San Francisco Chronicle feature “Flamenco at the Crossroads”
Carl Nagin writes about the influence of Diego del Gastor and the Morón de la Frontera flamenco sound in the Bay Area, leading up to Son de la Frontera’s anticipated concert on March 1st in San Francisco.
“The concert that has generated the most buzz for Bay Area flamencos happens Saturday at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where one of Spain’s hottest and most innovative new flamenco ensembles, Son de la Frontera, makes its Bay Area debut with Juan del Gastor as guest artist. The group’s artistic focus has been a revival of Diego’s music. Jackson Browne, a longtime flamenco enthusiast, calls them “the best new group I’ve heard in any genre. A riveting tribute to the seminal flamenco master Diego del Gastor, the CD embraces the tradition of flamenco puro and succeeds in making it new.”
Son de la Frontera is a fusion group, one of whose innovations is the addition of a non-flamenco instrument, the Cuban tres, as part of their homage and exploration of Diego’s music.
Four members of the Son de la Frontera quintet have Morón in their blood: two were born there, and two are grand-nephews of Diego, including 30-year old dancer Pepe Torres, whom Serva first introduced to Bay Area audiences in 2003, before the group was launched….
Musicality is one feature of what Serva praises as the accessibility of Son de la Frontera, whose popularity began outside Spain as a world music group performing Diego’s flamenco riffs far from the source - in Mexico, Cuba, South America and northern Europe.
“Their popularity doesn’t relate to anything that’s going on in Spain now,” says Serva. “They’re not a bunch of people trying to be super hip or super complicated. The most salient feature of their music is its clarity.”
Singer Nina Menendez sees their use of Diego’s music as something that transcends slavish copying: “Flamenco is an oral tradition. You can’t write it down. Diego never played the same way twice. His falsetas, his toque (playing) were a framework for improvisation. And that was part of the musical culture in Morón. That’s a big difference between so-called “modern” and so-called “traditional” flamenco. Modern flamenco takes on some abstract ideal of music: whether it’s a young, perfect body type for a dancer, or overly choreographed performances, or the technical virtuosity of the guitar, with complex harmonies and dazzling riffs. Traditional flamenco, on the other hand, is more about cultural identity, an expression of family, community. It’s a legacy, a shared frame of reference.” At Son de la Frontera’s Yerba Buena show, a flamenco legacy of three generations will be onstage when guitarist and singer Juan del Gastor performs with them.
“Even though they never met Diego, his spirit lives in their hearts,” says Juan del Gastor.”
Full article here.