Juerga! - Manita De Plata

 

Juerga!

Juerga!

Manitas De Plata

Flamenco Guitar

Jose Reyes and Manero Gallardo, cantors with the gypsies of Les Saintes Maries de la Mer

Produced by E. Alan Silver

Recording Engineer: David B. Jones

Cover Photograph: Margery Aronson

Cover Design and Art Direction: Jules Maidoff

Connoisseur Society CS 2003 STEREO

1967

From the back cover: In the fall of 1963 the President of Connoisseur Society and its chief engineer, David B. Jones, travelled to the south of France to make the first recordings of Manitas de Plata. The recording sessions held in a small medieval chapel adjoining the Jules Cesar Hotel in Arles lasted nearly all of one night until the early hours of the morning; began again the next afternoon with listening sessions, resumed in the evening, and ended somewhere between midnight and one o'clock in the morning with a deeply moving performance of a Saeta sung by Jose Reyes.

The Saeta, a form of Cante Jondo, is usually sung during religious processions. It is the sort of music that requires what is known as the 'duende,' a term referring to the ability of the performer to feel and project a complex combination of emotions-fervor, passion, intensity, spiritualism, ecstasy and/or heart-felt despair. It is the soul of flamenco and an artist without the 'duende' has little to offer the aficionado. Artists such as Manitas de Plata, Jose Reyes and Manero Ballardo possess this rare quality and are able to convey a very special feeling even in moments of joyous abandon.

Due to the great length of the recording sessions, many break periods were held throughout the two nights for the purpose of resting and feeding the performers. But, the contagion of great flamenco lent a festive feeling to the artists and the twenty-odd friends who stayed through the two nights. Though none of the artists partook of the excellent Sangria, the surrounding friends drank, ate and turned the rest periods into contagious rhumbas and unexpected flamenco displays. The artists could not resist the mood and joined in with the result that a number of performances involving groups of people clapping, dancing and shouting were recorded in addition to the solo performances originally scheduled. When we listened to the playbacks, Manitas de Plata decided that these performances were in the true spirit of a gypsy Juerga and we put them aside for eventual release.

In a 'Juerga,' flamenco artists traditionally gather to perform for each other and the music, whether joyous and gay or deep and despairing, is intended to be a type of communication between artist and artist where each plays for the other. It is rare that such performances are heard outside of the gypsy encampments.

Those who have purchased other of our recordings of Manitas de Plata will note the change of mood and atmosphere of the Moritas Moras here as compared to the performances of the Moritas Moras' previously issued (CS 263, CS 965). The Moritas Moras here is lighter, gayer and in a more dancelike tempo. The Rhumba de Manitas found Jose Reyes keeping the rhythm by scraping his nails across a piece of corrugated cardboard from one of the cases of wine and ends with his high spirited squeaks of joy. As with any all night gypsy party, there are moments of silence and tribute as a great artist expresses a mysterious and personal mood. Such a moment occurred when Manitas de Plata played a moving Sequiriyas and a Fandangos. Then in a happier moment he showed the brilliance of his melodic invention in the Alegrias Gitana. At such occasions it is also common for artists who normally do not perform together to join forces and two lovely guitar duets were the result of this feeling, Song of Sara and Song of Camargue.

We hope you enjoy this rare inside view of a 'Juerga' – that moment when flamenco aficionados and genius performers exhaust themselves in the total flamenco experience. – E. ALAN SILVER

Moritas Moras Reyes (Reyes, Ballardo, de Plata)

Alegrias Gitana (de Plata)

Song Of Sara (de Plata)

Rhumba de Manitas (Reyes, Ballardo, de Plata)

Fandangos (de Plata)

Song Of Camargue (de Plata, Ballardo)

Seguiriyas (de Plata)

Saeta (Reyes)