Interview with Esperanza Fernández, singer:

"Jazz has given me a lot of wisdom
for going out on stage"

Silvia Calado Olivo. Madrid, January, 2002

After twenty years of singing professionally, Esperanza Fernández has made enough of a name for herself to leave the first recorded testimony of her personal view of flamenco. 'Esperanza Fernández' (Tablao, 2001) is a "reflection of everything I've done throughout my career". And that leads down a road that goes from Triana to Lebrija, passing unapologetically through the frontiers of jazz and classical music. The singer from Seville dissects and explains for Flamenco-world.com the contents of her debut album, a work which has had all flamenco-lovers waiting patiently "because I decided to wait until I matured as an artist, as a woman and as a person, until I felt confident enough about what I wanted to do, without feeling pressured". Here's the result...

The record opens with a bulerías song titled "Te conocí en primavera"...

This song has a story behind it... The lyrics are by Carlos Lencero, a very Andalusian composer. And many years ago I recorded it for a demo in a small recording studio my brothers have. They were the ones who started to compose the music back then, along with Nicasio Moreno. I really liked it a lot and was always singing it softly. I knew this song was going to be included in any record I would have the chance to make, because it was always running through my mind, it was very 'me' somehow. And that's just how it was. There were people who wanted to do it, but they didn't manage to get the same thing out of it...maybe because of the long time I've been doing it. Of course, my brother Paco had to play for it, after so many years.

Dorantes at the keyboard brings us to the second cut, 'En el compás de su sangre', a soleá that makes certain references to your origins...

It was recorded in Dorantes' house. The song came about because I wanted to do traditional cantes, like in my concerts. I wanted to include a traditional soleá, specifically a soleá de Alcalá. I realized that the only person who could play traditional flamenco on the piano was Dorantes, aside from the fact that I had already worked with him, he's a relative of mine. I also wanted the person who did the letra to be a maestro who knew a lot about cante, as is the case of José de la Tomasa. And it shows. It speaks about my family because he took careful notice of my surroundings and he's known me since I was a small child. He talks about my mother, about my family...

Esperanza Fernández with Dorantes

What does the piano contribute to flamenco expression?

A great deal, but the thing is that flamenco people give very little importance to the piano. And it might be because they've worked very little with this instrument. The piano is my favorite instrument...after the guitar of course. Just because I chose Dorantes doesn't mean that I exclude other pianists. I've always worked with Chano Domínguez and George Colligan. But actually, Dorantes' contribution is rather special.

After that bit of calm we have 'Baladilla de los tres ríos'...

The first people to record 'Baladilla' were Pata Negra. I've always sung Lorca and have always thought it was a great piece. And since it had become so sidelined, I wanted to bring it back, because it was something that had left its mark on me since I was small, when I worked with Pata Negra singing chorus. I wanted the song to be included on the record so that people would remember it was 'Baladilla de los tres ríos'. A different version of course, with my voice, without electric guitar, a different approach...it's more flamenco.

Lorca is a recurring theme for you as he is for other flamenco artists. Why is that?

From what I understand, he loved gypsies. And if you open any of his books, he's always talking about the gypsies. There are many references to our people in everything he wrote.

After the rhythmic 'Al compás del baile' you again look inward, with a seguiriya, 'De noche en mi Triana', where you demonstrate your dual identity as gypsy, and from Triana...

This is a piece, like some of the earlier ones, that is very close to my heart. I'm from Triana, baptized in the Esperanza. José de la Tomasa made the verse especially for me, using seguiriya as the vehicle to speak about my neighborhood...with a certain degree of nostalgia. My family also suffered the expulsion from the cava. And the fact is, it's a shame, because Triana isn't what it used to be. I was fortunate enough to be able to return and live in Triana. And it's really weird, we bought our apartment right next door to where my father was brought up, alongside a tile-maker where he worked for a long time. Despite everything, the essence of Triana is still around.

'Corazón malherío' brings another change of pace...

It's a good thing that this song composed by Juañares was included, a person I have a great friendship with. I feel that even though he's singing backup, he's an exceptional singer who also composes very well. One day he came to the studio and gave my producer, José Luis Garrido, a song he thought would suit me very well. He knew that although I was very flamenca, a rumba could add a touch of color to my repertoire, because times have changed and people like to hear something different. I just thought it was very pretty and very timely.

Isn't it a commercial concession?

No, it was included because I felt like it. I wasn't trying for a commercial thing at all, but rather whatever came out, anything I could sing from the heart without thinking about it, not at all - it might be a hit. I think that if you believe in what you've got inside of yourself, it reaches the people. And that communication ends up being reciprocal. I did what I wanted to do...

'La Malena' is taken from your regular repertoire...

There was no way it was going to be left out. It's a popular bulería. It's dedicated to the people of Lebrija, my mother's home town. I put together a little medley of the verses I felt most strongly about. And it's something I've been doing in live performance all my life.

