Today, I am reposting classical pianist, travel junkie and Latin music blogger Charisse Baldoria's "'Flamenco Hoy': Authentic or Artificial?" for educational purposes.
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REVIEW: 'Flamenco Hoy': Authentic or Artificial?
Originally posted here February 25, 2011
For something to be authentic, does it have to be ‘pure?’
"Flamenco Hoy" ("Flamenco Today"), a live showcase of flamenco music and dance, was presented at the New York City Center from February 16-20. Directed by Carlos Saura, famed Spanish film director of flamenco-inspired movies, the touring show made its U.S. premiere, presenting flamenco in various incarnations and guises–Arabic, Jewish, and gypsy; African and South American; ballet and folk dance; pop and jazz.
In his New York Times review, dance critic Alastair Macaulay said the show presented the trappings rather than essence of flamenco and was basically inauthentic.
But what did he expect?
Is 'pure' flamenco what you'd be coming to see anyway? Taking cues from the venue, director, and musical director, one would instantly recognize that <[lp]Flamenco Hoy> was meant to be cinematic, theatrical, and jazzy, with ballet as a cornerstone. And with, supposedly, flamenco at its soul.
Sinuous silhouettes on a tangerine screen, synchronized group dancing, a flamenco ballet skit on the daily life of a dance company playing to the Boccherini fandango — theatrical, yes. Besides, the venue, a large modern theater, felt more like a /tablao/ (a theatrical flamenco dance show for a big audience) than a /peña/ (an intimate flamenco club).
In Saura’s film Flamenco (1995), choreographers Antonio Gades and Cristina Hoyos were flamenco ballet dancers, much like Flamenco Hoy’s Nani Paños and Rafael Estévez. Gades, who started as a classical dancer and Hoyos a flamenco dancer, met in the middle.
But the Saura theatricality and predilection for flamenco ballet was the wrapper, not the gift. Flamenco’s Holy Trinity of song, guitar, and dance; the tragedy, the festivity; the rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic essence–are somehow held sacred.
Rooted in the Andalusian gypsy tradition, singers Rubio de Pruna and Blas Córdoba imploded into cante jondo (deep song) despair with their traditional renditions of the seguiriyas and martinete. In the bulerías, the dancers’ spontaneous flair, and guitarist Antonio Rey’s inventive syncopations communicated its traditional festive complexity – even as it featured the piano, bass, and flute, not your typical flamenco instruments. Not a surprise, as "a bulería can swallow anything."
In flamenco nuevo fashion, there was musical director/flamenco pianist Chano Domínguez' “Let There be Light” with traditional flamenco singing caught in a brilliant dialogue with the saxophone, echoing, embellishing, reinforcing, contradicting each other in the weaving melismas of flamenco and jazz. There was his pensive "Melancolía por malagueñas" for flamenco singer and piano. There was his “Call of the Earth” for flute, cello, and piano which I myself want to play. (See VIDEO: Flamenco on the Piano)
And then there was the zambra, an hommage to Manolo Caracol, with Domínguez' rhythmic inventions and Estévez’ high-strung zapateado (flamenco tap-dancing) virtuosity starting off in a playful banter, gaining momentum together, and exploding in perfect synchronicity.
Duende or angel (spirit), as flamenco performers believe, ’possesses’, and binds together present and past.
Seen in its history as well as today, flamenco transforms, yet can become more and more itself. Drawing nourishment from its roots and raising its branches out to the world, Flamenco Hoy - flamenco today - seems to be in good health.
[post.end]
permalink: http://mylatinworld.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/review-flamenco-hoy-authentic-or-artificial
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In the next post, my comments on the above.
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