Lucia Fernanda.

Madrid, 1996. Although he has decided not to use it in his stage name, his last name is Carmona.

Big words.

Daughter of Antonio and granddaughter of Juan el Habichuela, confirms with her first album,

Yelem

, that the saga continues.

Could you have dedicated yourself to something else with those genes?

The possibility existed because I was really afraid of facing that legacy of my last name, of coming from a family of great artists. I don't care if people think that that makes things easier for me, it gave me a lot of respect. I consider my grandfather and my father geniuses and I was intimidated to get into music with that ribbon. Although since I was little I have been doing my performances, my dances and my songs, I lived in contact with music in a more informal way for fear of taking that step. In the end I faced it, I made the decision and here we are, but I was lurching until I was past 20. Thank God, my head lit up and this is my place.

You saw the light at Cambridge University, which is not the first place that comes to mind when you think of music.

Sure, you think of people studying math and stuff, but it also has a great art school and I learned a lot there. In the end, music is very much like math: chords, why something sounds one way or another is pure math. I liked going to such a disciplined place to learn, because I came from a world that is quite the opposite, nothing to teach you theory or a booklet, all pure inspiration and talent. At my house, it's about catching it on the fly.

Giving up Carmona in your artistic name, is it a way to take pressure off or to emphasize your independence?

It's nothing that deep, the truth is that it was because I thought there are fewer Lucías Fernanda than Lucías Carmona (laughs). I go to Facebook, I put "Lucía Carmona" and 200,000 come out; I put "Lucía Fernanda" and there are four of us. So I decided that my name is Lucía Fernanda and I am going to take advantage of this name. Also, my name is in honor of my grandfather, who is an angel that I have in heaven, although, at first, my mother and my manager were scared.

They believed that Carmona would open doors for you.

Sure, but I've always liked to go it alone.

You speak of your grandfather, Juan Habichuela, with genuine veneration.

He was the patriarch of my house and whom everyone in my family has admired. My cousins, my father, my uncles ... We have all enjoyed the pure inspiration that my grandfather represented, who did a lot for this family: he brought them from Granada to Madrid, he helped them with their music ... And beyond the plane Personally, I have always admired him as an artist: his way of playing, his way of having such direct contact with music, has always seemed a huge inspiration to me.

Your first album is titled 'Yelem', a tribute to 'Gelem Gelem', the international gypsy anthem. How do you mix roots and modernity?

It is complex because you have to have a lot of respect and a lot of care. For example, the

Gelem Gelem

It is an anthem that is very old and exposes a very strong and very harsh reality. The lyrics speak of tremendous things that the gypsy people have experienced throughout history. I took it, I used it my way, I took it to my world and for me it is a very strong feeling, because being a gypsy makes me free. That gypsy half for me, above all, supposes a feeling of freedom. I wanted to pay tribute to my roots and for people to listen and understand the gypsy people a little more, that we all live together, very close, but almost nothing is said about them, they are often forgotten.

I have the feeling that racism towards Roma is particularly normalized.

Exactly, it is normalized and progress has not been made at the same rate as with other ethnic groups or cultures. Now the gypsies are uniting more with each other to denounce anti-Gypsyism which, unfortunately, there is still a lot today. Very little is said about gypsies, especially young people. We are a generation that is right now fighting for the rights of women and of the different ethnic groups that come to our country and that is how it should be, but I see that no one my age knows the history of the gypsy people. No one. It is as if they are completely cut off from society and they don't even know how to recognize a gypsy. It happens to me and see that it is evident that I am. There is still a lot of racism towards us.


Do you suffer it in your day to day?

Not me, but my father and cousins ​​have told me many episodes of tremendous racism. I went to a school where we were only two gypsies, that already tells you a lot ... The key is the lack of information. I don't think most people are racist, but no one has ever explained who we are and where we come from. The gypsy people have been ignored and when they have been talked about it has been to paint them with a very bad reputation. Until recently, the definition of gypsy in the RAE was "tricky" that is, imagine.

Your songs are openly feminist, but another of those stereotypes about gypsies is that it is a macho culture. What is true?

I do not consider that the gypsy culture is macho or more macho than the rest. It is a different culture from the one other people live, but somehow it also values ​​women very much. Of course there are macho gypsies, like anywhere, but there are also wonderful men who take great care of their women and respect them.

As you fuse flamenco and urban music, although with a very different style, the comparison with Rosalia haunts you. It bothers you?

Well, yes, I'm tired of that comparison, but at the same time I consider Rosalía a great artist who has been able to make that fusion, take it to the whole world and get people to be more interested in flamenco and Spain. I take off my hat and you can't say anything there, but I think that our music has nothing to do with it. Nothing at all, but people hear clapping hands and ...

Rosalía, who is a paya, was accused by some gypsy associations of cultural appropriation. How do you see that debate?

The music should be completely free and you don't have to label it or stain it with anything. If what you do is good and it works, go ahead. You can't talk about cultural appropriation because maybe that person has learned a lot more about flamenco than you. Music is free and should not be stained with appropriations of anything. Each one to do what they want.

What do you think when you see your father singing with C. Tangana? You have modernized it.

Have you seen him in that video, who looks like Al Pacino? My father is a genius reinventing himself. He has been doing it his whole life: being a super young man, then in his time after Ketama and now he continues to do it. He is always active and up to date. He is the genius of reinvention.

Is it hard to come home with a new album when so many people there have already succeeded at this?

It's a bit like arriving with the notes, because they always have a comment to make. But everything they tell me is to improve, to take advantage of their experience and to test myself, so I take it well.

In the last few months, your popularity has exploded. Do you like it or does it make you uneasy?

I love it I love it I love it. From seeing me at school with the uniform to, suddenly, being in

La Resistencia

... My friends freak out.

And me.

All the messages that people send me, the support, seeing that they like my music ... That is important.

They don't tell me "how beautiful you are in the photo" or things like that, they tell me about my music, which is what I want.

I am not here to talk about whether I am beautiful or my father or the magazines of the heart, I am here to give music and that people enjoy it.

Do you have a career plan or are you improvising?


In a few years I will see myself, or want to see myself, on the other side of the pond, in America.

I would love to get together with people from there because I admire Latin music a lot and I would like to take a little jump there and see what is cooking.

I do not stand still in one place.

I have been a nomad all my life, who is also very gypsy.

I am always on the move.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Latin music

  • C Tangana

  • Rosalia

  • Final Interview

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