All that's missing is an image of you dancing.

That recording was good because it was almost all done live. José Luis tried to make it as much like that as possible. They even put down a wooden board so that you could hear the feet and the jaleos.

Esperanza dancing

Do these bulerías make the connection between Triana and Lebrija?

They're the two sources I was brought up on. My mother is from Lebrija, from a family of singers, among them Juan Peña el Lebrijano, who is her cousin. Although I'm from Triana and never lived in Lebrija, I've always felt very close to that town. I have close ties with Lebrija. I really like the way they do bulerías.

'La fuente blanca' clearly breaches the frontiers of flamenco... It demonstrates your tendency to get involved with music like jazz.

I'm a person who likes all kinds of music. A couple of times I was able to make contact with people from the world of jazz. It really caught my attention. And I knew that I could do something, that you could get into it. The first encounter was a collaboration at the 'Seminario de Jazz y Flamenco' at the Teatro Central where during a jam session at the bar I sang 'Bésame mucho' for a pianist. I was very attracted to that. Later on, at Seville's Bienal de Flamenco in 2000, the Consejería de Cultura of the Junta de Andalucía suggested doing something with jazz and flamenco...and that's where the idea came from for 'Cruce de caminos' with Gerardo Núñez. I identified with it so strongly, and liked the whole thing so much... Javier Limón, who did 'La fuente blanca' for me, knows me very well and knows my taste for jazz. And he thought that Jerry González' trumpet would be a nice touch.

What was that like, working with the Puerto Rican trumpet-player?

I wasn't able to be present when he recorded. I did the vocals first with Niño Josele on the guitar and then he came into the studio. I had to go to Seville because I had to work. And I was really happy when I got back because my producer José Luis Garrido told me that when Jerry heard my voice, he asked who that woman was, that he wanted to meet her...and that he shed a tear or two listening to me. When I heard that, I was really delighted. And we didn't meet until the actual day of Tablao's presentation concert. Although he's hung out more with Diego El Cigala and comes from outside flamenco, there's an obvious connection. And that a brilliant musician like him would like me voice, I take great pride in that.

What lessons have you learned from those encounters with jazz musicians?

I really haven't sung jazz. What I've done is lend my flamenco voice to jazz, sing flamenco with more jazz-type instruments. For example, when I got involved in the project 'Jazzpaña II', where I've got half a sevillana with Chano Domínguez, the only thing I did was add my flamenco voice, and nothing else. And then, in 'Cruce de Caminos' I lent my flamenco voice, but with verses of Neruda, with George Colligan at the piano...he plays jazz and I give him my touch of flamenco.

But you even looked and projected like a jazz singer in the concert...

When I sing to piano I always adopt that 'pose'. Even when I sing flamenco, like in the soleá Dorantes plays for me. I'm not going to sit in a chair, it doesn't look right. I feel more comfortable. But getting back to what I was saying... Jazz has given me a lot of background for going out on stage, projecting something else, just like when I worked with classical music. It gives you another way of being on stage, another behaviour, another way of vocalizing. You can understand things better, you can understand the verses. I've always tried to watch that a lot. And when I started being around classical musicians, it came together more.

'Jazmín de medianoche', an alegrías, is brought in almost as a chance of pace...

...composed by Guillermo McGill. It had to be there because it also belongs to my world. It's from a premiere at Seville's Teatro Maestranza which was called 'La luz, el júbilo y la melancolía', along with Estrella Morente and Carmen Linares. Guillermo wrote those alegrías especially for me and I identify with them completely. That time we decided not to include guitar because I wanted to show, and I said this on stage, that you can sing bulerías to piano and alegrías to strings. The string quartette I sang with played Diego del Gastor's well-known falsetas, and it couldn't have sounded more flamenco. The key to this type of collaboration is that the people you're with have to love flamenco. Then you can give a little more to them as well. Just like they can give their all for me. The members of the quintette are classical classical. And they were able to understand, from what Guillermo wrote, and with what I was able to give them, that it had to be that way.

And you close out the record with 'Nana de la esperanza', a piece that includes classical music and which evokes the maternal feelings you so sensitively express...

These are the same people who participated in 'Jazmín de medianoche'. I'm very fond of this nana because Guillermo wrote it while I was pregnant. It was included in 'El júbilo'. I met Guillermo McGill at a jazz performance. I sang a nana for him from his record which was dedicated to his daughter Luna, and I liked his way of composing so much that I told him I would like him to compose a nana for me. Before I gave birth, he'd already composed it. It's very close to my heart because it was made especially for my baby...

Todos los niños del mar
Del mar de la esperanza
Ae, e, ae, siempre te protegerán

['All the sea children, from the sea of hope, they will always be protecting you...']

Translation: Estela Zatania