ESPERANZA FERNÁNDEZ. ‘EVOCACIÓN’
SEVILLE'S 13th BIENAL DE FLAMENCO 2004

Intimate

Silvia Calado. Seville, October 8th, 2004
Photos: Daniel Muñoz

‘Evocación’ (‘Evocation’). Esperanza Fernández: cante. Curro Fernández, Pedro Peña, José de la Tomasa: guest cantaores. Miguel Vargas: guest bailaor. Manolo Franco, Miguel Ángel Cortés: guitars. José Manuel Ramos, Luis Peña: clapping. Vicky Brkic, Luna: dancing. Lope de Vega Theater. Seville, October 8th, 2004. 9 p.m. Seville's 13th Bienal de Flamenco 2004.

	Esperanza Fernández

With Carmen Linares still being relished, another performance emphasized female cante's excellent state of health. Esperanza Fernández evoked her lineage, Triana, Lebrija and the great creators of the past in an intimate, calm, simple, accurate show. The Sevillian cantaora wove each cante with integrity and sensitivity, stressing that other introverted side of her voice and her attitude, this time exquisitely flamenco (she has also come to the Bienal with jazz players and classical musicians and...). And as if to feel better accompanied, she came out surrounded by her own; by her father Curro Fernández, Pedro Peña and José de la Tomasa, as guest artists. She started the concert with this old cantaor trio, the four of them around a table, altogether through soleá. All of them in a half voice, as if not to disturb. And they left her alone, for her to go on and cheer up the cante, seconded by Miguel Ángel Cortés on guitar. The cante flowing slowly, letting itself be savored, the crescendo still shy. The sound system, against it.

Standing, she awaits the guest bailaor, her husband Miguel Vargas. She gracefully drapes a very beautiful embroidered shawl around her old-gold-colored dress with a short frilled train. And she utters a farruca to the meager dancing with which she wishes to pay tribute ‘To La Niña de los Peines’, a cantaora who she would recall again throughout the concert. Two speeds. Two qualities. From bailaor to clapper, one of three. Alegrías rhythm. And instead of the usual Pinini cantiñas, romeras dedicated ‘To Antonio Mairena’. Two guitars, without understanding each other very well. She, the cantaora, in the middle. And from there, to the malagueña (adapted by José de la Tomasa), a style which also digresses from her repertoire and which she defended with absolute reliability. The classicistic guitar by Manolo Franco comes in with tremolos, fine lace. The guitar orthodox, the cantaora orthodox... unhurried, sensitive. The abandolao arrives and the sonanta cannot lift it, absorbing its energy. And the malagueña has to be worked out inwards.

Miguel Vargas

The seguiriya, also by the great nephew of Manuel Torre, insisted on withdrawal, Triana and its forge cantes. In full faculties, she performed the cante perfectly. And the audience went on professing immense respect for her. Nothing was heard but her voice and the guitar until the closed final applause. The transition to the extroverted Esperanza Fernández, that of the party and the prompt for dancing, came through tientos tangos, that style which is innate to her. She then turns expressive, more communicative with the audience. ‘To my grandfather, El Vega’. Stopover in Lebrija, where half of her family is from. Cortés' guitar also wants to sing and also receives olés from the crowd. Her voice takes off at the same time. “Sitting on the steps, waiting for the future, and the future never comes”. But the rise doesn't go on. Back inwards with the ‘La Alhambra de noche llora’ ('La Alhambra cries at night), back to exploring other territories. In the background, two bailaoras with their hands, arms and poses. The light is warm, always so faint in this theater. And now the final rise, through bulerías. ‘To Lebrija’. Two guitars come in to give her time to change her dress, now pink, but the understanding stumbles. Lyrics. Dancing. Lyrics. Dancing... Village songs. Variety song: ‘A tu vera’ ('Beside You'). The better half. The whole. Complete devotion. The entire stage for her cante-dancing. The crowd bursts into an ovation. And they are answered with an anti-party encore, a round of tonás by the guests and the cantaora. “How great that group is!”.

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