We’re very sad to hear the news that the wonderful flamenco guitarist, Moraíto Chico, died this week at the relatively young age of just 54.

DeFlemanco and El Pais (here and here) feature fitting obituaries to one of the greatest exponents of ‘Jerez’ flamenco – worth reading, if only to get a sense of the great esteem and regard he was held in the flamenco world.  There are also a number of touching tributes, images and videos over at the Foro Flamenco thread.

There are plenty of Moraito videos on YouTube to discover, so I’ll leave you with just the two – a joyful piece filmed on stage in Jerez a few years ago, and a very early video of Moraito with Camarón.

Rest in peace

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… or the ‘candidature for inscription on the UNESCO representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’ status, to be more precise. All rolls off the tongue rather well.

Following a performance in Madrid on Monday evening, featuring Paco de Lucia, Tomatito and some important sounding Spanish bigwigs, the Spanish Government and several regional agencies have upped their campaign to see the artform of flamenco added to the aforementioned cultural mouthful.

Flamenco-World.com report on the ‘Flamenco Soy’ (‘I, Flamenco’) campaign …

While UNESCO is processing the dossier, ten thousand of people from all over the world have already demonstrated their support for flamenco’s candidacy as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The collection of signatures is being gathered at the website www.flamencopatrimoniodelahumanidad.es, with information in Spanish, English, French and Japanese. The candidacy has the backing of several hundred representatives of the jondo art and diverse public institutions, as well as the Spanish government itself, which gave its unanimous support in Parliament in May. After UNESCO communicated in February that the candidacy was “technically complete”, it is now being evaluated by the international organization. The final decision will be made at the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which is scheduled to be held in November 2010 in Nairobi (Kenya).

It appears that UNESCO rejected the ‘flamenco’ bid once before – some five years ago, with the latest bid team from Andalucia now calling for international and public support to ‘see that Flamenco finally receives the international recognition it deserves.’

You can sign-up and support the flamenco corner at the official website - flamencopatrimoniodelahumanidad.es … it only takes a few seconds to add your name.  You can also find some nice audio of the main traditional flamenco palos.

You can also take a peep at the impressively in-depth UNESCO website for Intangible Culture, which lists the many existing cultures on the list, along with some great audio, video and info for each and every element – from the Shadow Theatre of Cambodia to the Gong Culture of Vietnam!

Meanwhile, TypicallySpanish.com reports on the Madrid gig …

Paco de Lucía got a standing ovation from the crowd, which contained numerous celebrities and politicians who are supporting the initiative, including the ministers, Manuel Chaves, Ángeles González-Sinde, Bibiana Aído and Trinidad Jiménez.  Also present was the President of the Junta de Andalucía, José Antonio Griñán. He said over the weekend that while flamenco is universal, its birthplace is Andalucía.

Other flamenco artists in the crowd and supporting the campaign are singer songwriter, Diego el Cigala, dancer Sara Baras, and the guitarist Tomatito.

The concert ended with Paco de Lucía’s most famous piece, ‘Entre dos Aguas’.

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It just so happens this is perfect timing to coinside with our splendid UK Premiere of Tanguisímo! We present leading Uruguayan tango singer José-Luis Barreto with French pianist Stéphane Spira right here in Birmingham on October 24th, alongside eminent Birmingham-based flamenco dancer Ana Garcia and the musicians of Asín … full details on the performance here

(Click for large version)

Argentina, Uruguay bury hatchet to snatch tango honor

Sunday, 4 October 2009 – The Independent

Argentina and Uruguay, which have long fought over who invented the tango, buried their differences to earn UNESCO’s recognition of the dance and its music Wednesday as a world cultural treasure.

The United Nations cultural organization granted the sultry tango dance steps “intangible cultural heritage” status during a meeting of 400 experts in Abu Dhabi.

The two Latin American countries jointly submitted the “symbolic universe” of tango to UNESCO’s list of cultural treasures, setting aside a longstanding feud over which one was the birthplace of legendary tango singer Carlos Gardel.

Tango and candombe — Uruguay’s drum-based music that is part of its African heritage and was also honored by UNESCO — flooded Uruguayan airwaves in celebration.

“We are thrilled. It is wonderful,” glowed Hugo Achugar of Uruguay’s National Culture Office.

But tango teachers and fans in Buenos Aires sounded a more cautious note, fearing the dance would lose its essence.

“I fear that in going global, tango will lose its identity and cease to belong to the Rio de la Plata,” Anita Monteagudo, director of the “Tango Brujo” dance academy, told AFP.

Tango is intimately linked to the history of the Rio de la Plata, the natural border between the two countries, and the melting pot of poor immigrants and former slaves who settled in the river basin late in the 19th century.

Regardless of the cultural disputes between the two countries, Uruguayans and Argentines “are the same people, expressed in two nations,” said Argentine historian Felix Luna.

“I am thrilled about the designation, but they robbed us because it’s our cultural heritage,” said Jorge Vieites, manager of the nearly century-old Ideal candy shop, where dances and tango lessons take place each day.

Vieites said he felt as though someone had taken his favorite toy, “because I am a little selfish.”

Achugar was more conciliatory toward rival Argentina.

“We think it is fantastic that this was done together with Argentina, because our roots are shared,” he said of the sultry dance honor.

“It is recognition of our cultural contribution to the world. People listen and dance to tango today, even in Japan.”

A Japanese couple last month won the tango World Championships in Buenos Aires, dethroning Argentina, whose dancers have dominated the contest for years.

Paris alone has more than 20 milongas, as the tango dance halls are called, while in New York, fabled tango spots such as “la Nacional” draw a packed crowd of aficionados each weekend until dawn.

Hernan Lombardi, the top cultural official in Buenos Aires, and his Montevideo counterpart Eduardo Leon Duter both announced huge tango parties to celebrate, with singers from the 1940s invited as star guests this weekend.

“This is a tribute to all those who have supported the tradition over the years, who passed the poetry and dance down through the generations, as part of their oral tradition,” Lombardi said.

Buenos Aires officials called on neighbors to participate in a major milonga next weekend in the city’s working class neighborhood of Boedo to celebrate the UNESCO recognition.

Argentine singer Susana Rinaldi and Uruguayan musician Ruben Rada are set to participate, along with a slew of other artists.

The sensual cheek-to-cheek stride of a tango dancer, rose clenched between the teeth, has become a global byword for Latin passion.

In Argentina and Uruguay, tango is a proud and deep-rooted tradition of dance, poetry and song, closely bound up with the history of the region and kept alive by aficionados young and old in dozens of milongas.

Omar Viola, who chairs the milongas association of Buenos Aires, expressed hope that the UNESCO prize “will help support young people involved in tango and not performers who are already established.”

“Any recognition of a cultural treasure of Buenos Aires like the tango is good,” said Viola, organizer of the Parakultural Canning milonga, one of the nearly 80 tango dance and music groups operating in the Argentine capital.

“The bureaucrats are one thing and the artists are another. Laws and state support for tango have been limited so far.”

Thousands of tourists descend on Buenos Aires each year to learn and dance the tango, which has helped fuel Argentina’s economic boom after the peso was devalued in 2002.

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