“We don't know what we are going to see,” said Gabriela Canseco, widow of Paco de Lucía, at the reception prior to the tribute concert to the musician at Carnegie Hall this Tuesday, February 20.
It was the first of the events being held in New York until next Saturday as part of the Paco de Lucía Legacy festival to commemorate the ten years since the death of the guitarist from Algeciras.
His widow's statement was honest and made sense.
It has not been easy to coordinate 22 performances in one with more than 30 artists involved and transport a hundred people in total to New York to organize everything in a few days.
Behind the scenes, the feeling among the participants was similar.
Organizing something with so many scene changes was very difficult.
And perfecting it with just two days of rehearsal, they said, made it even more complicated.
But the majority of the cast was eager and even happy.
Silvia Pérez Cruz, singing 'María la Portuguesa', with Javier Colina on the left and Yerai Cortés and Josemi Carmona on the right.Maro Rennella
This was not the case with Diego el Cigala, who came on stage as he usually does lately: without desire, out of place and out of tone.
And yet, he was applauded.
Luckily, at the event, organized by the Paco de Lucía Foundation, Carmen Linares also sang, and out of joy she remembered why she continues to be the owner and lady of singing;
an impeccable Silvia Pérez Cruz interpreting
María la Portuguesa,
and José Mercé, who tackled a particularly inspired seguiriya.
But at Carnegie Hall the pinch with his voice came from Duquende.
The Catalan, half disappeared from the scene, returned in New York to be that singer who reminded Paco de Lucía so much of Camarón.
The ball did not have a brilliant night in New York.
And there were two others that the maestro liked: Farru and Farruquito, who are always effective (the strong foot-stomping, the facility for pirouettes and the magnetism that continues to inspire their saga never fail), but they were also too effective.
And the audience applauded them enthusiastically.
Top musicians
But if something elevated the concert, and to what height, it was the musicians.
To begin with, the guitars: those of two veterans like Rafael Riqueni and Pepe Habichuela;
that of a privileged mind like Dani de Morón;
that of the freshness and rhythm of Yerai Cortés, that of Antonio Rey, who performed some of the master's tarantas that brought the audience to its feet, or that of José María Bandera, especially inspired playing
Monasterio de
sal with Carles Benavent.
A special mention deserves Niño Josele, who sustained the show even when he was not the protagonist and had a great moment when he accompanied (or was it the other way around?) Rubén Blades.
Josele and Josemi Carmona, who was the artistic director, acted as support for those who were not so focused and were generous with everyone.
Carmen Linares, with Yerai Cortés on the left and Antonio Sánchez on the right. Maro Renella
Who should honor Paco de Lucía?
But it was not just guitars that Paco de Lucía flourished and, therefore, it is not surprising that one of the most brilliant of the night was the harmonica player Antonio Serrano, marking one of the great musical moments of the night with the pianist Chano Domínguez.
Together they performed
Canción de amor,
by Paco de Lucía, and between the two of them they managed to ensure that the guitar was not even missed.
Jorge Pardo, Javier Colina, Carles Benavent and Rubem Dantas also demonstrated why they were musicians at the level of Paco de Lucía.
And vice versa, because talent is not contagious but forms do stick.
For example, feeling respect for the music, the audience, your colleagues and yourself.
Paco de Lucía knew a lot about this, and many of his friends, disciples or both showed this last night.
And that commitment was what smoothed out mistakes on many occasions.
Thanks to the guitarists, the percussionists and the rest of the instrumentalists, this tribute titled Paco de Lucía Legacy also ended up making sense, because many lived up to his legacy.
What is it and how was it demonstrated at Carnegie Hall?
Here are three notes.
End of the party, with all the artists on stage.Maro Renella
One, the professionalism that he had was put into practice by those who made an effort to correct shortcomings in space, lack of time, and other setbacks related to New York City itself and the demands of Carnegie Hall.
Second, the gift that he from Algeciras had to, no matter who he played with, ensure that flamenco mixed in perfect proportion with other music, feeding on them and feeding them.
They achieved it in New York Niño Josele with Blades and Josemi Carmona with Madou Diabaté.
Third note: if Sabicas made the guitar independent of singing and dancing and turned it into a soloist, Paco de Lucía multiplied it by adding harmonicas, flutes, cajones and music from other latitudes.
In this way, he put flamenco at a very high level.
And also very demanding.
That is why we have to consider whether it should be those who respond to this demand, and only them, who should pay tribute to Paco de Lucía.
Whether or not they are guitarists.
Whether or not they are flamenco.
Who each one is could be confirmed during the end of the party, in which those already mentioned saved the furniture and the usual ones, also mentioned, acted as they pleased, turning the closing of the
show
into a little nonsense.
As a final note, the artists brought onto the stage, with all reason and all merit, Pepe de Lucía, brother of the honoree who was also their singer.
The last experience, at the Teatro Real, did not go entirely well but on this occasion he was happy that even though he was not in the program they remembered him, and he settled a chaotic end of the party by singing a little bit of
Buana Buana King Kong,
the bulerías with which his brother closed many concerts, and Pepe de Lucía giving a lesson to more than one in New York.
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