Yesterday, Friday, the 3rd, we were in Lebrija, and I confess that I cannot be impartial about it. Tribute to Juan Peña The Lebrijano We were both like brothers, and aside from leading the countless illustrated lectures we gave around the world, or serving as a consultant, thus strengthening a very intimate bond and connection, the reader will understand that it is very difficult to self-regulate.
That is why I will ignore the seduction of nostalgia in order to highlight who was destined for the necessary change, and who, if no one could stop his evolution, it is because it led to the contemporary history of cante gypsy to the concept of individual consciousness.
Tribute to Juan Peña The Lebrijano It's a concert that, due to its overwhelming popular success, was forced to announce a double performance to a full house on the same day. It addresses a very specific period of someone who never slept with the thought of death because he lived, on the one hand, so that current generations would find everything ready and not lose sight of why they are living in days of glory. And on the other, to create a work that, based on tradition, serves to open the mind without losing our most cherished identity.
Let us clarify, in relation to that, that The Lebrijano , trained in the most orthodox classicism, was a pioneer of avant-garde, incorporating the fundamental styles into the symphonic world with God's word to a gypsy (1972), and sought common ground with Andalusian Arabic music and Bulgarian music.
And I focus on the core of the concert, on Andalusian Arabic music, a genre he delved into following the album Persecution (1976), and for which he received palos from all sides. He was branded a transgressor, a rebel, a rapist, a disruptor, a violator, a disobedient, a scoundrel, etc., etc., etc. And the vast majority of these insults were uttered from the Roma world without a single critical analysis. That is, without listening to the work.
"If there has been an artist who has added the highest demands to the extraordinary capacity for musical production that he has Lebrija and that has been fundamental in the history of flamenco, that's Juan el Lebrijano. The illustrious musician who opened a new path from the Arab world, sequenced over an extensive sample of palos jondo"They looked to the future"
A plea for the friend in memory not only takes us to the Arabic expression “felah-mengu” (runaway peasant) that put into circulation Blas Infante, until Zyriab, which in the 9th century introduced musical innovations that had such an influence on the Iberian Peninsula, without forgetting the "moaxajas" and the "jarchas", compositions from Muslim Spain that with syllabic tendencies and melodic phrasing would be present in the cantes without guitar. and the accompaniment ones.
The Arabic tradition would be completely lost. However, Juan el Lebrijano had plenty of arguments for the musical conflation he proposed, such as some authors seeing the relationship between an Arabic musical mode, the "maquam hijaz," and flamenco music, claiming that the fusion of the "Phrygian" and "hijaz" modes gave rise to the Andalusian cadence, that is, the four-chord progression so common in flamenco music.
In this light, there are similarities between the beginning of the natural martinete and the Muslim call to prayer known as "Adhan." We also find this analogy in one of the variants of the soleares of Alcalá attributed to Joaquin from Paula , and in one of the seguiriyas of the Jerez native Manuel Molina , as well as in the well-known I deny of the Mr. Manuel Cagancho from Triana.
If there has been, therefore, an artist who has added the highest demands to the extraordinary capacity for musical production that he has Lebrija and which has been, inexorably, fundamental in the history of flamenco, that is Juan el Lebrijano, the illustrious musician who, among others, opened a new path from the Arab world, sequenced, moreover, on an extensive sample of palos jondowho looked to the future –present today–, while expanding the inherited legacy of flamenco life to the most diverse territories.
And to delve into the productive aspect of this variant of the Lebrija culture, the concert conducted by the guitarist and professor will Benito Velázquez , which has put the identity voice of Antonio Peña and Faiçal Kourrich's extraordinary musical description, something that the layman's newspaper archives failed to reveal. Namely, the creative impulse of a Lebrija native so boundless that what unites us to him isn't the music we see, but the light that allows us to see it.
This is what the concert proposed, to look for the dawn that was not illuminated for the blind in nightclubs like Persecution (1976) END OF THE YEAR (1985) Casablanca (1998) Lebrijano presents Faiçal. Open House (2005) and two shores (2013), the five works on which the proposal is based.
"To revive and shape this recognition, a cast of very young musicians has contributed to the re-evaluation of a unique part of his work. A true example of musical juggling with unparalleled speed of creation, where the exploratory core of his compositional style takes on its full splendor."
In this way, the sequencing of the contents predicted what was announced by The prophet Isaiah (2013). The street where the honoree was born was evoked Calle San Francisco (1998). And from there to Arabian Nights (1985), which Juan associates with the medieval collection of traditional tales from the Near East compiled in Arabic during the Golden Age of Islam.
They poured out, exactly, Tears of wax , in addition to perceiving how Thunder the poem of Antonio Machado , both compositions of the album two shores (2013). And after the instrumental dance of Benito Velázquez, the equator was reached with a Moorish dance as a prelude to Damn yourselves for being gypsies. Cante of galleys , a creation that produced a collective stupor and that, moving between romance and lullaby and escorted by Henry of Melchior , the singer included in both Persecution (1976) as on the LP Flamenco at the Royal Theater (1981)
But Juan el Lebrijano is synonymous with independence, with autonomy, that is why he implores Give me freedom (1985 and 2013), to continue the program by removing the lock from the minds stuck with Garnet (2005). It also confirms its commitment to celebrating the future from The ring ( Chibulí ) (1985), and closing the concert with a medley of bulerías in which the most distinctive lyrics of what has become a classic over time were sheltered.
This is how the gala, which also offered a video of Antonio Manuel Falcón and the recognition that the mayor of the town, Pepe Barroso And responsible for Culture, Pepe Martinez , they had with the son of the honored and prestigious lawyer, Juan José Peña Cuts , delved into one of the many singing talents of the versatile Juan Peña El Lebrijano. And to revive it and give shape to this recognition, a cast of very young musicians has contributed to the re-evaluation of a unique part of his work, a true example of musical juggling with unparalleled speed of creation, where the exploratory core of his compositional style takes on its full splendor.
We are therefore witnessing the literal crying of artistic happiness for the sake of a musical. flamenco in which the performers have the immense privilege of discovering the composer who shone with his own light, the voice that was sovereign in its expressiveness and in the authenticity of its affections, the musician who had an infinite knowledge of the nuances, and, ultimately, who, from the intimacy of his cante, contributed to Spanish culture modulations that touched our souls.
Credits
Tribute to Juan Peña The Lebrijano
Juan Bernabé Municipal Theatre, Lebrija (Seville)
3th October 2025
Al cante: Anthony Peña
Guitars: Benito Velázquez and Inés Núñez
Violin: Faiçal Kourrich
Cante and choirs: Abdelatif Chioua, Raquel Zapico and Laura Ganfornina
Palmas, choirs and cheers: Raúl Velázquez and Sergio Carrasco
Piano: Eugenio Dorantes.
Bass: Juan Antonio Guerrero.
Percussion: Joaquín Caballero.
Audiovisual editing: Antonio Manuel Falcón
