With
such exquisitely exemplary work as that of Antonio Fernández Díaz
“Fosforito”, all negative voices must cease. Quite another
question is whether we should expect a myth, today, in the year 2006,
to be as big as his reputation, built firmly from the ground up from his
triumph at the Córdoba contest in 1956. Fosforito in his prime
is precisely what makes up this double CD of live recordings from Spanish
national radio of festivals as diverse as those of Mairena, La Unión
or Puente Genil, our singer’s hometown. This is the second part
of a series titled “Actuaciones Históricas” which brightened
up last year’s output with a double compact devoted to maestro Antonio
Mairena.
So the idea isn’t to demand that Fosforito sing as he did during
the years when these recordings were made, as many critics did after his
recital at the 14th Bienal de Sevilla. Part of the problem is the classic
concert formula which is inadequate for this singer. I remember one performance
of his at Seville’s Teatro Central in the mid-nineties in which
he alternated bits of singing with anecdotes triggered by José
Luis Ortiz Nuevo in a unique interview and show. Fosforito’s legacy
cannot be ignored. Not musically or historically.
Nor does it have to do with our singer having received the last Llave
de Oro del Flamenco, an award conceded by the Consejería de Cultura
of the Junta de Andalucía, only a few years after receiving the
Niña de los Peines award, considered the “Cervantes”
of flamenco, from the same institution. The question should be whether
or nor the Junta de Andalusia should give two such high prizes for lifetime
achievement. Even more so if we consider the uproar surrounding the Junta’s
authority, or lack of same, to award the Llave de Oro at all.
CD1:
1. Al pié de tu sepultura
2. No me mires Goditana
3. Del cante se ha dicho tanto
4. Ahora ya no te quiero
5. Tierra de la Carolina nunca te podré olvidar
6. Que me trajera la muerte
7. Hermano de mi alma
8. Sale el sol y da en el cristal
9. Compañera molina
10. Le puse a mi pensamiento
11. Yo no sé con quién compararte
12. A nadie cuentes tus penas
13. De too lo bonita que es Cádiz
CD2:
1. Dice la que está en la bamba
2. Cuando yo voy a misa
3. En la casa de la pena
4. A las murallas de Cádiz dígale usted al cochero
5. Engarzá en oro y marfil
6. Y es que ya no aguanto más
7. Lo que yo te quiero a tí
8. Que trabajito me cuesta
9. La vida es la única ciencia
10. Mira si estarás en mí
11. Antonio de mi alma
The legend of Fosforito, like these CDs we are discussing, draws from
his encyclopedic knowledge of the art of flamenco: cantiñas, fandangos
de Lucena, cantes de Juan Breva, granaína, tarantos, seguiriyas,
cabales, soleá, polo, tientos, tangos, malagueñas, bamberas,
tonás, cantiñas, media granaína and taranta are the
forms that make up this work. And within this selection, soleá
of Mellizo, Paquirri, Alcalá, Triana, etc. And so it is with each
style.
Fosforito’s characteristic austerity in the studio is also present
in these live recordings, with some cantes lasting under five minutes.
They were recorded at a time, the nineteen-seventies for the most part,
when studio recordings were done direct and live. Barebones cante, the
essence, in formulas as neat at the malagueña of la Trini or the
soleá attributed to Joaquín el de la Paula. Everything coated
with the sentimental varnish, the pure “jondo” essence that
Fosforito knows how to call up in all his performances. In cantiñas
we hear the characteristic bouncing compás this singer made famous
and which today has become universal. For tangos, he goes for the most
straightforward kind, from Cádiz. The work also offers some magnificent
interpretations of taranto, a style Fosforito was the first to record
as such, with Paco de Lucía accompanying. In fact, the guitarist
from Algeciras is the co-star on some of these cuts. Nevetheless Juan
Habichuela is the guitarist most identified with Fosforito and the one
who plays on most of the recording. With a sure hand and a strong pulse,
taking a calm pace, Juan Habichuela accompanies wisely, from the balanced
soleá of Cádiz to the open wound of the petenera. Other
guitarists who take part in the recordings are Enrique de Melchor, Manuel
Cano and Paco Cepero.
