Flamenco and literature have gone hand in hand since the poets of the generation of ’27 propelled it towards the universe of culture that had been banned from it by previous generations of intellectuals. But despite vetoes, … clichés and prejudices, today popular flamenco lyrics are an object of study and are published as popular lyrics
In the Santa Clara Space of the Seville City Council, On May 22 and 23, two days will take place under the title of ‘Flamencolee’, Flamenco and Literature Festival, which will bring together singing, playing and dancing artists, researchers, writers, critics to talk about flamenco and literature from other perspectives.
What does a flamenco fan and an inveterate reader have in common? Is there a literary orthodoxy and flamenco lobbies? Are literature and flamenco complementary or divergent arts? Are flamenco and literature dissident arts? How much is quejío in a verse and how much is literary in a soleá?
All these and other questions will be put on the table during the two days of the conference, in a series of round tables, conferences, performances, meetings that will be sponsored by personalities from literature such as Luis Landero, Jesús Carrasco, Marta Sanz, Silvia Hidalgo, Montero Glez, Elvira Navarro, Noelia Cortés, Greta García, Laura Fernández, Eva Díaz Pérez, Mercedes de Pablos, Fernando Iwasaki, José María Velázquez-Gaztelu, Juan José Téllez, and artists flamencos such as Alfredo Lagos, Patricia Guerrero, Rosario Toledo, Lucía Álvarez ‘La Piñona, Rosario ‘La Tremendita’, ‘El Torombo’, Patricio Hidalgo or Mercedes de Córdoba, among others.
‘Flamencolee’ is organized by the cultural communication and management agency Édere, together with the Seville City Council, through the ICAS, and with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, through the General Directorate of Books, Comics and Reading, and the collaboration of the José Manuel Lara Foundation.
On Wednesday, May 22, the opening will be at 11 a.m. with the performance titled ‘Street Words’, which will be performed by the dancer starting at 11.30 Rosario Toledo with the voices of Eva ‘La Lebri’ and Inma La Carbonera and the special collaboration of Juan José Téllez. The Cádiz dancer will delve into the popular literary wealth of her hometown to give shape to that entire legacy through her art.
On the 22nd at 12 noon the round table ‘Cre-Acciones’ in which Luis Landero (National Literature Award 2022), the guitarist Alfredo Lagosthe dancer and director of the Andalusian Flamenco Ballet, Patricia Guerreroand the journalist and writer Laura Fernández will talk about literary creation and flamenco creation with the journalist Manuel Pedraz as moderator.
At 1:30 p.m. the ‘Voices and Complaints’ exhibition in the Santa Clara Space Refectory. The painter Patricio Hidalgo participates as curator and the texts are by Fernando Iwasaki. The exhibition includes fifteen pieces in which multidisciplinary flamenco artists and writers will show their particular version of the concept of ‘quejío’. In this way, the fonts of the designer Ricardo Barquín Molero, also the author of the event’s poster, the photographs of Claudia Ruiz Caro, the textile tattoo creations of Merche ‘Debaga’, the video-creation of Calde Ramírez, the ceramics of Sara ‘La Zanini’, the sculptures of Martín Lagares and the paintings of Patricio Hidalgo will converse with the writings of Elvira Navarro, Marta Sanz, Silvia Hidalgo and Jesús Carrasco. The exhibition can be seen until June 23 during the usual hours of the space on Becas Street.
The day on the 22nd continues at 6:00 p.m. with the meeting ‘Passions and emotions of ink and blood’a ‘sort of’ conference for two that will be held by the professor in Social Anthropology of Seville, Cristina Cruces, and the writer Montero Glez (2008 Azorín Novel Prize and Ateneo de Sevilla Prize, 2016), in which they will try to exalt the emotions that are lived and experienced through traditional art and reading.
