Flamenco News
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
flamenco news Peña Flamenca de Londres • Summer 2017 • £3 contents saludos The Peña Flamenca de Londres provides a convivial meeting place for anyone interested in flamenco – dancers, singers, guitarists, aficionados and our many visitors. It follows the tradition of a typical Spanish peña flamenca in providing good flamenco at a reasonable price in a friendly atmosphere. We stage monthly professional shows eight times per 2. Editorial year with artists resident in the UK and those visiting from Spain. At our Members’ Nights (Juergas) three times a year anyone can perform with professional backing 3. 12-string guitar if required (or take the stage before a professional show) The Peña Flamenca de Londres was founded in 1984 and is run by an elected committee of 4. Brexit Chaos volunteers. It is honoured to have as joint Presidents world-renowned flamenco guitaristPaco Peña, and Maribel la Manchega, a favourite performer both in Spain and the UK. It has never 5. Rocio Molina been grant-aided or sponsored, resting solely on the hard work of the committee and its dedicated officers, and the support of members. For monthly updates join our email list: info@flamenco- 6. Paco Peña london.org.uk 7. Grief for Camaron location and dates Church Hall of the Church of the Holy Apostles, Cumberland Street (Lupus Street end) SW1V 8. Angela Rippon 4LY. Tube: Victoria or Pimlico. Buses C10, 360, 24. Dates: Second Sunday in month but not August. 9. Peña Feria how to join 10. Fernando Memorial Through the website, pick up a form at Admissions at peña, by post through our membership secretary, Piers Johnson, 57 Yarmouth Crescent, London N17 9PQ 12. Feria photos or email [email protected] 14. Historian Ian Gibson committee Clive Crawford, chair; Lindsey Purchall, treasurer; Piers Johnson, membership; Ladan Sheybani, 15. Medal hope for Dorantes minutes; Caroline Wolff, event co-ordinator; Yumi Whyte, publicity; Steve Carr, photography; Vera King, editor Flamenco News; Alan Haigh, website and emails; John Ward, entrance; Maurizio Piga, 16. Potaje Gitano Rita Volante, Sarah Coleman. Ex-officio translation Shelagh Kavanagh. submission guidelines 19. Notice of AGM Please submit text with all paragraph returns, special characters and accents. Submit scanned images at 300dpi, and digital photographs as maximum-size original unedited 20. Bursary 2017 files. (JPEG or TIFF). Please also include photographer credits and Who-Where-When captions. 21. Nanako and listings contact details Vera King, [email protected], 0207 703 6893 22. Classes Flamenco News is the magazine of the Peña Flamenca de Londres. Opinions expressed therein are not necessarily those of the Peña. www.flamenco-london.org.uk Art editor and production manager – Rob Kenyon Copyright © 2017 Peña Flamenca de Londres 1 editorial letters As our new We now have a I want to add a few words to the What made this guitar stand year approaches new sound set-up, many that have been uttered and out was it was a 12string on a – it begins in which includes written in memory of Fernando Spanish body. Normally 12's are September with (for those who Reyes, a man who, I must say, jumbo style and X braced. After know about such a return visit by I did not know so well, but inspection I noted it was a five dancer Nanako - things) two Milan somebody who I’m sure I would fan single-braced face. Very light. we can look back Turbosound have had a lot in common, given It had a proper inlay rosette, and and see what great speakers which the similarities of our lives in the book-matched face and sides. times we’ve had. are top of the One highspot range and British Spain of the 1950’s and 60’s and I thought it would be a good was two of our engineered. We our subsequent personal histories. subject for a complete restoration. strongest woman also have a new I didn’t lose my father at the age I traced it to Andres Marti, a Sevillanas with a difference: Students of Danielle Yamaha sound of two like, tragically, he did. But guitarist and teacher who had a dancers – Anita Allan danced the final copla in a circle in a tribute to la Maltesa and the sardana of Northern Spain at an International desk but for some like in his case, it was essentially shop and stuck his own label in Sam Quy on stage Celebratiion of Dance Day in London addressed by shows we will my mother that brought up nine others’ guitars for sale. health and television celebrity Angel Rippon. soon be going together. And Picture by Mattieu Gras children, with little help but with After I had completely stripped digital by