Special Feature. Excerpt from the book
‘Sernita de Jerez ¡Vamos a acordarnos!’,
by José Manuel Gamboa
Let’s remember!
Excerpt from the book ‘Sernita
de Jerez ¡Vamos a acordarnos!’, by José
Manuel Gamboa, published by Ediciones Carena (2007) in
a special edition accompanied by a CD with seven cantes
and a video, with prologue by Diego Carrasco (pages 60
to 66). Translation by Joseph Kopec.
(...)
Unlucky moments
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Chano
Lobato, brave there, has touched on a sore point that
caused a lot of pain to Sernita and his people: The local
accusation, more or less veiled, that Manuel was “very
Andalusian singing”. It’s inevitable to recall
the passage and not to dwell on the wound; it’s
about making it heal forever. It happened at a given moment
in history – which isn’t a story of good guys
and bad guys, but of first-rate flamencos -, where tastes
and hard circumstances were what they were, those of a
very hard life for everyone and more so for the gypsy
people; it can only be understood through that perspective.
It isn’t a time for accusations, but for enjoyment
and glory. The good people who are Sernita’s family
speak from the heart, with feeling and without ill will,
in a healthy exercise of group therapy which sifts the
grief from their memory chest in order to forget it definitively.
Manuela (*): I thank
Fernando Fernández, Terremoto
Jr., who sings very well and I also really admire
his father, who sings very well too, who explained really
well why my father was told that he sang Andalusian. He
said in that era the good cantaores that were there used
to sing with a really hoarse voice. Then Fernando explained
that really well about him–Sernita
- singing with another tone of voice and that’s
why he didn’t... He explained it really well.
Luisa: People used to
talk. People used to talk about that: about his voice.
Fernando: Yeah, that
it wasn’t very flamenco, very gypsy.
Luisa: That it wasn’t
very gypsy. But now... Is it gypsy in the period now?
Now everybody is on his side and they weren’t before.
The thing is that there was a lot of envy.
Fernando: That’s
right.
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Luisa: And since there
was a lot of envy... They couldn’t be on his side.
He had something in his throat... (Luisa weeps bitterly)
Fernando: A timbre of
his own which, moreover, when he used to sing at parties,
well, he used to put them all in their place. I mean,
when he used to sing the rest had to listen and say that’s
the way it was.
Luisa: No matter what
they say and no matter what they say, that doesn’t
mean it’s so...
Curro: ... He used to
do a cante and make it great; whichever one. That’s
the key, because at that time there was a lot of envy.
They didn’t want him to get into the parties because
he showed up the rest when he used to sing. So getting
started was really hard, really difficult for him.
Luisa: And now everybody’s
on his side...
Curro: What’s
going on? After thirty-five years since his death, now
it turns out that he sings really well and that he’s
a monster.
THEY SAID
José Romero Jiménez (Osuna, Seville, 1936
- Seville, 2000), pianist and composer, testified: “I
remember in my era in Madrid that the ill-fated Sernita
de Jerez – he died relatively young -, a great specialist
in the cantes of malagueñas and Levante besides
in the genuinely ‘gypsy’ cantes, used to tell
me, complaining about the bands of gypsies in Seville,
Jerez and Cádiz, that they accused him of singing
the cantes of the Andalusians. He quite rightly told me
how important it was to sing well; that is, with feeling
and with knowledge of cause and that the mark of what
is gypsy could also be branded on these cantes: sensible
statements!”.
Tía
Anica, La Piriñaca (Ana Blanco Soto. Jerez,
1899-1987), related to José Luis Ortiz Nuevo her
old-time flamenco memories, her way of making a living
awaiting the young gentlemen in those Jerez inns with
her usual colleagues, who introduced her into the system
when she was most in need, and they were none other than
Tío Borrico and Sernita: “El Serna had a
very full voice, really torrential, and he sang well (...),
but Serna’s cante didn’t hurt because he didn’t
sing flamenco, or por soleá, and he did it all;
he sang somewhat better por bulerías, he was more
devoted to cante por bulerías. Manuel Serna used
to do cante por bulerías better than the other
cantes he sang por seguiriya and por soleá and
all that; por bulerías was the only cante he used
to do the purest...”.
AND THEY RECTIFIED
Following the long gray period in which that man’s
flamenco jondura was questioned, even in his own native
land, the tables would turn. But at that moment Sernita
de Jerez, who had a clean, clear voice, was doing cante
with exquisite intonation, modulating, vocalizing...,
he didn’t respond at all to the concept that was
being stylized, and that’s the gist of the question.
To many, as you have already seen, Sernita didn’t
sound gypsy, when he was so even in his very marrow. With
the passing of time, we insist, there was a change in
opinion.
