“The saeta is a heart-rending cry, an echo that resonates in the hearts of those who live and feel the most sacred week as it is felt here, in Huelva, a beloved land where the salt of the sea mixes with the essence of faith and Christian devotion. In this land you find voices that express your most emotional feelings. The women of this peña They teach us that the saeta has no owner, just as the flamenco soul has no owner. (…) It is the voice of the women of this peñaThe saeta is not only a song of lament, it is also a cry of struggle, a call to life, a prayer for redemption. A tradition that never stops. It is a song that rises to the infinite heavens with all that human strength, recalling those moments lived in our own flesh. Those hours in which we learned to venerate our beliefs holding maternal hands and which we now transmit to those who continue us in the faith of life, in the faith of love and in the faith of hope and the divine liturgy, the most painful song. To you, flamenco women of Huelva, who keep the flame of the saeta alive, who pray for the emotion that only the flamenco can transmit, I dedicate this exaltation.”
The first fragment is very beautiful. Carmen Arjona He gave us this night as a brotherhood member in the Peña Flamenca Huelva Women's.
On a stage with an eminently brotherhood props, presided over by the Virgin of Hope of Huelva and for two works by the artist from Huelva Miguel Verdejo, which represents a bust with the face of Jesus of Nazareth and a charcoal painting of the Macarena, we gathered together fans from the capital and province to experience one of the most emotional moments of this Lent. The journalist and doctor in flamenco, a regular contributor to this forum, Carmen Arjona Pabón, would delight us with her vision of the cante by saetas and the roots of this in the popular heritage of our land, emphasizing the contribution of women to such canteThe journalist from Malaga, presented by the intellectual brotherhood member from Huelva José Antonio Castilla, he climbed for the first time onto the stage that represents the stage of the Huelva entity. There he outlined his particular vision of the singular palo which serves as a sung prayer during this liturgical season. A direct exaltation to the hearts of those present. As a true flamenco dancer, Carmen knew how to temper the passages of her speech, giving them just the right warmth and consistency. There were no excesses, just the exact measure to raise the hairs of those of us who have witnessed her words. Words that, in the voice of a flamenco dancer with her sensitivity, become like honey to the ears and tighten the bowstring with which the saetera must strike the mourner, whether the Messiah or her grieving mother.
"The saeta is a song that rises to the infinite heavens with all that human strength, recalling those moments experienced in our own flesh. Those hours in which we learned to venerate our beliefs, holding maternal hands, and which we now pass on to those who continue us in the faith of life, in the faith of love, and in the faith of hope and divine liturgy, the most painful song."
Carmen remembered the devotions of the land of Huelva and she interspersed the performance of the saeteras between the reading of the exaltation. Helga Molina who opened the saeta recital with siguiriyas. “Each saeta performed, each verse that comes from a pair of lips, contains a piece of the deepest history of this land,” the extoller continued, also remembering those who suffer. calvaries in our days. He called the veteran amateur Loli López, so that he could imagine that Jesus of Nazareth and his mother, Our Lady of Bitterness, crossed in front of her. She didn't hesitate and gave us her experience and pellizco flamencoFor Carmen, “the saeta is the music that accompanies the painful walk” and warns María Ángeles Cerrejón that the foreman is bringing him closer to the Virgin of Victory. This does not hesitate to raise its cante To the mother who reigns in the Polvorín neighborhood of our capital. “Women of Huelva who have known how to fill the saetas with rhythm, soul, passion, and strength, do not stop singing. May your voice never be silenced (…) May the sensitivity that clouds your art never be erased (…) That is your power.” María Emilia Rodríguez who breaks his cante through toná, despite the lump in his throat, to look into the eyes of the Most Holy Christ of Faith, the one who watches over the Viaplana neighborhood. “The saeta is not just sung, the saeta is given (…) It is the true voice of the people (…)”. Then, he asks Trinidad Navarro to calm the pain of the crucified. The siguiriya asks who crucified him, who crowned him with thorns, who wounded him in the side, and asks the foreman to stop him so he can sing to him.
The exalter claims the importance of this peña. A meeting place and refuge where women, despite their historical difficulties, raise their voices to be heard. Each saeta is a message that must be lived. This is a world of roses, but also of thorns. “That's what my mother taught me,” says Carmen. And with a “Long live the Peña Femenina de Huelva' and a 'viva Huelva' urged Trinidad Navarro again to sing this time to the Hope MacarenaNow the voice of the flamenco singer from Huelva delights us with the song wake up early in Seville.
And with the synergies of contained emotions, the embrace between exalting and Peña becomes present. From that last second, Carmen Arjona will remain forever in the collective memory of a Peña singular, of an agora that, due to its peculiarity, is different and at the same time diverse.
Credits
Exaltation of the Saeta 2025
Peña Female Flamenco Culture of Huelva
April 10th 2025
Presenter: José Antonio Castilla Domínguez
Exalter: Carmen Arjona Pabón
Saeteras: Helga Molina Brito, Loli Lopez, Maria de los Angeles Cerrejon, Maria Emilia Rodriguez and Trinidad Navarro