At 7 p.m. literary and flamenco journalists such as Juan Cruz, José María Velázquez-Gaztelu, Lara Hermoso and Silvia Cruz Lapeña They will reflect on the similarities and differences between the practice of journalism and criticism in both arts in the round table ‘Estrellas y ojana’ moderated by journalist Ángeles Castellano.
And to end the day, (from 8:30 p.m.) the dancer Lucía Álvarez ‘La Piñona’, LORCA Award for the best female flamenco dance performer in 2023, stars the performance ‘Poetry of passage’accompanied by the guitar Ramon Amador and the song of Jesus Corbachowill carry out an artistic intervention on the soleares written and recited live by the poet Carmen Camacho and poems from the collection of poems ‘The Open Wound’ by José María Gómez Valero and David Eloy Rodríguez.
Dissidents, flamenco and literature
On Thursday, May 23 at 11 a.m. it will take place ‘Words in motion’, some dialogues between flamenco artists who work from a literary perspective and writers who work for flamenco creations that will feature the singer Rosario La Tremendita, the journalist and poet, Braulio Ortiz Poole, the writer Carmen Camacho and the dancer Mercedes de Córdoba, with the journalist and writer Eva Díaz Pérez as moderator.
At 12:30 p.m., there will be a session of the ‘Creative Flamenco Writing’ workshop given by David Eloy Rodríguez and José María Gómez Valero to groups from the NGO Solidarios para el Desarrollo and anyone who wishes to participate.
On this second day, starting at 6 p.m., the table titled ‘Dissidents. Flamenco and peripheral literature’ in which independent experiences and projects will be shared and reflection will be made on the indie and the underground versus the mainstream with the musicologist and creator of the podcast, ‘El Café de Silverio’, Pedro Lopez, the dancer and author of the successful ‘I only want to dance’, Greta García, the singer Maui de Utrera and the music critic Fran G. Matute, who has just published with Athenaica Ediciones ‘A Quico Rivas. For a revolution in everyday life’. The debate will be moderated by the journalist and writer, Mercedes de Pablos.
The readers and fans themselves will be the protagonists of the fair gathering which will begin at 7:30 p.m. with the philologist and cultural manager Antonia Osorno, the journalist and writer, Carmen Arjona, the president of the Peña Aires Flamencos and fan, Miguel Camacho and the editor and organizer of Andalucía Reader Con, Belén García, moderated by journalist Ale Medina.
The day will close at 8:30 p.m. with the musical reading ‘Pueblo, fiesta, redención y otros cantes/stories’ by the Cordoban storyteller, Pepa Jiménez, and the music producer and composer, Novia Pagana.
Workshops
Beyond the activities of Santa Clara and with the aim of contributing to the promotion of reading and generation of new audiences among the youngest The workshops will be developed with the collaboration of the José Manuel Lara Foundation. ‘Verse and measure’ taught by the artist Francisco José Suárez ‘Torombo’ and the gypsy poet and activist Noelia Cortés, and also the ‘Flamenco letters’ workshop, taught by David Eloy Rodríguez and José María Gómez Valero.
In the first, Torombo and Noelia Cortés will spread the love of flamenco and literature among the little ones through dynamics in which, from their own experiences, their own bodies and their own words, they can explore, discover and channel both artistic disciplines. naturally.
For its part, ‘Flamenco Letters’ is an initiative designed for schoolchildren to discover and learn to love flamenco. Through this project, different groups will work with a selection of flamenco lyrics and other pedagogical materials. Students will play to imagine and invent letters through the dynamics of the workshop.
In total, five workshops will be held with primary and secondary school students in sessions arranged with the Municipal Library Network of Seville (Cerro del Águila, Las Columnas and Torreblanca on the 22nd and San Jerónimo on the 23rd), and in Factoría Cultural, adding a total of about 150 boys and girls. The objective is that the lyric creations carried out in these workshops crystallize into a publication that can contribute to the renewal of flamenco lyrics and have continuity during the Seville Flamenco Biennial.