Guest -> Juan Martin in Manchester. Review. (Feb. 25 2004 10:29:24)
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Last night saw Juan Martin and a trio of entertainers from Spain descend into the chill drizzle of Manchester,s NEC centre. The 42 million pound state of the art Bridgewater Hall is about as unflamenco a venue as the mind can conjure. Seating almost three and a half thousand spectators, (maybe three-quarters full last night) this austere home of the Halle Orchestra is designed for one thing: musical appreciation. In that, it has few equals. Sitting beneath a space-age steel structural canopy,the large, gleaming,almost white, two-level floor would do justice to a world ballroom championship venue. The customary three straight-backed chairs and floor mikes of the performers looked almost appologetic against the deep purple richness of the backdrop that, for the night, hid the mighty master organ from sight. There were no filmy curtains, silhouette shows or anvils beating, ala Paco Pena, and not a castanet in sight, just Juan Martin as lead guitarist and soloist, one cantaor and two young dancers. The Cantaor, Chato Velez (after his home village of Velez Malaga)doubled as second guitarist, the male dancer played cajon,(sparingly and in complimentary mode rather then a Gene Krupa wanna-be) both dancers and the cantaor payed palmas and, surprisingly, audible pitos. Juan Martin is a frequent and experienced campaigner in the art of touring and entertaining foreign audiences, (as Manchester University is home to many Spanish student and the city has several Spanish restaurants, the crowd contained a sizeable segment of homies) and the reception was warm and deserved. Reviewer shock one came when I went to purchase a programme. There were none on the night. Shock two came when the reason for this became quickly apparent; the advertised programme of mainly ida y vuelte palos, guajiras, colombianas and cuban-inspired rumbas had dissapeared in favour of...??? The Show: We were soon to be pleasantly surprised. The maestro appeared and immediately went into a solo tarantas. The rich black chords of this palo needed no programme note and it is a palo Martin does so well.He followed it with a lively and traditionally easily identifiable zapateado and the reviewer began to relax. After warm applause, senor Martin made the lack of a programme a non entity as he told the audience briefly what he was doing.(my touch of self satisfaction dissappeared as the little bald guy with glasses sitting beside us, who now knew as much as me, informed his wife in a stage-whisper,that they had just heard a "zippadeedoodah" Hmmmm. The next item was a lively alegrias in perfect compas, and the young gypsy girl dancer from Cadiz made mincemeat of it, intersparsed with the surprisingly good voice of the Malagan cantaor. It is pointless to state it finished por bulerias; almost everything does and, IMO, its entry is intruding fuerther and further into palo space..however, it was punchy, well worked and, amidst the clever lighting that threw the dancer's shadow hugely onto the side walls, highly audience appreciative. A darkened stage and sigueryas sobered down the alegrias ambience and this was sung with respect and well danced by the young male bailoro (unfortunately, this is where the programme was needed as I didn't get his name).Walking canes appeared and beat out the contra tiempo rythmn as the dancer displayed his art, a touch reminiscent of Antonio Gadez and Mario Maya with clever balanced turns that had no pueblo heritage but rather that of the ballet class. The sigueryas, (spoiled for me with one touch of Charlie Chaplin vaudeville in kicking the walking cane around, became the inevitable por bulerias, but well done and indisputably flamenco based. Faultless compas throughout. Rumba, unashamed fun, on two guitars with lively contra- tiempo palmas ended the first session to great applause and appreciation. A quick visit to el aire libre for a tobacco injection and we were back in our seats in time for part two: Again Martin entertained with an opening solo that displayed perfectly his guitar virtuosity. A Moorish influenced own composition without any title I heard, but reminiscent of his "Girls of Algiers" from the "Picasso Portraits" album saw him wandering into aras beyond the twelfth fret that I wold need a passport to visit. His control of the fretboard and clever percussive effects, whilst making a determined effort to avoid all the hackneyed descriptive phrases so beloved of flamenco reviewers, made me close my eyes and be in another place, another era; the sultana's garden in Granada's Alhambra was not too hard on the immagination in the warm theatre and.....enough. Masterly invocation of Moorish influence, flamenco, no, excellent music, decidedly! A two guitar bulerias instrumental, a well sung por tangos of the Juan Villar mode accompanied by another great dancing attack from the young female Gaditano and a clever shadow of a massive abanico (fan) across the walls whilst the male dancer did palmas and cajon and rapturous applause ended a lively opening. Then it was the turn of the male bailoro to portray solea. Dressed in a plain black street suit and waistcoat that neither paid homage to high fashion or threw back to national dress, this dancer showed great control of his taconeo and could be forgiven for demonstrating his craft with a few clever crowd pleasers. His solea was compas correct and his bulerias ending had much of the gypsy, ballet-free, humourous and intimate approach that put the audience completely in his pocket. The fin de fiesta was typical, dancing cantaor (even Juan dropped his guitar and shuffled a few steps) singing young female dancer(hey, a good cante voice going begging here) boy, girl duet ala Antonio Serano/Maria del Mar berlanga of a previous troupe and three encores to enthusiastic and well deserved applause brought a thoroughly enteraining evening to a close. Lacking the intimacy of tablao, but bringing it to the masses with traditional respect, it was great value for money. Footnotes. A quickly grabbed couple of minutes with the maestro amidst the throng of autograph hunting CD buyers, brought this: For the guitar nuts: Me: "Juan, what guitars are you playing. " Mainly a Conde Hermanos with a rosewood back and unusually white top. My second guitar is by a Granada luthier, Juan Carmona." "And flamenco itself, where do you see it heading? Will it make a return to the traditional, or are we about to be "Chilled to death" (brought a wide grin) "Well, flamenco is changing, there's no doubt people are doing a lot of things now they didn't do before" Me: "Like the fact that no one is reording traditional cante at this moment". "Well, I have just released a new CD with Chato, and he sings the traditional stuff on it. He's very good"..... And away from flamenco and into the Manchester night air we went with me clutching (yes I confess it) a signed copy of "Camino Latino". Well , I just have to know what's happening...don't I? (((-: Jim.
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