Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca

CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS Friday, February 8, 2013, 8pm Zellerbach Hall Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca Zarmik Moqtaderi Zarmik La Noche Quebrada Cal Performances’ 2012–2013 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. CAL PERFORMANCES 33 PROGRAM PROGRAM Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca Noche Flamenca in La Noche Quebrada Artistic Director and Producer Martín Santangelo Choreography Martín Santangelo, Company members with guest artist Music Salva de Maria, Eugenio Iglesias Antonio Jiménez Vocal Arrangements Manuel Gago, Jose Jímenez Cantaores Lighting Designer & Technical Director S. Benjamin Farrar Manuel Gago Company Manager Mariola Rodríguez Fernández Jose Jímenez Booking Manager Jeffrey Rosenstock Guitarristas www.nocheflamenca.com Salva de María Eugenio Iglesias Noche Flamenca’s United States tour and New York season are supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Support has also been provided by The Harkness Foundation, The Bailaores DuBose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund, and The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation. Sol La Argentinita Marina Elana PROGRAM La Plaza The Company Choreography by Martín Santangelo La Mansa Lluvia Cal Performances Honors Choreography by Soledad Barrio Volunteers with the “Bob Dixon” Award Encuentro Antonio Jiménez ach year, the Cal Performances’ Front of House staff recognizes a volunteer usher E for their extraordinary service by giving them the Bob Dixon Volunteer of the Year Solo de Cante Jose Jímenez & Manuel Gago Award. The Volunteer of the Year Award is given to the volunteer usher who best exempli- fies what it means to be a volunteer usher, and is named after the award’s first recipient, Bob Dixon. This year, the award was given to Kirk and Adria Peterson. Kirk and Adria INTERMISSION have ushered at Cal Performances for nearly a decade, and they can often be found direct- ing patrons to their seats on the Orchestra level of Zellerbach Hall. Their willingness to help out in innumerable ways and their ability to foster phenomenal relationships with Quebradas The Company our patrons and other staff members is remarkable. The student management team loves Choreography by Martín Santangelo to work with the Petersons, and Cal Performances always knows that a show will run smoothly when the Petersons come to work. Congratulations to Kirk and Adria Peterson! Mediodía Martín Santangelo & Salva de Maria Soledad Soledad Barrio The program is subject to change. 34 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 35 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES a brief history of flamenco he precarious conditions of the maintaining the rhythm, adding further to the cafes cantantes (coffee theaters), where refresh- T Andalucian singer of the past made it inevi- syncopation. In some forms, like the cante libre ment could be enjoyed while watching the per- table that he or she should dwell on the more trag- (free song), the compás is less apparent, but the formance. Although some of them survived un- ic aspects of existence. Even though conditions singer may break into an established rhythm, til the middle of the 20th century, their heyday are now incomparably better, the feelings inher- which the guitarist then has to follow. Indeed, was past by the 1920s. Generally they were like ent in the cante (song) are universal, timeless, and the singer is at liberty to improvise, whether the cabaret theaters, with as many as four shows a represent a link between past and present. toque (guitar-playing) is free or in compás, and day. Andalucia, the region of southern Spain, the guitarist may not know beforehand what is Dance has always been associated with which is flamenco’s home, has a strong musi- to be expected of him. flamenco. It is difficult to imagine this music cal tradition documented from ancient times There is no evidence that the guitar was without movement. While sophisticated fla- and flamenco takes its place in that heritage. initially used to accompany the cante, and menco dance companies have been touring the Throughout the centuries, Andalucia absorbed even today some of the most dramatic forms of world for more than 50 years, it is the raw un- peoples of different cultures and backgrounds, cante are invariably performed unaccompanied. choreographed dances of Andalucian Gypsies including Romans, Jews, and Moors. Perhaps However, it was certainly in regular use by the that has maintained the art form in its most the most significant arrival took place in the 15th end of the 19th century in Spain. The lute was creative essence. century, when tribes of nomadic Gypsies settled extremely popular in the rest of Europe during in southern Spain, coinciding with Ferdinand the Renaissance, but was rejected in Spain as and Isabella’s conquest of Granada, the last bas- a foreign intrusion since it was of Arab origin. tion of the Moors, and the subsequent expulsion Furthermore, the vihuela (the guitar’s predeces- of Jews and Arabs from Spain. sor) was more suited to the accompaniment of Historian Felix Grande, writing about life in ballads