Pedro Peña, an essential member of a great flamenco and gypsy dynasty, dies | Culture

The Lebrija artist Pedro Peña Fernández died this morning in Seville at the age of 84, after failing to overcome the various health complications he suffered. With his departure, a very important link disappears in one of the most important dynasties in the transmission of the flamenco and gypsy tradition in Baja Andalusia in the second half of the last century. His genealogy is so paradigmatic that it is almost obvious to repeat it, but it is necessary because it explains the character of a work that is not limited to playing or singing.

His mother, María La Perrata, from neighboring Utrera, was a revered family singer who rescued her own children from anonymity to leave us anthological recordings and performances. But his family didn’t end there: it was large and diverse, as he tells us in the first chapter of his book. The Flamenco Gypsies (Almuzara, 2013). They were proud of their art and lived it festively, as a celebration and a way of life that was so common in their generation.

Given these experiences, it was not surprising that Bernardo and María’s children turned out to be artists. With his brother Juan Peña The Lebrijano become a brilliant singer; He seemed to reserve for himself the discreet role of accompanist of the singing and became an indispensable player at the Andalusian festivals of the seventies. Likewise, he had relevant work on his brother’s albums, especially in persecution (1976), a recording that he said he experienced with great pain.

But Pedro was also the bearer of a great traditional heritage, which he preserved until he gave up the guitar professionally and handed over his wise and ancient singing to the head of his family and his son Juan María on the guitar. It was another example of his great commitment to this art and to his gypsy ethnicity, which he defended in a cultured and positive way. He had a natural charisma and received the respect from his people – and the entire flamenco world – that he deserved for his honesty and moral authority.

The defense and preservation of the family legacy he left throughout his life has led to the art of flamenco spreading naturally to his children. Although David worked on the guitar, he ultimately chose the piano to become the great artist and composer that Dorantes is. Pedro María is a continuation of the guitarist tradition, and to him we owe the recording of one of the last songs, perhaps the last, known to have been recorded by Pedro Peña. Contents in the nonvenal disc Our best way to tell you: Tribute to José María Velázquez Gazteluare just two letters from Seguiriyas, who today, with all their trembling, make amends for the deception with which their son obtained them.