On Thursday, November 13, it was presented at the House of the Province of Seville the series of lectures and recitals that the Provincial Federation of Seville of Flamenco Entities y Deputation They have planned a series of events to commemorate the 600th anniversary of the arrival of the Romani people to the Iberian Peninsula. It comprises a total of ten events in which various speakers and artists will present their work and showcase their talents. The Romani people will talk about the Romani people, and the Romani people will also be the ones... flamencothat will delight the fans.
The cycle will take place in different peñaSeville from November 14th to December 20th, always combining presentations with performances of cante or dance, with free admission.
It already began on the 14th in the Peña Flamenca Altos de la Fuente from Gelves with the words of the journalist and writer Antonio Ortega and the cante of the young Paymoguera Consuelo Haldon, accompanied on guitar by Antonio CarrionThe next day would be Agustín Vega Cortés the speaker and Juanelo the flamenco singer, in the Peña Teresa León (Female) from Écija. On Friday the 21st in Alcalá. Peña Flamenca The SuburbOrtega's "seductive voice of flamenco wisdom" will return with the dance of Lole de los ReyesAnd on the 22nd, the gypsy echoes of Osuna will resonate with the cante de Joni Torres in the Peña Flamenca Cano Hierro from Pilas, after the verb of Joaquin Lopez BustamanteSunday the 23rd will be marked by the pronouncements of José Vega de los Reyes preceding the cante from Malaga Aroa of Bastián. Jairo Vega will put the dance in the Peña Flamenca The Ribera Guillena on the 28th with López Bustamante performing again. And on December 13th there will be doubleheaders in Pedrera and Cazalla de la Sierra. peñaflamenco dancers Manuel Romero y The Serrana, who will enjoy the dance performances of Joy of Castro y Matias Campos and the speeches by Antonio Ortega and José Vega de los Reyes. On the 14th, Villanueva de San Juan will adorn the Peña Flamenca Villanoveña with the dance of Triana La Canela and Antonio Ortega at the lecterns to face the end of the cycle in the Peña Flamenca from Sanlúcar La Mayor with the cante from Lebrija Malena Carrasco and José Vega de los Reyes as speaker.
Journalist Jorge Méndez was Manuel Macias who opened the event and acted as master of ceremonies, giving the floor to those who took the podium. The first to speak was Miguel Ángel Melero, coordinator of the Governing Council of the entity that hosted the event. After paying tribute to Phosphorite On the day of his death, he noted the coincidence that the celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of the proclamation of flamenco awarded by the Unesco , the Intangible Heritage of Humanity Three types of heritage converged in that room: the historical heritage of the palatial house that housed them, the pictorial heritage, due to the exhibition displayed there, and the flamencoAnd "although I am the most uninformed on this subject, I am reasonable enough to understand that all the support that the administrations give for these matters is necessary, and that is what we are trying to promote from the Provincial House by receiving this presentation and with the show that we are going to enjoy next: Nearby heelsBut in the same way that we have an obligation to stand with the groups that dedicate themselves to flamencoIt is necessary that these associations be led by people who know what they are doing and who want to do it, and that is why, Concha Prieto –President of the Federation and Confederation of PeñaFlamenco Dancers of Andalusia, in addition to being a board member of the Peña Flamenca From Tomares—these last words are for you, to thank you for everything you do for the flamenco in Andalusia and in Tomares, in your peña"We hope that it will receive the Gold Medal this year on its fiftieth anniversary."
"The peña"We flamenco artists defend an art that is a symbol of integration, diversity and respect for roots, and that is why all the participants in this circuit are Gypsy artists and speakers to whom we wanted to give the floor to listen to their voice, their vision and their feelings" (Concha Prieto)
Concha outlined the program for the series and thanked Melero for the welcome, the speakers and artists for their willingness, and the Provincial Council for its support, also pointing out that "given the enormous contribution of the Roma people to flamenco already our culture, the peñaWe flamenco dancers of Seville had to do our bit to commemorate the 600th anniversary of their arrival on the peninsula, with the aim of honoring and paying tribute to the fundamental role of the gypsies in the historical, artistic and cultural development of the flamencoas well as to honor their memory and recognize their contribution. peñaAs flamenco artists, we defend an art that is a symbol of integration, diversity, and respect for roots, and that is why all the participants in this circuit are Gypsy artists and speakers to whom we wanted to give the floor to hear their voice, their vision, and their feelings."
Antonio Ortega added that “what isn’t told doesn’t exist: you can’t erase memory. It’s very important that this series of events has taken place, setting an example for other public administrations that continue to have a historical amnesia regarding the Roma people, when we wouldn’t be here today if we hadn’t entered the Iberian Peninsula in 1425. We wouldn’t be able to talk about…” The Girl with the Combs, Manolo Caracol, Antonio Mairena, Thomas Pavon, La Paquera de Jerez, Carmen amaya, Ramon Montoya, Camarón de la Isla…we would never finish. There would be no end to it. flamenco Because all the historical references we find in its creation point to the Roma people. Until now, our history has always been told from the outside, with an outsider's perspective and biases that haven't benefited us and have positioned us as objects of study rather than sources of knowledge. This series gives us a voice and spaces to speak out because we ourselves are the ones who can best speak about this. An outsider can offer an approximation, but we know this set of practices, experiences, and sayings well from within our own communities. And it's not at odds with the flamenco Not Gypsy. But there is a heritage of our people, because it is evident that Gypsy singing, playing, and dancing still take place, even though there has been a de-Gypsyization of the flamenco in public administrationAnd I'm not saying it was done with bad intentions, but they've portrayed us in a way that doesn't represent us. We Roma haven't left behind any brick-and-mortar heritage. You can't just kick a cathedral aside, but they do, and they have, portrayed Roma people as criminals or romanticized. And there's a reality of Roma people that doesn't conform to this. We have to fight to maintain our differences, which aren't bad. And we have to learn to live together in a multicultural society.
José Vega de los Reyes raised "a real problem: if it's not for social intervention, we're not taken into account. And they label us as having an unwritten culture when we've contributed hundreds of words in Caló, many of them incorporated into the flamenco as a result of transmission, orality and the maintenance of our customs. We Gypsies have not contributed to the creation of this art: we are a shared backbone with the rest of Andalusia».
And it was the flamenco singer Juanelo from Los Palacios who closed the speeches on behalf of the artists participating in this circuit, inviting the public to attend the recitals and praising Gypsy culture as "the most necessary, pure, and true." ♦
