Chiclana de la Frontera, on the Cadiz coast, is a well-known city thanks to masters of cante , the Rancapino, Rancapino Jr. o Antonio Reyes, among others. A bastion of essences from which, however, restless artists have also emerged, willing to explore diverse sonic territories without losing their genuine anchorage. jondo. This is the case of Maria La Monica, who after making himself known with an album as resounding as Road and mantra (2019) returns with Amisuri, a long-playing album that is a tribute to roots and previous generations.
In fact, a good part of the driving ideas for this work come from the workshops that María and her right-hand man, the musician Adrian Trujillo, have done with older women. “Last year we did one with a women's association in Arcos de la Frontera, the goal of which was to compose a song for gender equality together through dynamics, workshops palmas and percussion and other forms of creative development. There, a woman told us that she had invented the word Amisuri to designate the sound that fish makes when you throw it into the hot oil of the pan, and a letter was improvised: amisuri suri sá, singing the sorrows go away. It sounded like a tango from Cadiz to us. and we finished composing it,” he recalls.
“What we want to convey is a message, to value our roots and the elders from whom we learn,” says María La Mónica. “In our lives, so full of superficiality and stress, we often forget about those elders. It's a shame that, when we don't know something, we turn to Google before asking our grandparents. In ancient tribes, the elder is the wise one, and based on this idea, we want to never forget where we come from or who we come from.”
That does not mean that the musical channel used to transmit this message does not include modern and electronic sounds, without losing sight of the flamenco. In fact, the repertoire of Amisuri It's structured around tanguillos, chuflillas, cantiñas, tangos, rumbas, and bulerías. "It's not easy to find the balance, but I think we achieved it." In the end, it's about playing with the external without contaminating yourself too much. When we were afraid of straying too far from our own, both Adri and I turned inward, and that's how we've been for over a year. Whatever we do, in the end, we'll always head back to where we're from."
"In our lives, so full of superficiality and stress, we often forget about those elders. (…) In ancient tribes, the elder is the wise one, and based on this idea, we want to never forget where we come from or who we come from."
On the other hand, María La Mónica defends "the intense research work that goes into it, which is something I love. Sometimes I tell Adri an idea, and a few days later he brings me a proposal in which he has developed it, and we continue to shape it... There is a lot of complicity in what we both propose. And we are convinced that el flamenco It's not just music, it's also an attitude, a way of being in life and on stage".
When it comes to pointing out his fundamental references, "in addition to the women in my family and people who are always there, like Lola Flores, Celia Cruz, Michael Jackson, Bruno Mars, El Beni or Chano Lobato", María La Mónica asserts that those who drink the most are "the grandparents. When we go to these workshops, you think you're going to teach them, and you come back with a really nice exchange; they give you information and inspiration. We like authenticity, purity, and truth. You meet these 70-year-old women, some of whom can't read or write, but they have all the artistry and are a true school."
Her three children, she adds, also make her discover new idols in the car on the way to school, like Joshua Rarujo, or emerging names in rap and trap, to which she doesn't feel at all alienated. But La Mónica continues forward with her personal style, and dreams of that "schedule full of concerts, because when you do something with love, what you want is to share it and reach every corner, Raise awareness among people so that everything becomes more human in this digital age".
“Even though I've turned forty,” he concludes, “I'm stretching my youth to the fullest. I'm driven by hope and I hope it continues that way. Many people tell me, 'Let's see if you succeed, you deserve it,' but I tell them I'm already succeeding. Carrying on Twenty years dedicated to music and education“Raising three children and living in a pine forest in Chiclana with beautiful people around me, why do I want more success?”
