Australia's only flamenco company is celebrating 20 years of rich cultural heritage and an appreciation for the Andalusian dance.
In a performance as part of Brisbane Festival, Flamenco Fire will join forces with Chamber Orchestra Camerata and acclaimed flamenco artists direct from Spain for 'Veinte Años'.
Here, composer/guitarist Andrew Veivers answers some questions about what the show will entail.
This is a joint venture with Camerata, Queensland's Chamber Orchestra. How did this collaboration come about?
A year or so ago I was sitting with Angie Dunbavan (Red Chair), who has been producing 'Flamenco Fire' since 2004, dreaming up a bit of a wish list of ways we might celebrate achieving the milestone of 20 years as a flamenco company. Over the years we had explored the many and varied cultural influences that had gone into the development of flamenco. Apart from what became the classic postcard flamenco ensemble of singer, dancer, and guitarist, string ensembles featured significantly in every culture that came to heavily influence flamenco. So we set our sights on collaborating with a string ensemble. Camerata is a string ensemble that is well-known for their high artistic standards and adventurous programming. Obviously we put them at the very top of our wish list. A series of conversations with a very supportive and enthusiastic David Berthold (Brisbane Festival), the Camerata’s Brendan Joyce and Adam Tucker, and senior programmers at Queensland Performing Arts Centre and we were away...
What will the performance entail?
A flamenco show needs the colour, drama and passion of the dance, song and guitar to evoke the heart of Spain. With our guest flamenco artists flying in from Spain, around Australia as well as from here in Brisbane we’ll have that thoroughly covered. Adding to this rich and deeply authentic foundation, Camerata will allow us to fully explore the vast contribution of the modal expressiveness and ornamental variety that the eastern and oriental orchestral traditions brought to flamenco. We are drawing from string traditions as varied as Arabic melodic invention, Sephardic lyricism and sacred and secular compositional styles of Northern Europe.
What do you think so many people love about flamenco?
I think there are two main elements to the universal appeal of flamenco: The heartbreakingly sincere expressions of love and loss in the song, dance and music that defy all language barriers; and the mesmerisingly hypnotic and relentless rhythmic interpretation of them.
Image © David Kelly
And why has it, as an art form, stood the test of time?
Flamenco has never been a static art form. Although its ultimate formation as a recognisably distinct art form is geographically specific to Andalusia in southern Spain, its growth and development from its earliest traceable origins have been the result of a capacity to retain elements of cultures and styles that were brought there through migration, trade and travel. From Northern Indian to Arabic to African to South American to modern jazz, flamenco remains contemporary and relevant by happily absorbing any and all influences and making them its own.
At its heart it's a retrospective of the past 20 years of Flamenco Fire productions. How do fit all of that into one show?!
Over the years we’ve had the opportunity to develop a series of shows that were thematic explorations of flamenco history and Spanish culture. 'Sol de Otoño' ('Autumn Sun') and 'Primavera Mia' ('My Spring') reflected on ancient seasonal celebrations while 'Al Andaluz', 'Gypsy Pathways' and 'Viva Sevilla' were investigations of specific cultural influences on flamenco. In 'Veinte Años' we have the programmatic availability of this substantial repertoire to offer an insight into the chronological changes of flamenco over many centuries. Although the whole flamenco story is too vast for any one show we hope to be able to capture elements of its change throughout time. And highlight our own at the same time.
How are you hoping this show makes its audiences feel?
The line between a flamenco audience and performer is ideally a bit blurry. An engaged, energised and vocal audience is as vital to a flamenco performance as engaged, energised and vocal performers. If the performers and audience are connected any formality associated with a theatrical setting will melt away and we’ll all be transported to a tablao in Spain. Where the singer sings, the dancer dances, the vino flows and where sitting and watching quietly and politely seems just a little bit rude.
Why is it a fit for Brisbane Festival?
The festival byline '..Brisbane Festival is renowned and celebrated for connecting local and international artists..' says it all really. Apart from Flamenco Fire being a local Brisbane company with local artists at its core, it has not only developed professional relationships with artists and ensembles from around the world and across Australia but it has remained exceptionally loyal and focused on the flamenco community of Brisbane who have supported it so enthusiastically over the past two decades.
