FLAMENCO GALA TOUR OF INDIA / OCTOBER 2009 PRESENTS:

Transcripción

1 FLAMENCO GALA TOUR OF INDIA / OCTOBER 2009 PRESENTS: CONTACTO Y CONTRATACIÓN: GLOBAL ESCENIA S.L. C/Manuel Comín 10, Madrid Tel: distribucion@escenia.es

2

3 EL FLAMENCO VUELVE A CASA A LA INDIA! Open Magazine (Por: Sohini Chattopadhyay) / Octubre 24 de 2009 Era la noche de Sharad Poornima, la luna llena más brillante de toda la India del norte. Pero cuando un joven hombre sacudió orgulloso su melena y subió al escenario, una sombra cayó a través de la luna. La noche intoxicaba, como la fortaleza de Mehrangarh en Jodhpur, bañada en claro de luna, y alguien brilló más brillante que la luna. Era la noche del bailaor Farruco y todos lo sabían. Incluso la luna. Hay otros planes también. Fernando Casas Granadino, Productor Artístico de la Gala Flamenca que giró por cuatro ciudades de la India: Jodhpur, Delhi, Bangalore y Mumbai, habla ya de un Festival Gitano. Quisiéramos desarrollar eventualmente un festival enfocado hacia la cultura gitana, con el flamenco como elemento clave y un punto de encuentro para posibles colaboraciones, y el desarrollo entre expresiones artísticas de España y otras culturas gitanas con las diferentes culturas existentes en la India. El flamenco, se cree, puede haberse originado aquí en la India, anunció bajo un fuerte y tumultuoso aplauso, el Embajador de España, Ion de la Riva. Y el gobierno español está planeando explorar convertir a Jodhpur en el centro del flamenco en la India. La iniciativa se desarrollará en colaboración con el Festival Jodphur Riff. Jodhpur será capital del flamenco de la India. Pretendemos crear una escuela de artes aquí y poder crear coproducciones entre artistas de ambos países, esperamos, el próximo año sí se dan los factores necesarios, dice de la Riva. Habrá un acuerdo institucional entre el Instituto de Cultura Gitana en España y el Riff. Pero por qué Jodhpur? Porque no puede haber mejor lugar que la fortaleza de Mehrangarh. Hemos hablado con su Alteza Maharajá Gaj Singh, y está muy entusiasmado con la idea. CíRCULO DE GITANOS Hind ustan Times (Por: Malvika Nanda) / de octubre de Son músicos populares que viven en continentes distantes. Con todo, cuando se juntaron la semana pasada en Jodhpur, una unión extraña se encendió entre ellos. El guitarrista Antonio Rey, fijó el ritmo eléctrico para los fuegos artificiales que salían de los pies del bailaor Antonio Fernández Montoya Farruco. Golpe a golpe le seguía los pasos la bailarina gitana de la tribu Kaalbelia del Rajastán, Rajki Sapera. Fue algo más que una creación espontánea de fusión - era la reunión de tradiciones artísticas que fueron rotas y apartadas hace ya muchos siglos. Fernando Casas, productor de la Gala Flamenca, dijo: Farruco habló de cómo el seguirle en sus gestos le vino naturalmente. El le notó las expresiones y los mismos giros de los pies, es exactamente lo que él enseña en casa. Tenemos que descubrir cómo y porqué hay tantas semejanzas entre el flamenco y las tradiciones Rajastaníes o el Kathak. Algunos de los ritmos del Kathak son iguales a los del flamenco. El taconeo o uso del pie, el uso de las palmas de las manos como elemento de percusión y ritmo, las vueltas y piruetas en los movimientos, son todos muy similares. ATENCIÓN EMBELESADA Mumbai Mirror (Por: Namrata Bhawnani) / 6 de octubre de 2009 El melenudo joven guitarrista Antonio Rey, con un aire romántico, encanto de viejo continente, es uno de los mejores guitarristas flamencos en España. Su modo de tocar está increíblemente estructurado, suavemente moviéndose desde lo romántico a la melancolía a lo más enérgico sin faltar a un solo compás. Estuvo acompañado por una cantaora poderosa, un violinista enormemente talentoso que parecía Jesucristo y un percusionista con un instrumento un tanto extraño. La anécdota es que el cajón se perdió, cortesía de la línea aérea, de modo que tuvo que improvisar con el Udu, un enorme tambor indio prestado por el multi-percusionista, Sivamani. Luego el magnético bailaor Fa - rruco subió al escenario y se adueñó de él. 3

