After the Paco Peña concert in Frederick, MD
 (Sunday February 24, 2002) Last night, a smaller than usual number of DC flamencos attended Paco Peña's concert at the Weinberg Center in Frederick, MD--a long drive from DC.
The last two times Paco performed in the DC area were at Lisner Auditorium:
"Flamenco Fire" October 1991 and "Misa Flamenca" Spring 1992. It was great have Paco back after such a long time.
As is customary after a flamenco concert, we went to a Spanish restaurant afterwards. Just a block away from the theater is Isabella's Taverna and Tapas Bar (301)698-8922 where we enjoyed some good food and talked about the concert.
Pictured above is yours truly with my friends Maryam, Mijntje,
Fariba and Giv. Some of their comments:
- "I loved [dancer] Antonio Alcázar!"
- "Antonio is graceful and macho at the same time."
- "I like the traditional way that Paco [Peña] plays. He is able to express so much more without being flashy. He has such a warm beautiful tone."
 At
one point someone asked if I brought my guitar and sure enough, this
time, I actually brought it! Yay! [Editor's note: Read my story "Always take your guitar."] We started off our little fiesta
with some Sevillanas sung by Natalia Monteleón and Marija Temo.
Pictured here is yours truly with Aref Alvandy and Minerva Chandler.
I later passed the guitar to Marija Temo. She's pictured
here with one of her students, Aref, who seems to be carefully studying
her technique.
 You all know Paul Bruhns, a regular at the local tablaos. He's pictured here with his wife, Maureen and yours truly.
This is Ken McNaughton, seated here with three beautiful ladies:
DC area dancers Natalia Monteleón, Minerva Chandler and Sara Jerez.
My thanks to Ken for his assistance in selecting Isabella's Taverna for the post-concert gathering.
The performers in Paco Peña's Flamenco Dance Company include:
- Paco Peña, guitar
- Tito and Vaky Losada, guitarists
- Angel Gabarre, cantaor
- Antonio Alcázar, dancer
- María Juncal, dancer
- Marta Fernández, dancer
The two-hour program was not listed in the playbill so I did my best to identify
the palos:
- Zorongo Gitano/Cuatro Muleros
- Granadinas
- Fandangos de Huelva
- Guajiras
- Unidentified solo by Paco with castanet accompaniment by María and Marta
- Zapateado with dancer Antonio
- Soleá with dancers María, Marta and Antonio
- INTERMISSION
- Soleá por Bulerías with María and Antonio
- Taranto with María
- Alegrías with Marta
- Granadinas
- Alegrías by Antonio
- Tangos finale with all dancers
The concert took place in the historic Weinberg Center in Frederick, MD. The nostalgic ambience of this theater complemented the evening's performance.
How to learn from a tablao show
 (Tuesday February 19, 2002) It always pleases me to see flamenco students in the audience at the local flamenco shows. It's not cheap. You can get by with a drink and some tapas for a reasonable price but if you come regularly it adds up to a lot of money! Please, relax and enjoy the show, but every now and then, turn it into an educational experience:
- Become a "silent" palmero.
During the show, quietly pat your leg in compás. Challenge yourself to stop simultaneously with the performers.
As a courtesy to the performers onstage, resist the temptation to clap "out loud," even if you know the rhythm well. If other audience members see you doing palmas they'll join in and chances are that the combined sound will create a "rhythmic mess" that will detract from the show.
- Name that palo.
Most of the time, the program is not announced. See if you can name the palo correctly. Don't settle for just saying, for example, "Oh yeah, that's alegrías." What exactly in the music or dance makes it an alegrías? If you're not sure of your answer, ask the performers after the show.
- Watch the "other" performer.
