The 24th Seville Flamenco Biennial will kick off on September 9th with a sung proclamation in the Plaza de San Francisco. Titled Primitive Echoes. Singing on High, Dancing on Earth, the event will be directed by Segundo Falcón and feature performers such as María Terremoto, Rafael de Utrera, Esperanza Fernández, and Pedro el Granaíno, who will engage in a dialogue with dancer Ana Morales.
Biennial director Luis Ybarra noted that this is the first time artists themselves will deliver the proclamation, reviving a format that was previously more literary. Falcón described the project as a journey through autochthonous and primitive styles of singing, revealing that María Terremoto will perform the martinete, Esperanza Fernández corridos and proclamations, Rafael Utrera the romance, and Pedro el Granaíno will conclude with the saeta. The performance will include a dialogue with Ana Morales and take place with singers on the plaza's balconies, based on a script about 'singing in the sky and dancing on the earth'.
Among the parallel activities announced at the Fábrica de Artillería, attended by the delegate of Tourism and Culture for the Seville City Council, Angie Moreno, and Luis Ybarra, is the exhibition The Blue Night. Flamenco Opera in the Collection of Carlos Martín Ballester. This exhibition, running from September to November at Artillería, will explore the phenomenon of flamenco opera, a musical period being rediscovered after being long overlooked.
Carlos Martín Ballester, the collection's owner, explained that the exhibition aims to showcase the significance of this era, which featured great artists like Antonio Chacón. Through documents and artworks, it will cover its impact on discography and the opening of new stage venues for flamenco, linking it to the café cantante period and the subsequent flamenco studies movement around Antonio Mairena.
The exhibition will include a manuscript by Manuel Vallejo, digitized historical recordings by artists such as Niña de los Peines, Manuel Vallejo, Pepe Pinto, Ramón Montoya, or Niño Ricardo, and previously unreleased material like a fandango sung by Manolo Caracol in 1929.
Another parallel event is the conference Flamenco Curiosities of the '27: From the Profound to Lorca's Duendes, organized by the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo. Speaker Eva Díaz Pérez and singer Alicia Gil will recall the strong connection between the Generation of '27 and flamenco. Díaz Pérez highlighted how the poets of the '27 generation lent dignity and prestige to flamenco art, incorporating it into their poetry and demonstrating its link to the Granada Cante Jondo Festival of 1922.
The conference will review the influence of figures like Lorca, Fernando Villalón, and Rafael Alberti, who showed empathy for flamenco and participated in performances, such as Lorca with La Argentinita. The relationship between the Generation of '27 and flamenco will be illustrated with music.
The parallel activities, under the title Other Pearls, also include film screenings, open-air concerts, family-friendly events, and a gastronomic guide. The complete list is available on the Biennial's website.
