REVIEW: Juan Martin Flamenco Ensemble
Juan Martin Flamenco Ensemble – Lewes Town Hall January 31
THOUGH unreported in the local media, on Saturday a small corner of sleepy Lewes was ripped from its secure haven nestling amid the downs, and transported 1,300 miles to 19th century Andalucia.
The forecasted snow was replaced with the stark dry heat of the Sierra Nevada, and School Hill became a barren goat track with breathtaking vistas across the parched Spanish countryside.
Accompanying Juan Martin's hypnotic guitar on this magic carpet ride were his woodwind and percussion troubadours, supported by haunting vocals that both hypnotised and transported the spellbound audience.
The north African influence on Spain's colourful and at times turbulent history was evident in the impassioned vocal implorings and the Moorish tones of the woodwind.
Just when I thought I'd arrived on my Mediterranean odyssey the stage erupted with the rhythmic pounding of two pairs of Flamenco dance shoes.
He and she proceeded to transfix the audience with routines that expressed with spine-tingling drama the extremes and contradictions of love. At times the passion reached such crescendos of writhing energy that I was almost embarrassed to watch, feeling as a voyeur of an intensely intimate encounter.
As the evening drew to a close the audience seemed reluctant to leave, thus breaking the spell and allowing humdrum reality to rush in and fill the void. As if to accentuate this other-worldly contrast it was sleeting and the chippie was closed.
Richard Cuming
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Lewes
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 0 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -5 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
