Los Voluble presents ‘El 92 cava con todo’, a project that mixes audiovisual with electronic music and encourages reflection on this year’s impact on the cultural, social and political spheres of our country.
Footage of conversations captured on a screen in prison farruquito, Archangel anyone Anthony Orozco. Parks are disinfected and politicians who cannot wear masks appear. Flamenco guitarist Sabicas said: “I will give advice to those who listen to me. […]: there are no bad guitarists, they are all good”. On stage, also by Raúl Cantizano crafted guitar way ready piano Created by John Cage: A tool to which gadgets have been added to create a rhythmic and sonorous repetition that has never been heard before. All these and some other things are what they suggest. Raul Cantizano Y indecisive cordoned off areaA project realized at the Madrid Flamenco Festival and more specifically on the stages of the Conde Duque Center for Contemporary Culture.
indecisive They are two brothers from Seville: Pedro and Benito Jimenez. Since 1996 they have been mixing flamenco, electronics, humor, social criticism and the audio-visual archive to advocate improvisation, music research, culture as a means of reflection and art for art. “It seems to us art should be there to move people and to make us think”, explains Pedro Jiménez.
They present this Friday in Madrid, 92 digs with everything, a confusing offer audio-visual with electronic music and this encourages reflection on the events that took place in Spain in 1992. Chapter 7 From the collection of the Reina Sofia Museum, curated by José Luis Espejo and called Device 92. Can the date be undone? “This is a piece that remixes the music and footage of that time to meditate on what happened, what conversations were made, or who did it,” explains Jiménez. To give an example, he talks about the event where they brought a piece of iceberg in the Chilean Pavilion at the Seville Expo. “It talks about a lot of things. On the one hand, colonialism, because I’m literally bringing you a piece of my land. On the other hand, it talks about climate change because it’s a rotting part of my land because it’s not in place. we we play with these images, revealing the contradictions“. But the work they offer is only Seville Fair, but they are touring Curro Spain. They also work with corporate ads, such as a promotional video for Barcelona Holding Olimpics, showing how they aim to turn orchards into roads or silenced protests.
Flamenco as a form of study
Inside 92 digs with everything there are also flamingos. Fickle, together Elche’s child they were responsible Played a guitar for the first time in Sónar But the breeding ground where his career was born is earlier and zemos98 Festival, Born as a showroom for experimental creations in the town of El Viso del Alcor, Seville, it remains alive today as a mutated and social and cultural mediation cooperative.
born in this place Electro-flamenco dialogues A kind of artistic residence “with the intention of establishing a collaborative working methodology” in 2012. Rocio Marquez anyone Juan Carlos Lerida previously mentioned names participated in these workshops. His work was later reflected in more or less official performances. It was born therefore, for example, raverdial, An attempt by Niño de Elche to combine the essence of Malaga’s verdials (an inseparable palo from the community festival) with the original spirit. compliments by trial.
Improvisation or collective creation is always the starting point of their work. “And the file,” adds Jiménez. “It is its own medium: what is archived, what is the process, how is it heard… And above all: Who is talking about the flamingo? What are you talking about when you talk about flamenco?“Los Voluble feels close to that flamenco before recordings and sees who interests it from other disciplines. Raúl Cantizano, with whom they created the show cordoned off area, He exemplifies this in alegrias, a fundamental style of current flamenco, geographically based in Cádiz and originating from jota. “Flamenco, by definition, is bastard,” Cantizano says. “Born out of the remix, the inclusion of pretty much everything”.
intangible heritage
This is the way to understand flamenco radically conflicts with the idea of purity Many still insist on defending. This takes place in a canon that dictates how the styles should be interpreted, understood as the different styles that exist in this Andalusia-born art. “This construction of the canon is a later thing with commercial interests. They arise from records that build repetition, that are transformed into recognition. And that’s the foundation of cultural capitalism,” explains Jiménez. We don’t even understand this idea that we oppose the recognition of flamenco as an intangible heritage by UNESCO,” he says, and argues that archiving sound works is not the only way to preserve flamenco.
In this regard, they showed against intellectual property and in favor of free creation, something that has always existed in flamenco. Jiménez remembers that after the pandemic, there was no critical thinking about the consumption of culture. “There are alternatives to capitalist consumption through cooperative markets or solidarity gardens, but in culture there seems to be only one path and it is very narrow: stream your music on Spotify and wait for a hit. There are no spaces to share and coexist. It has expanded economically with culture”.
moves along this line cordon areais a show born during quarantine that reflects what happened in culture during the pandemic and how this so-called “new normal” came about. The image of the controls established over the public space and the movement of people, along with the sound experiment, is another starting point for the demonstration. “What we propose transcending these limits that are accepted by all in principle and get out of that pot, break that tape and leave the corded field towards play, experimentation and improvisation,” explains Raúl Cantizano.
Antonio Mairena, Pepe Marchena, also John Cage or Val del Omar Here are some of the reference figures they naturally talk about in conversation. Cantizano, a veteran flamenco guitarist and creator, explains it by describing it as a piece of furniture filled with drawers. Different ways of making music are placed in each drawer, but always the same ones are open. They try to open up to others, and they do it their own way. “There’s a guitar that sounds more like a horror movie, even though it’s flamenco, but I love both sounds and I don’t have to decide on one,” he adds. “If I love the Sabicas touch and also the touch of Frank Zappa or John Cage, why not work with them if they’re both on my skin?”
‘flamenco templars’
Pedro Jiménez defines how flamingo templars to critics who belittle any proposal that moves a speck of the canon. He rejects them because it prevents some artists from daring to develop their experimental concerns. “In that sense, we start off with a certain privilege as we are white men with the capacity to approach experimentation, but these crusades hinder the development of new discourses“, he explains. “Our work is completely honest. We don’t intend to please everyone, but we try to bring some kind of sound and image to other places, and that other place can let a lot of other people know right away, for example what a decision is”.
But be careful, because these Templars They exist not only in flamenco, but also in electronics. “There is there is too much conservatism in music promoters and most of all, a lot of self-censorship. For example, it is difficult to see an artist taking a critical stance on cultural policies. Promoters don’t want experimental music, they don’t want to tarnish themselves,” says Jiménez, criticizing the imposition of a hedonist discourse that is far from any critical point of view.
Now, in addition to the live shows that continue to grow with each performance, they are working. checking out the next Biennale de Flamenco de Sevillawill take place next September and where they will present Jaleo Is a Crime, more Flamenco Is Not a CrimeA piece they created for the 2019 Nîmes Flamenco Festival. accompanists Jimenez explains.
They are now immersed in a process that can be seen on stage for the first time. Alameda Theater in Seville on September 16 and this redeems the power of the anonymity of jaleos, once again seeing flamenco as a laboratory and reflecting on popular culture, current events and audiovisual archives.
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