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mrstwinkle -> Festival de Jerez 2020 retrospecitive (Mar. 3 2020 14:51:17)
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Personal retrospective of stuff I saw. I don't like completely uncritical reviews so will try to be critical of some of the weaker aspects of each so please don't take the wrong way.
Rafael Riqueni presenting Herencia in Gonzalez Byass. Very technical, although it suffered a little at times because of this. Almost all of it were pieces with 3 guitars, which realistically got a little blurry at times. Probably something needs a few listens to 'get'. The Byass concert hall has good acoustics so recommend as a venue.
Antonio Rey in La Guarida. I'm not a particularly big fan of Antonio's, but this could convert me. Live he played slightly stripped back stuff - a little rawer and edgier than on the albums.
Manuel Valencia accompaniment to cante course. Good, although maybe a little too much time spent of warmup exercices IMO. As before, I'm still not convinced of the value for money of masterclasses. 8 guitarists in a room = mess. Played some stuff off what I suspect will be new album material. Interesting Zapateado with tanguillos rhythm. The perspective of Pedro Garrido (Niño de la fragua) was interesting. Good storyteller of the historan of origins of some cante.
Jerez seems to be slightly recovering financially. Gallo Azul is supposed to be reopening. Lots of popup shops selling dresses for the baille tourists. Maybe a blip, but compared to a year ago, looks like turning the tide. Maybe.
David Carpio in Gonzalez Byass. Personal bias as I like his voice, but very very good show. Had Diego del Morao and Manuel Valencia accompanying. Again, acoustics superb. Makes a big difference. Manuel Liñán did some baile which personally didn't like at all (as opposed to my usual '-meh- whatever' view of baille)
Israel Fernandez in El Guarida. DdMorao accompaniment. La Guarida still has acoustics issues although not as bad as two years ago. PA not quite as boomy now. Very slick, although maybe overly - nothing to challenge the audience? However this would probably be the perfect show to bring a flamenco naysayer to in order to convert them.
Santiago experience in the clositers. Mainly went to see Tia Juana, although we only got 2.5 songs from her and the rest was from other singers. Cloisters quite a good venue, although very long thin room so if you get cheaper seats in reservation you will be WAY back. She still sings well and brings a bit of an old school vibe to things. Unprofessional in a good way.
Manuel Parilla course. 3 dayer although school were meant to have changed the times in advance on the last day to avoid a clash, but hadn't. Still waiting for refund for last day and some slighly annoying trying to backpedal out of refund on their part (sigh...) Anyways. Manuel himself is a great teacher and good at crowd control in a roomful of guitarists. Picked up a nice playable solea on the way.
Montse Cortes in La Guarida. The venue and I had a bit of a standoff over this as they wanted me and the people at the front of the queue to go upstairs to the gallery (worst seats). Slightly tense staredown as I wouldn't, but they backed down. Concert itself was actually IMO the biggest revelation of the week, and I'm not even overly familiar with her work. Performed proper prepared songs which clearly had been rehearsed with a structure. This has advantages of just pick 'por fandangos, and we're off' approach. Guitarist used more challenging progressions and flasettas which wouldn't have worked in most scenarios. Criticisms would be it tends to go a bit towards soft melodic style a bit too often for amy taste, and guitar had some sort of plug in the back microphone so inevitable duck sounds. But three quarters of it blew me away.
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