4 REYES GITANOS Indian Express (Por: Suanshu Khurana) / Octubre 8 de 2009 Mientras el guitarrista Antonio Rey comenzó el rasgueo de sus intricados patrones musicales, el público aplaudía su casi perfecto ritmo que no perdía un solo compás. FLAMENCO ESTILO RAJASTANÍ DNA INDIA (Por: Sujata Chakrabarti) 10 de octubre de 2009/ Se convertirá Jodhpur en la primera Capital del Flamenco en la India? DNA encuentra a un grupo de españoles que es - tán trabajando en ello Los músicos que se presentaron llegaron a una conclusión interesante - el flamenco es un primo distante de la música tradicional Rajastaní. FLAMENCO COMES HOME TO INDIA Open Magazine (Por: Sohini Chattopadhyay) /24 de octubre de 2009 The Spanish government proposes to make Jodhpur the flamenc o capital of India. Take a wild guess why. Or just read on. It was the night of Sharad Poornima, the brightest full moon in all of north India. But when a young man proudly tossed his mane of hair and took to the stage, a shadow fell across the moon. That intoxicating night, as the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur lay bathed in moonlight, someone shone brighter than the moon. It was flamenco dancerf a rru c o night and everybody knew it. s Even the moon. Farruco has been dancing since he was four. He s 21 now, has toured the world, and has performed at most prestigious venues across the globe. Yet, the Mehrangarh performance was special. As F a rru c o danced to the guitar of celebrated guitarist Antonio Rey, the air was electric. Because that night was a homecoming after all. Flamenco is believed to have originated in India, announced Spain s ambassador Ion de la Riva to tumultuous applause. And the Spanish government is planning to explore this by making Jodhpur the flamenco centre of India, The initiative will be in collaboration with the annual Rajasthan International Folk Festival (Riff) in Jodhpur, organised by the Jaipur Virasat Foundation. Jodhpur will be the flamenco capital of India. We are planning to set up a school in Jodhpur and put together collaborative productions, hopefully by next year itself if things work out, says de la Riva. There will be an institutional agreement between the Institute of Gypsy Culture in Spain and Riff. 4

5 But why Jodhpur? Because there can be no better venue than Mehrangarh Fort. We have been speaking to Maharaja Gaj Singhji, and he is very enthusiastic too. The entire initiative depends on Riff really, says de la Riva. Ideally, we d like to have the classes at Mehrangarh Fort, but let s see what they can organise. In fact, F a rru c o has already told me that he would like to come back and work with artistes here for a month every year. All the other artists also want to come back. So we could organise workshops with them and Rajasthani and other Indian artists. I personally would love to have sarangi player Ustad Kamal Sabri but it s up to Riff to pick Indian artists. There are other plans as well. Fernando Casas Granadino, artistic producer of the flamenco troupe that performed in Jodhpur, Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, is already talking of a gypsy festival. We would like to eventually develop a festival of gypsy culture where flamenco would be a key element and a meeting ground for possible collaborations between Spanish and other European gypsy art expressions with Indian culture. We d like to organise in a festival that will include dance, music, but also art exhibits, film festivals, lectures, workshops and master classes and collaborations among different cultures. Divya Bhatia, director, Riff, says about the flamenco project: Well, we hope to have gypsy homecoming as a theme for the festival next year we are very happy with this proposal. De la Riva, meanwhile, points to the oft-mentioned resemblance between flamenco and kathak. Footwork in kathak is considered very similar to flamenco dancing. Granandino speaks of the similarity in the rhythms of Indian music and Spanish gypsy music, pointing especially to the hand clap styles and foot work. Here too, there emerges a real historical connection. In Rajasthan, Escudero noted a community called Kartals whose clapping of the hand is very similar to the Castanuelas of Spain. In Sanskrit, kar means hand and tal is rhythm. [There is also a Rajasthani percussion instrument called kartal made of wooden blocks with holes for fingers and copper plates.] 5

