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<\/p>\nIn 1928, the agent Vedrines undertook a wonderful entrepreneurial adventure for that time: creating a show with the most famous stars in those days, even as there were noteworthy absentees in the lineup, such as Manuel Torres, Ni\u00f1o de Marchena, Ni\u00f1o de Caracol, El Cojo de M\u00e1laga and other leading artists. However, this renowned agent managed to convince Don Antonio Chac\u00f3n to do the tour, something that was not easy at all for him, but this genius needed the money. The maestro from Jerez headlined this tour,\u00a0Solemne Fiesta Andaluza<\/i>\u00a0(\u201cSolemn Andalusian Party<\/i>\u201d), shared with Ni\u00f1a de los Peines, Manuel Vallejo, Jos\u00e9 Cepero y Guerrita, a veritable idol of the masses at that time. El Chato de las Ventas, Bernardo el de los Lobitos y El Ni\u00f1o de Sevilla also featured, joined by four leading guitarists: Ram\u00f3n Montoya, Luis Yance, Manuel Martell and Manuel Bonet. Performing baile were Carmen Vargas, El Estamp\u00edo, Frasquillo, his wife La Quica and Carmelita Borbolla. There was also an act was by\u00a0Los Seis gitanillos de la Cava de Triana<\/i>(\u201cThe Six Little Gypsies from Cava de Triana<\/i>\u201d), who were quite an spectacle of Gypsiness and\u00a0comp\u00e1s<\/i>.<\/p>\n
After touring in several big cities with great success, thousands of people attended the performance on August 4, 1928 at Jerez\u2019s\u00a0Plaza de Toros<\/i>\u00a0(bullfighting ring, also used as a venue for other shows and performances). The newspaper\u00a0El Heraldo de Madrid<\/i>\u00a0assigned Guillermo Espejo to write the review, who wrote at length about the artists and left a flamenco critic in the historical archives worthy to be analysed by ExpoFlamenco readers. It\u2019s rather long, but don\u2019t miss any detail because it\u2019s quite interesting:<\/p>\n
Wholesale \u2018cante jondo\u2019<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n
Jerez has given it all this evening in August. Already some boisterous posters with pictures, full of outlandish adjectives and interjections, managed to excite the core of emotional people, who in this town is basically everyone, some more than others. If Alcal\u00e1 is the town of almonds; if the best mostachones are from Utrera; if the best butter cookies are from Antequera and Astorga; if Logro\u00f1o makes the ultimate canned fruits in all Spain, the best asparagus and strawberries are from Aranjuez, and Albacete is renowned for its razors and Trubia for its cannons, then here in Jerez, besides being famous all over Spain for its wines and its horses, we have the key of \u201ccante jondo\u201d. Among the people of Jerez, the few who doesn\u2019t actually know how to sing flamenco, definitely feel and understand it. Everyone here is born a flamenco aficionado.<\/p>\n
Thus, it comes as no surprise that, in this warm summer night, with unprecedent expectation, we all happily gather in our bullfighting ring to fill it up and enjoy the delight of an intimate show focusing on nothing more than Gypsy music. The rebellious guitar notes which pinch the emotions, and the voices emanating from those privileged throats which move people to tears, are the main dishes awaited with faith and gluttony, when the dinner guests are hungry and devoted. It would be impossible to gather artists of greater quality or authority. The great Chac\u00f3n, who in the posters was simply referred as Don Antonio; the mischievous Vallejo, who has revolutionized the enjoyment of flamenco in Spain with the gramophone, and referred in the show\u2019s posters as the human nightingale; Cepero, the poet of flamenco cante; the virtuous Pastora, who doesn\u2019t like being Gypsy or being referred as \u201cNi\u00f1a de los Peines\u201d; one Guerrita, who despite not being flamenco or looking like one, sing what they do and is known as King of Cartageneras; various \u201cni\u00f1os\u201d who aren\u2019t such thing since long ago., and a Chato de las Ventas, the only one whose stage name immediately makes sense when we notice his flat nose, were those who in this temple of bulls in Jerez de la Frontera glorified the most difficult of all cantes, judging by the efforts and contortions of its performers.<\/p>\n
