Flamencophile's Excellent Adventure - Part 2

After spending the morning going over the NYC subway map with my magic decoder ring, we headed down to Lower Manhattan. It was Silvia’s first time in the US and with her Lonely Planet Guide in hand, she had laid out an itinerary for us. The first stop was Battery Park, where we would be able to walk the promenade, with a view of the harbor and the skyline. As we got about a half-block away from the river bank, a gust of wind kicked up that made shards of ice fall from my eyes and I yelled out “Forget it; it’s too cold – you wanna see Battery Park, go look at a picture….” Fortunately this struck Silvia as funny and she teased me about this for the rest of the weekend…..In a toasty warm East Village Moroccan restaurant, we were able to meet up with my pal Alfonso Cid of “Gazpacho Andalu” and some of his friends from Kentucky – Stuart and Bob of “Alma Gitana.” Alfonso’s kids are already singing ta-ra-ra’s and keeping perfect palmas. Watch out for the next generation of flamencos!

Finally – it was show time. It was my first time seeing Rafaela Carrasco. Different people all have different opinions and going in to see the show, I had some pre-conceived ideas and maybe some expectations. But it’s up to each of us to form an individual opinion, to build our own relationship with the performer and the art. And I have to say – I was wowed. The performance made a big impression on me. Each and every segment of the program was strong. She had not one, but TWO men dancing farruca in bata de cola - óle to her and óle to them. It was flawless, and powerful. Genius! It was as if these guys went over to the closet and dug out the bata that Carmen Amaya had hung up to start a revolution, simply by putting on a pair of pants. I have full respect for people who challenge what is expected of them – especially flamencos whose entire artform continues to evolve from a cultural tradition created for the survival of a people. Who has the right to tell an artist what to do? The most amazing thing to me was the level of skill and grace these men had in working the bata. Extremely well done. My favorite piece was the martinete, when all the musicians came downstage and stood in a line giving palmas as Antonio Campos sang and Rafaela told us a story. So simple. So honest and sincere. That is the thing that I find most compelling and at the same time intimidating in flamenco – there is nowhere to hide. She stood there telling her own story, supported by the cuadro. Brilliant!

I was also very happy to see Nacho Arimany - a one-man percussive wonder, sitting cross-legged and barefoot like a boy on Christmas Day surrounded by his favorite toys. Not only did he play about 5 different instruments including a gigantic cajon, but he also contributed some Indian vocals (forgive me for not knowing the proper name, but it sounded like Sanskrit Scat...). He looks like a hippie Edward Norton with talent as bright and generous as his smile. Olè, Nacho!

Once the lights came up, we high-tailed it down to Alegrias to the 11:00 show. We got there early enough to go downstairs and grab some tapas – I swear to god, they were even better than the tapas I had in Spain! I give the Sardines a la Plancha a big thumbs up. But I digress….as we were sitting there, I noticed this girl standing by the door who looked like she was about 16. She was bundled up head to toe and she caught my eye as I was pulling my coat on to head back outside. We exchanged grins, acknowledging the ritual of layering for warmth…..once upstairs, I ran into some of my NYC flamenco buddies – Carlos Revollar and Gigi Quintana and chit-chatted briefly before the show. The show was great – featuring dancer Raul Ortega and singer Ruben “el Viejo” whose combined age is less than fifty……and that mysterious girl from downstairs re-appeared – it was Fuensanta La Moneta! What a sweetheart. She said that she’s enjoyed the US tour, but was looking forward to heading home. She successfully convinced me that I must go to Granada the next time I’m in Spain – and she promised that it was much warmer there! Singer Jose Valencia was also there and he got very shy once the juerga broke out! Dancer Oscar Valero was the instigator – he grabbed a cajon and started banging out some bulerias. Before long Oscar, Raul and Ruben were trading letras and everyone in the place made a big circle. What a blast!!!!!!! We finally left around 3am…having had a very full day of flamenco in New York!