- Guitar students: we naturally tend to direct our attention to the guitarist onstage. Watch the dancer for change. Imagine yourself accompanying that dancer and think about what you would play on the guitar. Another thing you could do is to imagine playing "second guitar." What would you play to complement what the lead guitarist is playing? Close your eyes and listen. See if you can anticipate the chord progressions. Right-handed guitarists: use your right-arm as a fretboard and silently "play along" with the guitarist onstage.
- Dance students: watch the guitarist for a change. Most flamenco CD's generally are not made for flamenco dance accompaniment--they are meant to highlight the singer or the guitarist. This is one of those rare times when you'll hear dance accompaniment music outside of dance class. Better yet, during the show, close your eyes and imagine what you would improvise to the guitarist's music.
- See the "big picture."
As dance and guitar students, we tend to focus on the footwork or the rasgueado patterns. Change your focus and see if you can outline the major sections of the dance. Look for sections such as the letra (where the singer comes in) and escobilla (where the dancer comes in with footwork)--there are many more sections, but just start with the basics.
How does the dancer or singer make the transition from one section
to the next? How does the guitarist change the music for the different
sections? Try to write down the sections and get an idea of the
overall structure of the dance.
Some would say that doing the above exercises takes away from the mystique of flamenco. Perhaps that's true. However, in my experience, just when I think I've mastered some aspect of flamenco, I discover yet another "layer" underneath. Regardless of my accomplishment, I will be a flamenco student for life!
If you have other tips, comments or suggestions, please post them on the message board.
So where are the tablao shows in DC? Here's the list:
- Mondays:
Cafe Citrón 1343 Connecticut Ave NW DC (202)530-8844
- Tuesdays:
Las Tapas 710 King St, Alexandria, VA (703)836-4000
- Wednesdays:
Las Tapas (see above)
Toro Tapas 4053 South 28th St Arlington, VA. (703)379-0502
- Thursdays:
Las Tapas (see above)
Bambule 5225 Wisconsin Ave NW DC (202)966-0300
Andalucía de Rockville 12300 Wilkins Ave Rockville, MD (301)770-1880
- Fridays-Sundays: nada
Sorry Jaleo restaurant, as wonderful as your sevillanas shows are, they don't count as tablao shows.
Pictured above are dancers Sonia Pérez and Roberto Vozmediano dancing Sevillanas. Seated behind is dancer Ruth Jimenez, singer Paco del Pozo and guitarist Daniel Yaque at Taberna del Alabardero, March 2001.
Vicente Amigo made his USA debut in DC!
(Saturday February 9, 2002) I'm especially proud that flamenco
guitarist Vicente Amigo chose to make his USA debut here in Washington
DC! (He'll be in New York on February 9 after which the tour continues to Italy)
I'm sure this comes as a disappointment to fans in other North American cities,
but that didn't stop one of them from coming all the way from Canada
to attend the concert last night at Lisner Auditorium. She too was lucky
make it backstage to meet Vicente herself.
Pictured above is a rare glimpse of yours truly (on the left) with Vicente Amigo
and the Flamenco Festival artistic director Miguel Marín. (photo
by Tony Brown)
Amigo began the concert humbly explaining that since this was his USA debut, he and his fellow musicians would make this evening special by giving everything they've got. In the end, last night's audience responded enthusiastically with an extended standing ovation.
The artists:
Vicente Amigo (guitar), José Manuel Hierro (second guitar, palmas,
background vocals), Patricio Cámara and Paquito Gonzalez
(percussion, background vocals), Blas Córdoba "Kejío"(cante), Rafael Campallo
(baile), and Pep Pérez "Cucurella" (bass).
The program (no intermission):
- Callejón del agua - Tio Arango (Taranta y Soleá)
- Mensaje (Fandango)
- La tarde es caramelo (Alegrías)
- Compare Manuel (Tangos)
- Ojos de la Alhambra (Bulerías)
- Córdoba (Soleá)
- Tatá (Tangos)
- Bolero de Vicente
- Tres notas para decir te quiero (Rumba)
- Ciudad de las Ideas (Bulerías)
- Vivencias imaginadas (Zapateado)
- Encore: Gitano de Lucía (Bulerías)
My thanks to flamenco guitarist Ralph Pemberton for introducing me to Vicente's music
in 1992. Eventually I learned Vicente's granadinas titled "Morente" from the CD "De mi corazón al aire." I still play this piece every week when I perform in the local tablaos. It's taken ten years to finally meet Vicente. It was worth the wait!