using then there was an enormous amount of love and it to bare wood it did not look so Victor Fernandez, now returned to Spain. only an iPad to control the sound. We think guts. bad. So I refretted it, planed the fingerboard And Nanako, who delighted us so much that that this will make a big difference to sound flat, created machine heads from classical she is invited back for our opening show (see quality Our regular sound engineers are Javi I also left my ‘patria chica’ when I was still replacement parts and relacqured it. And then Page 21). Not forgetting young Sarah Sánchez, from Madrid and Álvaro from Seville who quite young, and tried other places far away whose pictures were too late for our last have both worked for major flamenco and from Córdoba. In the end, like with Fernando, decided to make it a 12string nylon true octave issue but see them on inside back this time. Latin musicians here and in Spain. it was London that offered me a fertile ground guitar, not knowing anyone who makes a set Keep alert, she may be coming back for our This issue includes Brexit fears that Spanish to launch into a new project that actually of strings for a nylon 12string, or having a Christmas show…..The juergas too, continue artists will be excluded (Page 4). Rocio Molina became my new life. He also made his new life nylon-strung 12string guitar for that matter. So to be delightful. at Barbican (Page 5), Paco Peña (Page 6), here until he, sadly, has finally left us. I ended up creating a unique instrument. With Angela Rippon (Page 8), Fernando Memorial There’s more to our monthly peña than the a special sound. (Page 10) Potaje Gitano (Page 16) News from Fernando leaves lots of friends and admirers performance, however. Some years back we But it was lots of trouble finding a way to Spain (Page 18) and Ron Hitchins Bursary and I want to put my name down as one acceded to requests by the musicians and make a set of strings. I could only tune the (Page 20). more among them, and to state that he was a bought monitors. Recently attention switched guitar up to D because of odd string tensions, And a revised date for agm – October 8 (Page good man whom we all shall always to lighting for the stage, with the proviso that but I played it at Fernando Reyes’s funeral in 19) if we installed better lights, others could use remember with true affection. this D tune. I have sorted that out and the them too. Vera King Paco Peña instrument is now a normal E tuning on a nylon octave string 12string guitar. That means ••• membership details EADG strings are preceded with octave tuned Membership £24 Free gift every attendance. David Mandall tells how he created a new strings and BE strings are equal pairs. Easy to Associate membership – seniors/pensioners £12. Membership is now renewable online at www. instrument from a very old guitar 40 to play low action 3mm at 12th fret. Near perfect flamenco-london.org.uk via Paypal 60 years old made in Valencia as a steel intonation. It was Juan Teijeiro at London This involves a Paypal admin fee of £1. It is not necessary to have a Paypal account. 12string. guitar studio who persuaded me into playing I found it as a disused incomplete wreck, it at Fernando's funeral as he was impressed admission painted black and orange, and decided to with the tonal qualities. I am happy I did as I Members. Special shows £10. Monthly shows/juergas £5. No charge for Juerga performers. rebuild it. I only had backplates, machineheads will miss Fernando as the master of song and Non Members. Special shows £15. Monthly shows £12. Juergas £10. were incomplete and there were no head keys friend that he was. Juerga performers £5 (refundable if joining on the night). or gears. There were two rusty steel strings. Diego Roque 2 3 brexit chaos fallen from heaven Flamenco and Brexit are words that have not fallen from the same breath while people waited to Olivier nominee dancer even animalistic codes see what would happen. But Jairo Barrull and Helen Tomkins, Directors of Jairo Barrull Flamenco Rocío Molina returns to devise a personal Company, who increasingly have been bringing artists over from Spain, have made a decision: to the Barbican Theatre performance about No more British shows for a year. They will be doing shows abroad instead. for three nights (October womanhood. With her 12-14) with her newest body serving as the focal Brexit is a disaster for small shows that employ bring the very minimum number needed to put piece, Fallen from Heaven point, she shows a fall with artists from the EU. We have decided to stop on a show because of the high costs involved.