by strumming, since the lute requires the 15th to 17th centuries states: “The Jews were notes to be picked more delicately. It was also massacred, the Gypsies humiliated and perse- cheaper to produce and more robust. cuted, the Arabs exterminated, the Moriscos In the 19th century, there were two types (converted Arabs) expelled, and the Andalucians of singing in Andalucia: the cante gitano of generally exploited…if we do not relate the mu- the Gypsies and the cante andaluz. Silverio sic…to brutality, repression, hunger, fear, men- Franconetti, an Andaluz of Italian origin and an ace, inferiority, resistance, and secrecy, then we exceptional singer of Gypsy styles, was the first shall not find the reality of cante flamenco…it is to bring these two styles together. This integra- a storm of exasperation and grief.” It was against tion of both forms resulted in the cante flamenco. this background that flamenco evolved. The wail of the cante jondo (deep song) Although earlier records suggest that resembles the mournful chant of the exiled flamenco was at one time unaccompanied, it is Sephardic Jews. Its poetry has the existential- hard for us today to imagine flamenco without ist angst and philosophical questioning com- a guitar. In effect, the guitar forms an integral mon in Arabic poetry. The dance which evolved part of the song; singer and guitarist are one slowly, fully blossoming in the 1840s, suggests creating the cante. The different types of cante the repetitive key symbol prevalent in Islam, the provide the basis for all flamenco guitar-playing. trance inducing rhythms of Africa, and the stub- Most of the cante has an underlying rhythmic born search of Jewish music. structure which must be strictly adhered to: Flamenco developed rapidly, gain- the compás (rhythmic cycle). One of flamenco’s ing in artistic stature as well as popularity. chief characteristics is the complex syncopation Establishments appeared throughout Andalucia against the compás, with the cante being sung and beyond, dedicated wholly to the perfor- almost entirely off the beat and the guitarist mance of flamenco. They came to be known as 36 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 37 ABOUT THE ARTISTS ABOUT THE ARTISTS All aspects of flamenco—dance, song, and mu- Soledad Barrio (dancer) tablaos of Spain. Rodríguez has performed with sic—are interrelated and given equal weight in founded Noche Flamenca the National Ballet of Spain and has shared the the presentations of Noche Flamenca, creating with her husband, Martin stage with Carmen Ledesma in the National a true communal spirit within the company: the Santangelo, in 1993. With Opera of Tokyo. He has also choreographed for very heart and soul of flamenco. Noche, she has performed Yoko Komatsubara. Mr. Jiménez has toured ex- In support of its mission to educate and for audiences around the tensively as a featured soloist in Italy, Germany, enlighten audiences about flamenco, the com- globe, including perfor- Holland, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, and New York. pany offers extensive residency programs that mances in the United He continues to dance in tablaos in Sevilla and reach out to people of all ages. With company Kingdom, Australia, New Granada. This is his ninth season with members based in Spain, Noche Flamenca is Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Greece, Noche Flamenca. a registered U.S. nonprofit with its office and Italy, Canada, Mexico, and extensively through- representation based in New York City. Noche out the United States. In 2001, she was awarded Born in Cadiz to a family of Flamenca’s artistic integrity has been recognized a New York Dance and Performance Award flamenco singers,Manuel with awards from the National Dance Project (“Bessie”) for Outstanding Creative Gago (singer) began singing (2006, 2009), the National Endowment for the Achievement—the first “Bessie” to be awarded at age five. By age 14, he was Arts (2007, 2008, 2009), and the Lucille Lortel to a flamenco dancer. Ms. Barrio danced her singing in flamenco festi- Award for Special Theatrical Experience (2003), way through her childhood, performing at fies- vals with such well-known among others. tas and celebrations. It was after seeing Antonio singers as Juan Villar, Charo Gades perform that she was inspired to begin Lobato, and Rancapino. her formal dance training in Madrid at age 16. Later, he began singing for the company Her primary and most influential teachers were dancers, including Joaquín Maria Magdalena, El Guito, and Manolete. Cortés, Isabel Bayón, Sara Baras, Rafaela Martín Santangelo (Artistic Ms. Barrio made her professional debut as a Carrasco, Domingo Ortega, Adrian Galia, El Soledad Barrio Director) founded Noche dancer with El Ballet de Paco Romero in 1981 in Guito, Manolete, Javier Barón, and Cristobal Illustration by Tom Bachtell. Flamenca. He studied fla- El Amor Brujo. She has appeared as soloist with Reyes. Mr. Gago has traveled the world, singing menco with Ciro, Paco Manuela Vargas, Blanca del Rey, Luisillo, El in Europe, Asia, South America, and the United Romero, El Guito, Manolete, Guito, Manolete, Cristobal Reyes, El Toleo, States.

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