Admiring
from afar
(Thursday February 7, 2002) Whether
we admit it or not, at one time or another, we've all flocked to the post-concert
dinners just to be near the flamenco stars.
Last week after the Antonio Canales concert at Lisner, a number
of local flamencos followed the dance company to Jaleo restaurant in
downtown DC (sorry no photos). A friend and I chatted about this recently (spelling errors left in to preserve authenticity):
dcflamenco_fan:
we knew that the company was going to end up in jaleo
dcflamenco_fan: so we did go and
so as they we were sitting at a separate table after dinner.....the
jamming started and i don't know how but one of the guitarist took his
guitar out and started playing
dcflamenco_fan: so among them they
did a buleria then le started telling them that mt is a guitarist here
dcflamenco_fan: they could not believe
it until they saw with their own eye
dcflamenco_fan: so they insisted
that mt plays and she kept refusing
miguelito: then what?
dcflamenco_fan: one of the guitarists
walk up to her and asked again and she finally did.....she played a
classical piece...they were in awe.......then she played a buleria...
dcflamenco_fan: you had to be there
see how all three guitarists were surranding mt in a tight circle and
canales was sitting on the floor watching mt
dcflamenco_fan: so i think le mentioned
that she sings too
dcflamenco_fan: so they asked her
to sing....she sang a alegria
dcflamenco_fan: and one of the guitartis
was accompaning her and when she was done with the letra, he wanted
to end it.....and there..she goes for the-- macho--- i think you call
it...
dcflamenco_fan: ayyyyyy , that part you know what i mean?
miguelito: yes.
dcflamenco_fan: so when her ayyyyy
is done they all got up and go ole
miguelito: kewl!
dcflamenco_fan: a few minutes passes
by and they are among themselves again .......then they point to all
of us to do something and of course all of us shaking our head saying
sorry we are students
dcflamenco_fan: but we and le was
pointing to ea
dcflamenco_fan: it took them a good
10 min to convince ea to do a buleria
dcflamenco_fan: so he gets up and
does a beautiful piece with such grace and humbleness
dcflamenco_fan: after that there
were whispers among them saying "they have it"
dcflamenco_fan: mcm translated for
me
dcflamenco_fan: it got to a point
that they were asking mcm, am and asking them to dance...thats when
we realized that its time to leave
miguelito: why was it time to leave?
dcflamenco_fan: at first I thought
they are looking for something to pick on or make fun of
dcflamenco_fan: BUT
dcflamenco_fan: they were (especially
the guitarist) were too sincere
dcflamenco_fan: this happend around
12:30 i think
dcflamenco_fan: so we get up and
guess what......st already at the door...
dcflamenco_fan: and they are running
after him...
dcflamenco_fan: they were really
having a good time
dcflamenco_fan: so st is almost
cornered
dcflamenco_fan: and did a buleria
dcflamenco_fan: we were at the door
by then
dcflamenco_fan: so we left
Are we groupies? In a way, yes. But more importantly we had a chance to meet the artists and personally thank them for coming to Washington DC.
While we're at it, take a moment to thank the people at Lisner for once again, making this Flamenco Festival a reality. Thanks to Rosanna Ruscetti, Carl Graci and all the fine people behind the scenes. Why not write a nice thank you letter? Address mail to: Lisner Auditorium
730 21st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052. Or send an email to lisner@gwu.edu
See you all at the Vicente
Amigo concert tomorrow night!
[earlier articles][later articles][main index]
|
