Bravo for Israel Fernández and Diego del Morao

Israel Fernández and Diego el Morao, during their performance on Friday at the Teatro Circo Murcia (TCM). / FLAMENCO SUMMIT

FLAMENCO REVIEW

A very heterogeneous public, which received the artists with a long ovation, sold out the tickets at the TCM

Moments before the excellent performance by cantaor Israel Fernández and guitarist Diego del Morao, things could already be seen coming. There was a very flamenco atmosphere, with a very heterogeneous audience and with people from the lineage of the singer and the guitarist, wearing their best clothes, as if they were going to a big party. In addition, in the ‘hall’ of the theater you could enjoy the recommendable photographic exhibition of Paco Manzano and the great women of flamenco that he has portrayed. Manzano has in his archives not only the photographic history of flamenco, but also of other types of music. With that heartbeat and that late hunger to listen to and see flamenco live, with all the tickets sold, the night had to go very badly so that it wouldn’t be a beautiful evening of flamenco, after the long ovation with which they were received.

From his Toledo town of Corral de Almaguer, what is now called empty Spain, the cantaor arrived with the sonanta from Jerez and that precise and fair compás of Diego del Morao, who as soon as he left the guitar tempered, to fill the theater with flamenco, and between strums the cantaor asked for ‘revel for a wedding’.

Remembering the land, he gave the first brushstrokes with a bunch of songs from Levante. It was followed by ‘Soleá del amor’ from his latest album, ‘Amor’, and in the first falseta the guitarist already received the warmth of the applause. Through tientos, dulce and festive tangos those moments came when some people follow the beat with their feet and find it hard to keep their hands silent. And often the rhythm marked the guitar, with some exceptional falsetas. The cantaor also shone through seguirillas, with Manuel Torre’s and with his own sleeplessness, also from his latest album.

excellent treble

The cantaor, with his clean voice, with that peculiar timbre, with that falsetto he has and those excellent high notes, wanted to give great prominence to his voice and he hardly spoke, just to ask the elders for permission to dedicate the bulerías to the people young; and there he took out that mirror in which he looks at himself, with that wink to Camarón. And the party on top.

petitions

It was close to that moment when they launched requests at him. And the cantaor remembered another genius, Enrique Morente, who when they told him to sing por soleá, for example, he would reply ‘okay, I’m going to do a malagueña’. But now, said Israel, ‘I’m going to end up with fandangos’. And he began with Paco Toronjo: «There are those who buy with money / luxury and freedom. / But a true love / there is no one who can buy it, even if he has money left over». Which was followed by another classic: ‘Flying a butterfly’, from ‘Pena Hijo’. And there it ended, to applause, applause, and applause. And as a tip, another classic fandango, the one by Antonio el de la Carzá: «Don’t be proud / because you look pretty; / the rose is also beautiful, / and time comes and withers; / beauty is a small thing».

This was the end of a beautiful night of flamenco.