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Juan Fernández Flores,
Farruquito
.
Seville, 1982. The bailaor is devoted to the preparations and rehearsals for the show that will premiere on September 9 at the Seville Flamenco Biennial.
He is hungry for the stage after the stoppage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Why should we go to see him at the Bienal de Flamenco? After not being on stage for so long, we are going to put our hearts into it. With the show 'From my window' I try to show, not so much how I dance or my learning, but what I see when I dance and why I do it that way. For the race and strength of flamenco to flow, is improvisation necessary? Flamenco is born from a meeting, it is not born in a conservatory, nor is it a pose for a show. It was born from the expression of an Andalusian gypsy people. And that means that, when there was a joy, they celebrated it by dancing and singing, and when there was pain or hunger, they took it away by dancing and singing; that's the truth. Those first pages of history cannot be torn off because we skip the origin. He carries the dance in his veins. He made his Broadway debut when he was only 5 years old with his grandfather Farruco. Before, he had danced at the end of the party of some performances of my grandfather. I used to go out to do my kick por bulerías. On Broadway, my grandfather asked me if I wanted to do this, and I said no, I wanted to dance the taranto. "But do you know it?" He asked me. From seeing him dance, I had stayed with the steps. So she took the girdle he was wearing, cut a piece off and put it on me. It's not that he was going to debut, it's that he caught me there with my family. But it is true that this was the first time that I dared to do something that was not an end to the party. With those precedents, it could not be anything other than a bailaor. Well, as a child I wanted to be a singer and I have always sung, but as a cricket. I was the first to put music in my house that was not flamenco, like Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin ... "This kids is crazy," they used to say. They describe him as the main heir to his grandfather's dance because he embodies authenticity in the forms of feel and express flamenco. That is because we Spaniards are very exaggerated. My grandfather was my friend, an endearing person and very serious about his things. He explained to me that, if I wanted to dedicate myself to this, I had to be strict and responsible, it was not enough to carry it in my blood. What is flamenco for you? My way of expressing myself. I have always been very shy and I have learned to be a man and to relate to others thanks to flamenco. Although, sometimes, it torments me and I look at the boots and I see the devil ... Because it is hard. Yes. I am lucky that people recognize my work and you create a commitment to the public because you want to give the best of yourself. They expect you to measure up and sometimes you think 'I'm not fine, I have my head on something else', with the added responsibility of being the patriarch of their family. The patriarch has never been a young person. He was my grandfather, then my father, my mother, my aunts ... But my grandfather and my father trusted me a lot because I was responsible, careful and put in many hours to do things well. But it can also catch you fatal and dance to get hit twice with an old shoe. I have wanted to explain this to people: I go out to give my heart, but ... That sincerity is valued. If you think you already know everything, it is like putting a handicap and cutting your wings to grow and acquire knowledge. In art you never stop learning; well, yes, when you say how well I do it! A few months ago, the selection process, of which you were part, to choose the direction of the Andalusian Flamenco Ballet ended like the rosary of dawn, with complaints of "anti-Gypsy racism "and with the appeal of Antonio Canales. Was there pressure to rule out gypsies? I'm not saying there was pressure to rule out gypsies, but when Ricardo Pachón [the record producer of Camarón y Lole y Manuel, among others, and former director of the Andalusian Institute of Flamenco who was president of the selection committee to choose the director of the Ballet. Farruquito was also part of this committee] and I think that the best candidate was Canales, it was useless. I was surprised and I did not understand that someone other than Canales was considering. And Úrsula López [finally elected director of the Ballet] is a great professional, a charming girl and may God bless her a lot, but we are talking about maestro Canales. The logical, the mathematical thing is that the square would have been for him. Ballet dancers deserve the best. Some have been in my classes and they do it amazingly well. For Ricardo Pachón denounces that the background of this matter is that there is an "anti-gypsy lobby" in the world of flamenco. It's sad. I used to say no; I did not want to think that, how is that going to be? But today, that I have a family, I realize that there is not the same treatment, and it is sad that this is the case in the century that we live in. The one who is not able to see as one similar to the other just because of skin color ... that is the person who is not integrated into society! How can there be such people? They are the racists, they are of another species because they classify themselves, by belittling a person for the color of their skin. Has he suffered racism? I am still suffering from it. Before I was Farruquito, I had a person in a department store watching only me. She was 15 or 16 years old and had her hair like an Indian. And at customs, those of us who have gypsy looks, they stop us and search us from top to bottom six times. A blond man with a tie passes by, and nothing. And the one who brings the bomb is the blonde! We believe that it is not like that and that we are in an advanced society.No, at three or four in the afternoon on television programs we are the coolest, but when the we turn off and put on our shoes, we see the class that a person has. As Charles Chaplin said, education consists of how you treat others. Patón has come to the conclusion that the flamenco of gypsies does not interest anyone. He keeps unpublished material in his archive of gypsy parties, but no one wants to buy it. Yes, it is interesting, but Ricardo is a romantic and greatly admires the origin of flamenco. He has recordings of parties and meetings in which the artists are relaxed. The truth that is born there is what it says that no one is interested in. Today we live in a world where we treat everything as a product. Even people. The music industry goes that way. When something authentic arrives, the industry falls apart. Sometimes you should keep an eye on people who are just starting out and not just jump in the car when it is already going downhill. Let's review their résumé. In 1995 he participated in the film 'Flamenco' by Carlos Saura. When Saura saw me dance in my grandfather's studio, he said that he wanted me in the film. My grandfather replied that I charged more than he did! Saura treated us blessed glory. In the recording, my grandfather warned that he only danced once and that he was not going to repeat. "I don't know anyone more authentic, come prepare everything well, this gypsy does not dance twice!", Saura warned his team. And it was done the first time. I slipped, and you can see it in the film, and I wanted to repeat it, but my grandfather decided: "Next time, you will rehearse more so that it comes out the first time." 'The New York Times' considered him in 2001 the best artist of the big Apple'. That year he triumphed in the U.S. That's because the Americans are even more exaggerated than the Spanish. But I have a lot to thank the US for. I began to sign autographs in Spain when the Americans said: "You are worth it." Nobody is a prophet in their land. It's true, but I have to thank Spain a lot; it is my country. I'm leaving here and I'm crazy to go back. When I'm away I say long live Spain! Although nowadays you have to be careful because you launch long live Spain! and they say a fascist !, but I express myself that way because it is my land. But it is true that the US has a lot of influence in the rest of the world. The coronavirus has dealt a severe blow to its sector. Artists are very unprotected. We have not received anything from the SGAE, the Board, the Government, or the municipalities. I have not worked since January and, thank goodness that I am a half-organized flamenco, because, otherwise, what do my children eat? If I don't dance, what do I do? If I don't even know how to put a light bulb. Will we see him dancing with Rosalía? I am delighted to work with her and with everyone who is in love with music, like me, and does it with honesty and heart. My first cousin 'El Polito' has been on tour with Rosalía and dances with her in a video clip. He has told me that that girl is blessed glory! Well yes, long live music and long live everyone who does it with heart and truth!
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