What happened to me with Miguel is something that has only happened to me with a few other artists. You go to enjoy a show and suddenly a voice, a turn of phrase, a way of performing catches your attention. cante through the mouth. It was in the Lope de Vega Theater from Seville, at the 2012 Biennial, when the dance of Olga Pericet It was sustained by an unmistakable Jerez echo that captivated me from then on and is now part of my backpack of flamencoessential.
The long roads of cante flamenco They are full of paths, geographies, singing styles and forms, panoramas, and landscapes. But there are voices, echoes, that in themselves bring or carry landscapes in their sounds. It arrived Miguel Lavi He arrived in Huelva with his characteristic artistic and personal humility, blessing everyone who approached him to say hello and, above all, to share with us that treasure chest of essences he carries.
He had already said it: "I come to give my heart and whatever God allows me to give." He began his performance, without letting up. Under the watchful gaze of Paco León, who caressed the strings to give them tone, the Jerez native opened the night with the cante Through romance with no musical accompaniment other than that provided by his vocal cords, reminiscent of the masters Agujetas y Mairena. Then He entered the garden of Venus to look for the flower he lovedSlowly, without any rush, just like the lyrics say to alleviate their painPaco's guitar reminded me of that necessary air that fills the lungs with fragrances before asking God. Why has he taken away the mother of his soul? in that big Malaga woman of The TwinAs if it were a ritual, the silence of the room masks the emotion of a cante that has cut through the air and has even hypnotized us.
I remember breathing in the opening falseta of the soleá. I can't help it, when a guitar sounds and calls to this cante The way Paco has done it, it's as if part of me heals, oxygenating my soul. Because I love her so much / I took her to the road. / I put a hat over her face / so the moon wouldn't see her anymore. El cante De Miguel takes you by the hand, accompanying you to those ways that only the San Miguel neighborhood shelters.
If the soleá captivated us, the tientos did no less so. How long it had been since I'd enjoyed the depth of these canteEach third cuts through the air. The Jerez native doesn't hold back and finishes with a burst of tangos.
"With a single cry, it pierces my heart. How many lives must one have lived to sing like this? A voice that transcends the emotions of the moment, that carries centuries of stories, poetry, and music. With it, I weep for the painful beauty that seeps into my body. And I vibrate with the fury of living."
And now we turn our attention to the local flavor of a voice, that of Miguel Lavi. The one that takes us on a stroll through the Jerez square in the soleá por bulerías. If he was never in a hurry, he's even less so here. Slowly, in time, letting us savor the rhythm and the melody. If the cante It's his hallmark; he has clearly stated his credentials.
I don't have time to recover; it feels like I'm in the Louvre or the Prado. You barely finish being intoxicated by the magic of one work of art before another grabs you and invites you to stay. That's exactly what happened. If the soleá por bulerías made me stroll through that imaginary Jerez, the cante The siguiriyas captivated me and held me firmly in that moment.Oh!, my little body was calling for death / and it doesn't want to come / because death, my little companion, pities me. At that moment, nothing but authenticity could exist. It would be redundant to say that the lament became a siguiriya, or vice versa. But no, there was even more, and even better; he raised the decibels of his soul and, as promised, poured his heart out. Well, rather, he gifted us his heart in the form of a lament. His body trembled, contracted, and expanded, remembering... Juanichi: If you find her, go and tell her, tell her that I love her… That's siguiriya, exactly this, with which Lavi and Paco have moved us, and as the great fan says Trini Navarro"I've even stopped feeling cold".
Then… Then came the bulería. A Jerez journey and nods to Caracol, Juanito Villar and popular lyrics, as well as a tribute to Almendro y The Cake by fandangos.
Bronze was the first important alloy obtained by humankind. Lavi's voice carries within it that bond from which history, landscape, and classicism emanate, and which is equally relevant in his time. Bronze and honey. Or bronze honey, that's how this artist seems to me, with nuances of warmth and black sounds. Beside him is Paco León, a guitarist whose instrument beats to the rhythm of the Ports, Cadiz and Jerez, giving us in each falseta a little piece of that flamenco skin that inhabits.
Someone told me tonight: "With just one cry, it pierces my heart. How many lives must one have lived to sing like that? A voice that transcends the emotions of the moment, that carries centuries of stories, poetry, and music. With it, I weep for the painful beauty that seeps into my body. And I vibrate with the fury of living."
Perhaps everything I have said can be summarized in this last paragraph and, like a maternal shell, it embraces us all and all our feelings.
Credits
recital of cante by Miguel Lavi
Peña Female Flamenco Culture of Huelva
November 21th 2025
CanteMiguel Lavi
Touch: Paco León
