Enrique Morente turns texts by
Picasso into flamenco cante on his album ‘Pablo
de Málaga’
The Granada-born cantaor revives ‘Omega’
live, with a five-concert tour
Flamenco-world.com, June 2008
“The sense of freedom and
lack of inhibition there was in his unpretentiousness
as a writer caught my attention, since all of his lines
were written with love and wit, a sense which he hadn’t
lost from being born in Málaga, constantly recalling
the light, flavors and smells of Málaga”.
With these words, Enrique
Morente expresses the sensations he had when reading
Picasso. And the thing is that his new album ‘Pablo
de Málaga’, which is to be released in early
June 2008, is not just inspired by the universal Málaga-born
artist’s paintings, but also by his literary work.
The live presentation will take place on June 14th at
Frontón Jai-Alai in the Basque city of Guernica.
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Enrique Morente (Photo
Daniel Muñoz) |
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As
Flamenco-world.com informed in January 2007, last
year Enrique Morente prepared the ‘soundtrack’
of the Picasso Museum’s exhibit ‘Carmen et
Paris’ in the French capital. The Granada-born cantaor
was “seeking material, getting to know the details
of his life in France”. And he discovered the unknown
written work by the artist from Málaga: “I
didn’t know that Picasso had written so much, so
I’ve focused my work on musicalizing his poetry,
which is really surrealistic”.
Now that work is captured on the album
‘Pablo de Málaga’, which is to come
out in early June 2008. The disc, with thirteen scores,
is presented live at a very special stage: Guernica. The
city, which was bombed seventy years ago by the German
Condor Legion at the request of Franco’s side during
the Spanish Civil War, an event which Picasso captured
in one of his best-known paintings, will host the concert
on June 14th at Frontón Jai-Alai.
‘Pablo de Málaga’
consists of “poems, texts and writings by the brilliant
artist, adding melody and vocals to Picasso’s memories
of his hometown, Málaga, to the smell of food,
to the home flavor, to childhood memories which Morente
turns into drops of art, into sound inspiration advanced
for his time”, according to the company. The album
comes out three years after ‘Morente sueña
La Alhambra’, a record which was the consequence
of a documentary with the same title.
‘Omega’ returns
At the same time as ‘Pablo de Málaga’
is released, Enrique Morente revives one of the fundamental
works in his discography, the groundbreaking album ‘Omega’.
The Granada-born cantaor is going to offer five concerts,
accompanied by the rock band Lagartija Nick, which he
recorded this tribute to Lorca with in 1996. The Plaza
del Zócalo in Mexico City (April 26th), Festival
Primavera Sound in Barcelona (May 31st), La Riviera in
Madrid (June 21st, in the setting of the Music Day festivities),
FIB Heineken 2008 in Benicassim (July 20th) and Festival
La Mar de Músicas in Cartagena (July 25th) are
the stops of this tour in which ‘La aurora de Nueva
York’, ‘Pequeño vals vienés’
and ‘Manhattan’ will sound once again.
'Omega' by Enrique Morente
in México DF
(Photo morenteomega.com)
