Richard Jernigan -> Carmen Amaya (Mar. 9 2014 19:57:24)
Here's an hour long documentary from Spanish TV about Carmen Amaya. It shows that she was the biggest worldwide star of flamenco at any time up to the present day.
When I saw her in 1962 she was 43 years old, but already showing signs of the illness that killed her the next year.
The show was at the Village Gate in New York. My friend Blackie Acosta and I had a front row table. Sabicas, who had been Carmen's lead guitarist and lover, was at the next table with some of the young guys of his entourage. Perhaps in honor of Carmen, he was without any of the striking young blondes you usually saw him with.
The first number was a slow soleá. After a prolonged guitar intro and more than one verse from the singer, Carmen entered in cola de bata. She never took more than one step per beat of the compás, in total contrast to her famous speed and brilliance, but she was mesmerizing.
I said to Blackie, "It's a shame she has gotten old, but you can't take your eyes off her."
She reappeared very quickly in trousers, a bolero jacket and Cordoba hat, and danced a zapateado with blinding speed and with power that would loosen the fillings in your teeth. The crowd roared, stomped and clapped.
After about 45 minutes there was a break. Blackie and I had on our good suits, and were not particularly lacking in self-confidence. We decided to go backstage and meet some of the beautiful young girls in the cuadro. We learned only later that as usual, they and everybody else in the troupe were Carmen's relatives. The girls not only wouldn't talk to us, they wouldn't even look at us. The guys did though, and soon enough a couple of them were cleaning their fingernails with truly impressive switchblade knives. We decided to go back to our table and have another drink.
The second half of the show was even better than the first, Carmen was amazingly dynamic and powerful, and she could still sing as well as ever. For me, it was the most moving flamenco performance ever--and I'm usually a bigger fan of cante and guitar.