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The first one in Jerez to speak openly
to us in favor of the deceased cantaor’s greatness
was Tío Vicente, El Danés, Diego
Carrasco’s father. And in 1978, Diego Carrasco
himself dedicated one of the pieces of ‘Tomaketoma’,
his second album, to him: ‘A mi tío El Cerna’.
Time puts everything in its place and
the admiration for Sernita grows and multiplies; his figure
has been recovered. One of the most popular numbers with
the public by El
Torta, the bulerías ‘Colores morenos’,
belongs to the repertoire of the formerly insulted flamenco.
Fernando Terremoto, son of the unforgettable Terremoto
de Jerez, has achieved his greatest success reinterpreting
Sernita’s legacy. Earlier, Vicente
Soto Sordera, drew on that source and from a very
young age appeared as one of the diehard protectors of
Sernita’s genius. Capullo and Aurora
Vargas adapt por bulerías Manuel’s legendary
cabales...
If it is a shame that it’s taken
so long to compensate the supreme cantaor, it is much
more so that the appreciation, as on so many occasions,
arises a little too late. If we fail to take advantage
of the chance to have recorded a more extensive repertoire
of the artist whom we lose too soon, we leave him forever
with the bitter taste of incomprehension.
THE WAVES CATCH THE WAVE
Thus spoke announcer Juan Verdú live in 1988, during
an interview we did with Luis el Elegante on the program
Madrid Flamenco:
“...Injustice has been done to El Serna. When I
was young and I was already involved in flamenco, ‘I
thought he was from Albacete’. Now it turns out,
finally, that he’s from Jerez. Now he’s been
forgiven and he’s been put on the list of cantaores
from Jerez. But that was two years ago. I’ve been
talking to cantaores from Jerez, and to enthusiasts, and
they spoke about everyone except El Serna. They had El
Serna exiled”.
El Elegante goes on: “Yeah, I recall that El Serna
was a man much older than me, naturally. I was really
young, really young when I tried to make a living in Jerez
with them – Borrico, Sordera, et cetera -. But all
of us, well, El Borrico, El Troncho, El Batato..., everyone,
all of us who were there had the consideration for El
Serna which he deserved out of the respect he commanded
when he sang. Because he was a majestically good cantaor.
He was a highly orthodox cantaor. But not that cold orthodoxy;
rather, he transmitted that perfection to every cante
and at the same time, well, temperament and exquisite
warmth. What is true is that his voice, perhaps, wasn’t
the most suitable for certain cantes. But from there to...
What doubt could there be that he was a magnificent cantaor!
But, well, he was a man who adapted himself with Gitanillo
at El Duende; he was there for some years singing for
dancing, and he was unduly overshadowed there for many
years. So now, after his death, is when El Serna is starting
to be recognized and to be given the place he deserved
when he was alive”.
... It was your cante of dust and
sand,
of honey jelly and scented basil.
It was your uvula and your tongue
of liturgical, present, recovered cantaor.
The verse was written by another beloved
Jerez-born man who left us prematurely; Luis Pérez
Palacios (Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz, 1940 - Madrid,
1997), who thus pointed out in the special feature which
the same radio program devoted entirely to Sernita, Manuel
Fernández’s conditions: “Sernita belonged
to a previous generation which had a voice with every
register. In his era, however, there was a different way.
The deep cantaores, the great cantaores had a sharp voice
of a much drier nature. And Sernita, knowing the dramatic
art of Jerez’s way of singing, had other registers,
more related to other old-time cantaores from Jerez such
as Niño
Gloria. He had so many registers! The right ones to
take the phases to their place. And he knew it all. He
wasn’t recognized because it seemed as if his voice
wasn’t flamenco enough. A mistake, of course! I
think therein lies the reason why El Serna wasn’t
really understood in his time. Tío Parrilla used
to tell me: “El Serna was better than everyone,
than everyone. The only thing is that the flamencos say
his voice wasn’t too flamenco. But he didn’t
need it to be. He didn’t need it to be!”.
Luis’s words are immediately ratified
by another local artist now living in Madrid who is a
tasteful cantaor we call Juanele de Jerez: “Luis
is really right about everything he’s said about
what happened to El Serna in Jerez. People said he didn’t
sing very flamenco. Which I’ve never agreed with,
you know? Check out how he used to sing por seguiriyas!
I don’t think what he left as seguiriyas can be
done more flamenco or with more quality. And afterwards,
he was really extensive. He was an exceptional party artist.
I think he mastered every style. Man, it’s natural
that he did some things better than others; which has
always happened to every cantaor. He had some low notes
and he sang in tune in such a way!... He sure did do true
flamenco music. He was a talent. How refined he was! He
was a wonder”.
(...)
(*) Curro
de Jerez, Manuela la Serna and Fernando are Sernita’s
children, and Luisa Loreto, his widow
