel Niedzwiecki; to the person responsible for cultural activities, Serge Airoldi; and to the programming committee, a true dream team Spanish-French composed of Domingo González, Fernando Rodríguez Campomanes and Patrick BellitoFour undeniably successful editions in which special care has been taken to balance between cantedance and playing, each with an appropriate stage space.
The Pole It hosts flamenco dance performances, offering this year an exceptional overview of its current trends: the theater flamenco allegorical of Manuel Linanwhere the symbols replace the argument (Call me Lorca)Collective choreographies conceived as mobile sculptures of a conceptual nature that fuse dance flamencohip hop and contemporary dance, signed by david coria (Babel, living tower)The refined stylization and extraordinary elegance of the partner dance, with incursions of classical dance, of Paula Cometre y Alfonso Losa (Alter ego)The vindication of tradition and the great masters of the past, embodied in the first person by Mercedes Ruiz (Romancero del Baile Flamenco)And the fiery stage presence, imbued with the humor of Cádiz, of Maria Moreno (Magnificat).
The musicians who accompanied these choreographic works were all outstanding. We thus had the privilege of hearing them perform on two occasions. david lakesFirst, he performed in a "destroyed Morente" style with David Coria, and then in a fully traditional style with Mercedes Ruiz. "Two sides of the same coin," the singer told us.
El Le Molière Theatre It offers an ideal space to listen to the cante and the guitar with all the concentration it requires. There we met again with several of the artists who had already participated in Manuel Liñán's show, both in From Tablao as in Granada as our flag: the flamenco singer Antonio Campos, the dancer Raquel Heredia 'La Repompa' and the guitarist Jose Fermin Fernandez, in addition to the timely invitation to the flamenco singer Ismael de la Rosa en From Tablao.
The next two concerts were simply magnificent. First, Become, from the admirable guitarist and composer Alejandro Hurtado. From Julian Arcas to Nino Ricardo, to Miguel Llobet, Manuel de Falla, Ramón Montoya, Manolo de Huelva and many others, concluding with two of his own compositions, he offered a journey through the Spanish guitar all the more dazzling because it was enriched by the beautiful choreographic interventions of Patricia guerrero.
Footprints of albero They will indeed leave an indelible mark on our memory: that of three Sevillian masters whose names make any further comment unnecessary: Segundo Falcón, Paco Jarana and Manolo Franco. Nothing less.
During the festival, the Charles-de-Gaulle Square For a few days, it transforms into the "Village," a daily meeting point for fans. The program on the stage set up in this space mainly brings together "French" artists alongside "Spanish" artists, demonstrating, once again, that the flamenco It happily ignores borders.
As is now tradition, the first two days were dedicated to flamenco Extremaduran, with Esther Merino y Miguel de Tena as main representatives of cante.
"The programming was dominated by the sign of the..."jondo", inevitably associated with the "spirit." With no fewer than eighteen concerts and shows—nine of them free—over five days, attendees were able to experience the richness and diversity of the flamenco contemporary, from tradition to the avant-garde and in all its disciplines»
As expected, the main French figures in the remaining shows were mostly male and female dancers: Lucas 'El Luco' (Flamenco without borders), Céline Daussan 'The Black Rose' (Look) y Lori 'The Armenian' (Tanza, the memory of the gesture)Among his Spanish colleagues, it is worth highlighting Mariano Campallo, Juan Cantarote and Miguel Lavi.
Born in Granada, the flamenco dancer Irene Morales he presented Raw, an atypical work built on an electronic composition with artistic direction by Manuel Liñán.
The Mediterranean and Balkan fusions of the Bordeaux group Qairo can be understood as distant reminiscences of the experiments of Radio Rate.
Finally, we witnessed the revelation of a young flamenco singer born, moreover, in Mont-de-Marsan: Nicky GarciaHe gave a magnificent recital surrounded by a truly luxurious group comprised of Helena Cueto (dance), Samuelito and Antoine Boyer (guitars) and Juan Manuel Cortes (percussion). The latter accompanied, with its usual effectiveness, a good part of the shows on the Village Stage.
Thanks to the relationship of trust they maintain with the artists, the festival organizers frequently manage to convince them to embark on unexpected projects. This was the case with the excellent and deeply traditional flamenco singer. Christ Cortés, who brought these five intense days to a close accompanied by the DJs Lisa del Cristo, Ibhamuza and LHKleon.
Over the years, Art Flamenco It has developed a long-standing educational program that has helped to cultivate an increasingly enthusiastic, attentive, and knowledgeable audience. Around the tables on the Village's terraces, engaging conversations—often passionate and frequently controversial—are a constant after each performance.
To avoid making this article excessively long, we will simply list the parallel cultural activities without going into detail about their content: daily meetings with the artists; four lectures in the Café Music: Carolane Sánchez (Flamenco between tradition and modernity); Jean-François Carcelén and Antonio Campos (Deep poetry: from Federico García Lorca to the new flamenco poetry)); Juan Diego Martín Cabeza (Jondo), and Georges Didi-Huberman (The little clock); four documentaries screened at the Le Grand Club cinema: Henri Belin (EA! An Andalusian mantra); Roser Corella (Red Carnation); Santi Aguado y Reuben Atlas (Farruquito, a dynasty of the flamenco), and Carlos Saura (Beyond Flamenco)a photographic exhibition of Leo Geoffriona literary encounter with Raúl Quinto; courses in all disciplines taught by professors from the Cristina Heeren Foundation (Juan José Ortega, Beatriz Rivero, Manuel Romero, Pedro Barragán and Patricia Lozano), in addition to two master classes led by Manuel Liñán and Mercedes Ruiz.
Finally, Art Flamenco It is also a festival committed to the community. This is demonstrated by a round table discussion dedicated to the topic. Let's decarbonize culture; the activities of the flamenco dancer Soledad Cuesta at the Mont-de-Marsan Hospital to introduce patients to dance; a performance by the company Dynamogène in several nursery schools to introduce children to their "flamenco pedal-powered musical machine", the Carmencyclettaa makeup station flamenco; a guitar building workshop using recycled materials led by Pauline de Tonnac; and the production of the daily Art podcast Flamenco, entrusted, as every year, to the students of a secondary school class.
All of this demonstrates that the festival not only occupies the Place Charles-de-Gaulle, but a large part of the city, thanks to the traveling show Dynamogène and the daily encounters with the numerous peñaflamenco festivals existing in Les Landes and throughout southwest France, culminating in the traditional "Day of the Peña"s", which closes the festival with outdoor performances and a Sevillanas dance.
This year, the International Art Festival Flamenco has created a new award given to Manuel Liñán. Symbolically named as Confluences AwardIt distinguishes "the spirit of encounter and dialogue": precisely the great aspiration of this festival.
Delighted and grateful, the imp miraculously suspended the dog days of summer during these five days of flamenco festivities. ♦
Text: Claude Worms
