San Fernando Flamenco
There is a strong tradition of flamenco music in San Fernando
which may easily be traced back to the years leading up to the Napoleonic-led
invasion of Spain by France. At that time, San Fernando was known as the
Isla de Leon and it is known that the first isleño flamenco singer
juan de Dios was born in the town in 1809 later in 1831 he would perform
with other well known flamenco artists, including el Planeta and El Fillo.
Although no records exist to support the presumption there seems little
doubt that the deeply rooted flamenco tradition in San Fernando goes back
much further.
The history of the style of flamenco singing in San Fernando is similarly
well documented from roughly the same time. The gypsy singer Maria Fernandez
known as Maria Borrico was the first in a family dynasty of outstanding
flamenco performers including el Borrico el Viejo de la isla and la Bizca,
whose reputation for singing seguriyas was renowned. Their highly distinctive
renditions spawned many and varying interpretations from numerous other
local flamenco singers in subsequent generations. The Fernandez family
were famed for the purity of their style of singing which retained the
fullest force of its expression even in the shortest songs. This type
of seguiriya was referred to as cante corto de la isla.
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