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The cast was completed by renowned guitarists (Montoya and Monet among them) and a bunch of 14 bailaores of both genders and all classes and ages, some of them reportedly taken from the most ancient Gypsy traditions of La Cava and Albaic\u00edn itself. This show started exactly just like any other show in Spain (with the exception of our bullfights), with a delay of several hours. There were three hours of moans and groans, constantly interrupted by the cheering of enthusiastic aficionados, who in my opinion were very rude for voicing their loud approval before the ending of the verses. Cepero was poetic. His lyrics are truly distilled poetry. Cepero, who is from Jerez, performed local styles from his repertoire, and naturally the locals who idolize him cheered him wildly, making him sing at his best. The nightingale wasn\u2019t fortunate with his trills. He didn\u2019t live up to his fame and moved no one. He sang dispirited. Maybe he\u2019s moulting?<\/i><\/p>\n
La Ni\u00f1a, Pastora, brought up old tunes that made us feel young again: old and very Gypsy tangos, those which we all have listened to, when we were children, badly or worse, from our cooks. By popular demand, she got entangled with a very long seguidilla, those beloved by partying drunkards, and they\u2019re very suitable for keeping the beat knocking on tables.<\/p>\n
A thick man sweating profusely, seated next to me, tells me that keeping the rhythm is extremely difficult, and that in Jerez very few people know how to do this por seguidillas. I just nod with my head, without any hint of violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t you agree with me?\u201d he asks, observing my comfortable silence, and perhaps hoping to have a little argument.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes sir, absolutely\u2026 I fully agree\u201d.<\/p>\n
Who on earth dares to argue with full-blooded jerezanos, as they are the ones who have the key of cante?<\/p>\n
Guerrita was admirable and greatly cheered. That kid has a powerful, pleasant and well-tuned voice. Yet, the people of Jerez say that what he sings is not flamenco. \u201cWe did it!\u201d<\/p>\n
The bailaores invaded the big stage, occupying it all, and we got the most artistic kicks. One, two\u2026, five\u2026, eight.. All the way to fourteen! Poor planks! Six miniature Gypsies, prototypes of that pharaonic race, with their twelve feet, rolled on that giant drum made of thick wooden planks, creating a cloud of dust and splinters. In seems to me that these half-dozen kids will get old without progressing in their art. We\u2019ll always see them doing the same thing. The poor things are just starting their careers. They look shy, with their serious, dark and shiny faces, their bodies sickly and scrawny like human slugs. Anyone would think that instead of being from La Cava, they were taken from under a flowerpot instead.<\/p>\n
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The most beautiful Gypsy on earth, Carmen Vargas, with her beauty enhanced by a woman\u2019s dress of the kind no longer worn by women, painted on stage beautiful shapes, all of them worthy of entertaining the best of brushes. A slender, pretty woman with big dark eyes, without lipstick and gracefully arranged hair, toped with a Spanish peineta and a flower, is something uncommon these days. Carmen Vargas\u2019 body, fully wrapped on a white, bata-de-cola dress, with lots of lace and frills, is a national monument. For the record.<\/i><\/p>\n
As we braced for the arrival of dawn, the crowning moment came in the form of the patriarch Don Antonio. His respectable age, his lineage and his brilliant career managed to protect him from the unleashed intelligence of a demanding public.<\/p>\n
\u201cCaracoles\u2026 caracoles!\u201d demanded Chac\u00f3n with a loud, desperate voice, as if asking for help.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s go, let\u2019s go\u2026 al caf\u00e9 de La Uni\u00f3n, que es donde para C\u00fachares y el Tato y Juan Le\u00f3n!\u201d, ordered don Antonio, choked up and violently hitting the stage with his walking stick. Those old cantaores can be really weird! Just imagine, performing before six or eight thousand spectators in a caf\u00e9 in Madrid!<\/p>\n
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In 1928, the agent Vedrines undertook a wonderful entrepreneurial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[174],"class_list":["post-5456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-archivo","tag-jerez-en"],"yoast_head":"\n