Little by little flamenco is starting to cook again. I just attended my first show in the \u201cnew normal\u201d state of social distancing and face masks, with temperature check at the entrance. You\u2019d think it would put a damper on the usually free-wheeling nature of this type of flamenco event, but it was actually a terrific evening.<\/p>\n
The Guadalcac\u00edn town hall programed three high-flying flamenco artists to perform in the small patio of the Tomasa Pinilla school this summer. Friday night was Remedios Amaya, and two more scheduled recitals will feature El Grana\u00edno and Capullo de Jerez, a great opportunity to see artists of this level in what is basically an intimate setting, and for the modest ticket price of 8 euros. We counted 133 white plastic chairs in small clusters, just over half of which were occupied.\u00a0 People are still reluctant to attend group events.<\/p>\n
A couple of years ago on a social media forum of serious flamenco fans, one member suggested carrying out an informal survey to identify the ten top flamenco singers alive today. It was an interesting experiment, to say the least. The big surprise was that nearly every single list not only included Remedios Amaya, but nearly always in the first or second spot.<\/p>\n
What was more surprising still, was my own surprise. Why had I not even considered the charismatic lady who has been one of the most popular female flamenco voices for so many years?\u00a0 More than a flamenco singer, a flamenca<\/em>, with an expansive personality and generous smile that sends the flamenco feeling all the way to the back row of the biggest venue. I had thought of her as closer to pop music, which is not really an accurate portrait of Remedios Amaya.<\/p>\n After some health issues in recent years, our urban Triana Extremadura-flavored ghetto flamenco cult figure who initially managed to hitch a ride on Camar\u00f3n\u2019s artistic coattails, has actually made several \u201ccomebacks\u201d including a few years ago at the Bienal de Sevilla when she filled the patio of the Hotel Triana with her communicative power and earthy authenticity.<\/p>\n Long ago, at the beginning of the Camar\u00f3n heyday, there was a time when la Susi (Encarnaci\u00f3n Amador, of the numerous Amador family) was hailed as the female counterpart of the popular singer from San Fernando.\u00a0 But soon that honor had to be shared with Remedios Amaya.\u00a0 After some years of erratic activity, a breakthrough collaboration with Vicente Amigo in 1997 paved the way for guitarists to use cante to back up their own \u201csolo\u201d recordings. (Sabicas did something similar with Enrique Montoya decades earlier, but that was for the United States market where there was no following for flamenco singing).<\/p>\n Remedios came to Guadalcac\u00edn, just outside Jerez, with a small but effective back-up that included her sister Carmen, daughter Samara, percussionist Isidro Su\u00e1rez and the terrific guitarist El Perla, whom we\u2019ve seen so often with Farruquito.<\/p>\n Born in Triana to a family with roots in Extremadura, Remedios puts the pieces together just right for her own canastera<\/em> personality which she used to open with credible sole\u00e1. It\u2019s always a pleasure to see how classic flamenco forms can adapt so well to a given singer\u2019s perspective and artistic line without losing the focus. Taranto was prefaced with a brief pep talk that drew enthusiastic applause: \u201cSe\u00f1ores, we have to fight to defend flamenco!\u201d a reference to the painful disappearance of tablaos, pe\u00f1as and festivals we\u2019re seeing daily.<\/p>\n Jaleo extreme\u00f1o with her popular \u201ccamino la feria Zafra\u201d, was followed by Camar\u00f3n\u2019s creation Canastera<\/em> recorded in 1972 folks, nearly 50 years ago and still sounding good.\u00a0 One year after that recording was made, in the TV series Rito y Geograf\u00eda del Cante,<\/em> Remedios Amaya, then eleven years old, gave us all a lesson in flamenco attitude.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Friday night was Remedios Amaya, and two more scheduled recitals will feature El Grana\u00edno and Capullo de Jerez, a great opportunity to see artists of this level in what is basically an intimate setting, and for the modest ticket price of 8 euros.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":20728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-estela-flamenca"],"yoast_head":"\n