Cantaora Esperanza Fernández
releases ‘Recuerdos’, her second solo album
The album is produced by composer and
guitarist José Antonio Rodríguez
Flamenco-world.com, October 2007
Esperanza
Fernández looks back. And she recovers cantes
and songs forming a part of her life. ‘Recuerdos’,
her second solo album, includes songs like ‘Manolo
Reyes’, tangos by El Titi de Triana, seguiriyas
by El Chache de Lebrija, cantiñas by Pinini and
farruca by La Niña de los Peines, among others.
The Sevillian cantaora has Córdoba-born guitarist
and composer José Antonio Rodríguez as her
musical director and producer on this record.
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Esperanza Fernández |
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“When I thought about recording
this album, the first song I was sure about that I wanted
to record was ‘Manolo Reyes’, because when
I was a little girl I used to listen to my grandma sing
it”. Esperanza Fernández started up a time
machine to create her second solo album. Entitled ‘Recuerdos’
(‘Memories’), it evokes the first inspiration
given to her by her grandmother Salud, but also artists
such as El Titi de Triana. And she relates that “I
met him when I was little and I used to listen to him
sing those tangos. It was easy to remember them just like
the seguiriya by El Chache de Lebrija, a gypsy who wasn’t
a professional but who used to sing por seguiriyas better
than anybody”.
In the album’s repertoire, consisting
of a total of ten songs, there’s also room for cantes
she usually performs in her live shows such as the cantiñas
by Pinini
and the farruca by La Niña de los Peines. The Sevillian
artist has moreover selected fandangos de Huelva accompanied
by four tocaores who are part of the show ‘Cuatro
guitarras y una voz’, premiered at Seville’s
2006 Bienal de Sevilla. The album closes with the gypsy
hymn ‘Gelem-Gelem’ together with Dorantes
on piano.
José Antonio Rodríguez,
producer
Both the musical directing and production
of ‘Recuerdos’ is taken care of by Córdoba-born
guitarist and composer José
Antonio Rodríguez. The musician, one of the
cantaora’s usual tocaores, has a long musical solo
career - which his latest album ‘...en el tiempo’
is an example of - and in collaboration with artists of
the likes of Alejandro Sanz, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Remedios
Amaya, Niña Pastori...; companies of the likes
of the Ballet Nacional de España and the Compañía
Andaluza de Danza; and films like ‘El corazón
de la tierra’ and ‘Iberia’ by Carlos
Saura.