6 CIRCLE OF GYPSIES Hindustan Times (Por: Malvika Nanda) /10 de octubre de 2009 They are folk musicians who live continents apart. Yet when they performed together last week in Jodhpur, a rare bond was struck between them. Flamenco guitarist Antonio Rey, 28, set the electric rhythm for the foot-tapping fireworks of the 21-year-old dancerf a rru c o Matching them beat for beat at. the Rajasthan International Folk Festival (RIFF) was Rajki Sapera, a dancer from the Kalbelia tribe of Rajasthan. It was more than just creative fusion it was the coming together of artistic traditions that were torn apart centuries ago. The Gypsies or Roma people, whose music has enthralled Western audiences for decades now, started out from the Thar Desert. What s not certain is when they headed out westwards or which route they took. Over centuries, the banjaras, the nomads from Rajasthan, probably cut across West Asia to Egypt, and then made their way up to what s now Eastern Europe, before eventually landing up in southern Spain. Along the way, they gathered Persian, Turkish, Romanian, French, Celtic and Spanish influences in their music and dance. This winding cultural caravan has been memorably captured in Tony Gatlif s 1993 documentary Latcho Drom (Safe Journey). Rajki Sapera is from the same tribe as Suva Devi, the dancer who lit up the film with her barrel turns. Sapera sensed the connection instinctively. Although they were playing their own music, I didn t feel alien to the rhythm, she said. At first, I didn t know what music to expect but as they struck the rhythm, I figured it was the same. Sapera isn t aware of the Gypsy connection, nor is her husband Puran Nath. But he says, Who knows what, but there is surely some relation. I can see glimpses of our style in theirs the same passionate movements, the same ghoomar, the same bhawai (dance styles from Rajasthan). Sardar Khan, one of a group of well-travelled Langa musicians who watched the show, says, Their sharp pick-up was like ours their rhythm was the same as the banjaras. No one could miss the similarities. Fernando Casas, producer of the Flamenco Gala, says,f a rru c o talked of how following her gestures came naturally to him. He noticed her expressions and the similar turns with her feet. That s exactly what he teaches back home. Casas, who patiently translates for the Spanish performers, says the entire team would like to go farther along the link. We have to find out how and why there are so many similarities in flamenco and Rajasthani folk or kathak. Some of kathak s rhythms are the same as those in flamenco. The foot-stomping, hand-clapping, twirls and turns are all similar. After all, for both the groups, music is a medium of storytelling as well as a source of livelihood. It is only fitting then that Ion de la Riva the ambassador of Spain to India, is looking at making Jodhpur the flamenco capital of India. He says that with the help of Gaj Singh, the maharaja of Jodhpur and chief patron of RIFF, such flamenco-meets-rajasthani-folk shows would become an annual affair. Festival director Divya Bhatia is already on the job of organising next year s fest, which will have the homecoming of the Gypsies as a prominent theme. I ll be travelling on the Gypsy trail to look out for the right acts starting in Poland. Talks are also on with Instituto Gitane, the Gypsy music centre in Barcelona. Centuries after they ended up continents apart, the Gypsies just want to return home. 6

7 Farruco LLEVA EL FLAMENCO A LA INDIA A g e n c ia E fe Octubre 11 de 2009/ Antonio Fernández Montoya, pus o el domingo e l broche final en Delhi. Nueva Delhi.- Un grupo de artistas encabezado por el bailaor Antonio Fernández Montoya, F a rru c o, puso el domingo el broche final a una serie de actuaciones en la India con una gala de flamenco en Delhi en las vísperas de la celebración del Día Nacional de España. Tras el espectáculo al aire libre, que tuvo lugar en el Centro Internacional de la India (IIC, siglas en inglés), ovacionó y lanzó flores a los artistas. Farruco, hermano de Juan Manuel Fernández Montoya, Farruquito, bailó acompañado por el guitarrista Antonio Rey y la cantaora Mara Rey, en un grupo completado por Bernardo Parrilla al violín y el percusionista Isidro Suárez. Los músicos pusieron así punto y final a una serie de actuaciones que iniciaron el día 4 y durante la cual han llevado tarantas, nanas, rumbas, bulerías y tangos a las ciudades de Jodhpur (norte), Bombay (oeste) y Bangalore (sur). El espectáculo en la capital india, organizado por la embajada española, ha servido para celebrar el Día de la Hispanidad en vísperas de la festividad. El embajador español en Nueva Delhi, Ion de la Riva, presente en el acto, sacó a colación la tradición musical de la región norteña india de Rajastán y su conexión con el flamenco actual. FLAMENCO, RAJASTHANI STYLE Da ily N e w s & A n a ly s is (Por: Sujata Chakrabarti) / 10 de octubre de 2009 Will Jodhpur become the first Flamenco capital of India? After Hrs find s a group of Spaniards who are working on it. It was an evil twist of fate that left the entire team from Spain who was travelling to Jodhpur to perform at the Rajasthan International Folk Festival stranded without their luggage, especially their bags containing their primary percussion instruments, the cajon. So, while the group finally performed at their designated time, only after having borrowed indigenous percussion instruments like the udu from musicians performing after them, they came to an interesting conclusion Flamenco is a distant cousin of Rajasthani folk music. Interestingly, the group is trying to collaborate with the cultural ministry to make Jodhpur the first Flamenco hub in the country. Speaking through an interpretor, Antonio Rey who plays the guitar for the group says that since both the performance art forms Flamenco and Rajasthani folk music originated from similar backgrounds, it was but natural to try and figure out a perfect coexistence. Antonio says, It was quite unnerving when we arrived without our luggage and realised that the primary instrument from our percussions, the cajon was missing. The next performance was a collaboration between Sivamani and a fusion group called Dharohar, who lent them an indigenous percussion instrument, the udu. Talking about their efforts into making Jodhpur the Flamenco hub, lead guitarist Antonio Rey and Flamenco dancer F a rru c o point out, Just like Rajasthani folk music, Flamenco is a rustic form of music and dance that originated in the rural parts of Spain to convey the angst in the lives of poo people who live in harsh conditions. Fernando Casas, Artistic Producer of the project confirms that the group is also in talks with the cultural ministry of the state. He says, We have spoken to the cultural ministry that has responded very positively. The group is also planning to take the proposal forward to the state government. 7

8 PRESS CLIPPING I RECORTES DE PRENSA 8

9 FLYERS - FLAMENCO GALA TOUR OF INDIA 9