José Fermín Fernández

Guitar

Born in Iznalloz (Granada) in 1995, it is in the bosom of his family where he learns his first self-taught compasses. His mother had been singing since he was a child and the young tocaor assimilated the songs he heard on the radio in the voices of Camarón and other flamenco artists of the time. Also noteworthy in his family are his older brother, who is a talented tocaor and cantaor, and some of his uncles and aunts. At the age of 12 he took his first lessons with the guitarist Alberto Fernández, with whom he spent seven months and from then on, at the age of 13, he began a solo learning process that would culminate with two of the most important awards in the art of flamenco.

In 2009 he participated in the television contest “Veo Veo” of Canal Sur where he won the special mention at the age of 14. At the age of 20 he began to work professionally in the tablaos and flamenco caves of Granada, where he acquired the necessary technique for the accompaniment of dance and singing. Thus, he began in the Templo Flamenco, with the Vallejo family, from where he would go on to be reclaimed in caves such as La Rocío and La Venta del Gallo, among others. Months later, he was hired at the Casa del Arte, where he accompanied leading figures such as Belén López, Miguel El Rubio and Karime Amaya. In 2016 he is invited by Juan Andrés Maya to the famous Madrid tablao Corral de la Morería, where he coincides with El Bocadillo, El Perrete and the dancer Belén López.

In 2019 he stars in one of the most resounding chapters of Granada flamenco by becoming the winner of two of the main international flamenco competitions. Thus, he obtained the Bordón Minero of the Festival de las Minas de La Unión, and the first absolute prize in the prestigious National contest of Córdoba. Few artists have achieved such a feat, and even less in the same year. His name joins a short list of double award winners, including Vicente Amigo.

He has accompanied great flamenco figures such as Potito, La Nitra, Guadiana, Sergio Colorao, Jaime El Parrón, Marina Heredia, Manolete, La Farruca, El Farru, El Carpeta, Rafael Amargo, Antonio Canales, Luis de Luis, Pepe Torres, La Repompa, Juan Ángel Tirado and Antonio Campos.

He reaped great success with audiences and critics with his latest show “De La Unión a Córdoba”, with which he closed the famous cycle Festival de la Guitarra de Granada in 2020. The newspaper GranadaHoy highlighted the following: “Me voy a acordar de mi tierra”, announced the tocaor to open the second tanda with a toque por ‘Granaínas’ where the tremolos dazzled on a par with the ‘Abandolao’ with which this piece ends. Some tasty ‘Tanguillos’, with interesting harmonies, returned the rhythmic counterpoint to the recital, bursting with the apotheosic magic of the ‘toque por bulerías’ with which he closed. The rhythmic games, syncopations, scales and harmonic phrasing, halfway between tradition and modernity, define the playing of this young talent from Granada, for whom an eminent place in the highest echelons of flamenco is reserved”.