EL LEBRIJANO. PRESENTATION OF ‘CUANDO
LEBRIJANO CANTA SE MOJA EL AGUA’ AT THE INSTITUTO
CERVANTES
Between Lebrija and Macondo
S.C. Madrid, June 5th, 2008
| |
El Lebrijano. Presentación
of 'Cuando Lebrijano canta se moja el agua'
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
An unusual encounter between cante and
words has pushed the doors of the Instituto Cervantes,
the institution which watches over Spanish literature
internationally, wide open to flamenco. At its luxurious
headquarters in Madrid at the Palacio de las Cariátides,
the presentation was held of the album ‘Cuando
Lebrijano canta se moja el agua’ (‘When
Lebrijano Sings, Water Gets Wet’), the response
to the dedication written years ago by Gabriel García
Márquez to cantaor El Lebrijano
after listening to him in Seville por soleá.
The expectation aroused by the presentation
of such a daring musical project - at a venue crowded
with guests from the arts and politics - touched the veteran
artist who, before starting to sing, uttered some heartfelt
words: “I wanted to give to Gabriel from his literature,
through adaptation by Casto Márquez, my cante,
my music. And if that also helps to join the cultures
from both sides of the Atlantic, we’ve gone a step
further. May God hand out good luck, as bullfighters say”.
Juan Peña’s broad quejío wasn’t
long in coming.
El Lebrijano. Presentación
of 'Cuando Lebrijano canta se moja el agua'
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
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The group marks the beat for him and
the picture of ‘Monologue of Isabel Watching the
Rain in Macondo’ turns into a deep song por bulerías
by art of magical realism. The cantaor’s echo stretches
out from his open arms “to the patios of Macondo”.
And an immediate surprise is the musical work elaborated
by Dorantes
and Pedro María Peña to make contemporary
flamenco from such a complex literary work. Dorantes’s
unmistakable piano then comes in, sentencing. And it materializes
in sound through ‘La santa’, consisting of
phrases-quejíos against an alboreá background.
The grief of ‘No One Writes to the Colonel’
is seen by El Lebrijano por seguiriyas, with his tiritiritiritiiii
and everything. As a coda, the bright bulerías
of ‘Cándida Eréndira’, the powerful
song opening this disc which knocks up a notch the musical
possibilities of flamenco... and of cante, which is even
more praiseworthy. And the water got wet once more.
