Prawns, mushrooms, referees, Voldemort… It’s not a surrealist painting, it’s the Sonorama Ribera costume contest, which is being held for the twenty-seventh year in Aranda de Duero. Wednesday’s opening day, which is midweek, doesn’t usually attract as many visitors as the others. At lunchtime, Aranda de Duero continues to transmit a sense of tranquillity, which will change from today.
If the organisation of the festival had always been admirable, this year they have outdone themselves. This time, everything is bigger. The bathing area has been turned into a pavilion and the gastronomic area is across the road, eliminating queues and allowing everyone to sit in the picnic areas. There are so many food options that it can be a bit overwhelming. As for the drink bars, they have everything. A quick calimocho bar, an exclusive bar for beer drinkers, general bars… There are plenty. As if that weren’t enough, there are 500 purple points in the area.
In terms of accessibility, Sonorama is also at the forefront, both with the inclusion of sign language interpreters and with the projection of lyrics on the main stages. There is no one who deserves to have their lyrics on a giant screen more than The Beloved Onewho came out on the Ribera del Duero stage in a sparkling blue dress and ready to touch the hearts of the audience. “Thank you very much for being here on Wednesday,” said Ana, not to speak again for the rest of the show. She said it all with the music. ‘La Perra Del Hortelano’ and ‘¿Qué?’ were the audience’s favourites, until she sang ‘Esto Que Tengo Contigo’ and ‘Poderes Extraños’, which finished winning over the audience. The video for the latter was directed by Juanma Carrillo, whose death was sadly confirmed yesterday by Elefant Records. The concert reached its high point with ‘Los Jardines De Marzo’ and ‘La Fuerza’, which brought tears to one audience member’s eyes. And I’m not surprised.
In a complete change of tone, the flamenco rave of Caliphate 3/4 took over Sonorama with a performance full of fun, vindication and, at times, confusion. ‘Crîtto de lâ Nabahâ’ was a perfect introduction that managed to raise the numerous Andalusian flags that were hidden among the audience. Manuel Chaparro is the group’s foreman and last night he also seemed like the preacher. During ‘Çambra der Huebê Çanto’, while declaring the incontestable beauty of Andalusia, he also denounced that the numbers do not lie: “Andalusia has the highest unemployment rate in Spain and the highest percentage of social exclusion.” Every word he uttered, he felt it deep inside.
Califato is chaos with duende. In another vindictive episode, Chaparro took off his shirt revealing some ropes tied to his body that covered his nipples. “Nowadays, taking off your shirt in public is a men’s privilege,” he declared proudly. From time to time he disappeared from the stage and was replaced by the singer María José Luna, who brought peace to the show. Chaparro also has a talent for comedy. Yesterday it was not ‘Buleríâ del aire acondiçionao’, but ‘Buleríâ del abanico prestao’, because “we can’t put the air conditioning on.” He also declared that one could do “anything” in life: “If you smoke a joint one day nothing happens, if you do a line one day nothing happens, if you drink a bottle of Ribera one day nothing happens,” he said only to finish with “I, who can, am going to go smoke a joint” before leaving the stage briefly.
Flamenco has never before invoked a pogo, but Califato 3/4 does it differently. After listening to rap, Andalusian folklore and electronic music, the final rave was left. People being lifted up in the audience like virgins, Chaparro with a hood, epic trumpets… Practically, Holy Week in Seville, but in Aranda de Duero. And if everyone was really high on hallucinogens, of course.
The Planets They had one of the most packed concerts, as they have been achieving on each date of ‘Super 8’. After seeing them on three occasions, I can say that it was the concert in which they were heard the best. One of the reasons is surely the wonderful sound system at Sonorama. The other reason is called Eric. “Eric Jiménez is with us on drums,” said J before the general ovation from the audience. The legendary drummer rejoined the band for their date in Aranda. It is not clear if he will repeat any date, but we all hope so. Without having originally played on the album, his unique impact is noticeable. A lot to do with the Semana Santa I talked about in Califato 3/4.
The percussion sounded like a punch with each hit and the guitars, like knives. So much so that in songs like ‘10.000’ J was once again lost. When it seemed that there was no time left for more, some Olympic rings appeared on the screens, the work of Javier Aramburu. ‘Segundo Premio’ began with Eric alone, with a halo of light pointing straight at him. One of the best moments of the night.
After Recycled J became the king of the smaller stages, dedicated to music for the younger audience (Bejo, Samuraï, Aiko the group, Juancho Marqués…), and that The Red Roomto lose a large portion of the audience right from the start, The Killer Swing gave their last concert ever at Sonorama. The band from Pamplona has a great history with the festival, as Cristina mentioned during her press conference, and since they are in the middle of their farewell tour, yesterday came to an end. By this point in the night, the small delay that had slightly marked the main stages had already turned into a big snowball, so the band started half an hour later than planned.
Apart from the strong smell of poppers, what stood out the most was Cristina’s attitude. She’s too cool. “We’re going to take advantage of the energy from the first day,” she said at one point. El Columpio Asesino sounds like what it is, a band that after 25 years of career has reached its fullest moment. They couldn’t be more comfortable on stage. Their influence on the current national scene is undeniable and as an eternal testament to this is ‘Toro’, covered by countless artists. Although this included some emotional fireworks that said goodbye to the group in style, the audience seemed to be somewhat asleep. Surely, El Columpio deserved more.
The opening day ended with the funk and disco party of Carlangas and the Cubatas (Mundo Prestigio alter ego). What a pleasure to see the ex-Novedades Carminha on the main stage. I don’t think he expected to play there either, judging by all the free space they left. They’re not used to having so much floor space at their disposal, and not because they don’t deserve it. We’re already talking about some very unusable hours, around 3 in the morning, so Carlangas had to bring out the heavy machinery. The joke ended with ‘Ya No Te Veo’, which instantly got the crowd going and put the finishing touch with a brutal sax solo.
The instrumental outros of Los Cubatas are gold. They are more than just a backing band. They are as much a part of the show as Carlangas himself. They give all the songs, both those by Novedades and those by Carlangas alone, another life. ‘Cabeza loca’ and ‘Regalao’ sound more like a collaboration between Novedades and Mundo Prestigio than what is heard in the studio version, and this can only be good. The public’s love for Novedades Carminha is still present every time one of these songs is played and ‘Cariñito’, revived thanks to Delaporte, is clear proof of this. Despite being close to 4 in the morning, it was sung as if it were 10 at night. Carlangas spent the whole concert asking if there was anyone there or not, and finally said: “That’s right, damn it.” Exactly what I thought when I saw what Sonorama Ribera had put together one more year, being an example for the rest of the festivals. That’s right.
