We are already in the sixth edition of the Milnoff Festival Granada, which emerged from its beginnings as an innovative event with a diverse and functional program, open and free in many of its shows to generate interest and cultural awareness. Its director, Pepe Luis Habichuela, has extensive experience as an artist and as a producer and event director, so it is not difficult to guess the success this cycle is having. flamenco.
With numerous activities in squares and different performing arts spaces, we were able to attend one of the great sessions of cante that have been scheduled for this year: Luis el Zambo, Agujetas chico and Manuel Monje, with the shared sonanta of Curro Carrasco.
The evening unfolded in a simple but successful format. Three generations of Jerez singers, three personalities sharing a common bond, and with disparate results. A round of tonás and martinetes at the foot of the stage with the Alhambra as a backdrop, listening, because the Chumbera Auditorium, for those unfamiliar, has a huge glass window that covers the entire rear, revealing the Alhambra in person and, at the time of the performance, a sunset with duende.
The youngest, Manuel Monk, opened by martinetes and deblas. Little laces, as it could not be otherwise, he remembered his family, his mother and his grandfather, and Luis the Zambo he remembered Uncle Borrico from Jerez in a toná with its own lyrics to close with the toná of the little olive tree of the valley of Thomas PavonThe initial applause grew in intensity as we listened to the repertoires of each of the protagonists.
"A good selection of three generations of singers from Jerez, with their own signatures and eager to please a demanding audience."
From here on, individualism dominated the scene. The youngest, but not a novice, remembered Chacón in his malagueñas, finishing with a rondeña of Rafael Romero and fandango of Peppermint BottleHe has the malagueña ingrained in him, internalized it, and gives it a special, Jerez-like quality. However, Rafael Romero's rondeña and Frasquito's fandango fit the melodic canons, but I missed providing the strength required by these styles. cantes. He later announced that he would remember Dying y Federico Garcia Lorca for tangos. Consequently, it included a varied and versatile stylistic range. The guitar of work carrasco, right at all times, began with granaínas giving way to the meslimatic memory of Enrique in the magnanimous version of the Language of Flowers of Lorca with a Manuel who, although still young to face the difficulty of this tango, resolved it with ease and greatness. Because Manuel is a young prodigy of the cante who is in a phase of professional growth and whose great passion makes him inquire and investigate outside the borders of Jerez to grow, so we must be generous with those who are called to be the future of canteHe continued with tangos of Pastora and from Badajoz, whose lyrics were changed to turn to Jerez –I came from Jerez, I came from Jerez– and finish by remembering Joan of the Stir.
The baton was taken over by the middle of the generation, Agujetas Chico, who performed a melodic soleá. A melodic one because it has a chorus very much in the vein of Deafness to sing two styles of the Andonda and return to the catchy chorus. We will have to question within the framework of the expressive freedom of the artists that these performances of the cantewhether they have a musical meaning or are the result of a simple contribution that must be introduced into canteclassics.
The greyhound comes from its breed, cante in the blood or any other periphrasis to refer to a singer seal and a singer family that is recognized for being the staging of the gypsy purity of the cante by seguiriyas. The Agujetas never fail. And even more so if they step outside the boundaries set by their predecessors, because Agujetas remembered Beans, Uncle Jose de Paula y Curro Durse, cante short and to the heart. He finished his work with fandangos, those of Manuel Agujetas y Doloresone thing is equal, the other is equal.
The trio of singing aces ended with the intervention of the most veteran, the last Mohican of the cante from Jerez I live, the Jerez school of natural transmission: Don Luis. He was not prolix in cantealthough yes in styles. Soleá and seguiriyas. Nothing more. And nothing less. In the first, a very extensive but stylistically repetitive repertoire. In the second, three bodies of cante with a repetition of Jerez styles and a Fillo finish. We were left wanting to hear his cante star, the bulería por soleá, but the most veteran of the three artists was the most intense and shortest in canteThere was an improvised bulerías finale that amounted to nothing more than a collection of short bulerías with no real substance. In short, a good selection of three generations of singers from Jerez, each with their own unique signature and eager to please a demanding audience.
Credits
recital of cante by Luis El Zambo, Agujetas Chico and Manuel Monje
Milnoff Festival Granada 2025
La Chumbera Municipal Auditorium, Granada
June 6th, 2025
Cante: Luis el Zambo, Agujetas boy, Manuel Monje
Guitar: Curro Carrasco
Compass: Manuel Cantarote, Juan Diego Valencia
