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Artefyl brings you the self-portrait of:
“The voice of silence”
by Manuel Moraga
Yerbabuena
A good friend of mine, Francisco Manuel Díaz, was
determined to give me a professional name. And one day he
said, “why don’t you revive the name of Frasquito,
it’s very flamenco”. I loved it and ever since
then I wasn’t Eva any more, but Yerbabuena.
Death: the beginning
In Andalucía flamenco is in the light and in the
air. It’s always at the tip of your fingers, but in
my family there was never anyone on the inside. My first
experiences were almost beyond my control, an aunt of mine
encouraged my mother to sign me up at dance school because
she’d noticed how excited I got whenever I heard flamenco
on the radio. My aunt died when I was eleven and my mother,
to fulfill that wish, took me to study dance. She thought
it would be more like a hobby, but right away it stopped
being that for me. That same year I had the good fortune
to discover flamenco first hand at the Festival de los Híjares,
and that was when I said “this is for me”.
Photo: Rafael Manjavacas
“I actually wrote
a letter to the King of Spain asking to please give me a
grant”
A place to hang my hat
After a year and a half of classes, my father, who was a
construction worker, lost his job and said he couldn’t
keep paying for dance classes. But I was so enthralled with
dance I actually wrote a letter to the King of Spain asking
to please give me a grant because my father couldn’t
pay for the classes. I not only had an answer, but a representative
came to determine my parents’ economic situation.
Since they had their own house and a car, I didn’t
get the grant. So then we spoke to the dance teacher who
was Mariquilla, and she suggested I help out at the dance
school so as not to have to pay the monthly fee. That’s
how I started giving classes, which helped me a great deal.
“In life you have
to play dumb, never act like a know-it-all”
Memories that float to the surface
I don’t know what it is about the teachers who start
you out, you never ever forget them, especially if they
taught you not only choreographies, but gave you advice
and shared their own experiences...that can never be forgotten.
The first company I was in was Pepita Berdoné’s,
on San Antón street. You could study Spanish classical
dance and a little bit of everything, but it wasn’t
what I’d seen at that festival. My parents searched
for someone who would really teach flamenco and they found
Enrique el Canastero, who was my first teacher. The first
thing he taught me was a farruca. I can never forget that,
because it’s much more than just learning the steps...you
observe how he teaches, what kind of person he is, his patience
when he’s explaining things. My second teacher was
also unforgettable: la Angustillas (in Granada they used
to call her “la Mona”). She taught me a great
deal in many different areas: she gave me advice, she explained
that you have to be a person first, and then an artist,
that you have to have a great deal of patience, that in
life you have to play dumb, never act like a know-it-all.
She gave me moral support when I was down...really taught
me a lot.
“I continue to learn
and will keep learning as long as I live”
Learning to learn
I’ve always been grateful for the money problems when
I was growing up. My parents won’t agree of course,
but it made me find myself, being alone in a studio, face
to face with who I am. Francisco Manuel Díaz brought
me video tapes so I could see the great figures of flamenco
dance: Matilde Coral, Farruco, Mario Maya, Merche Esmeralda,
Cristina Hoyos, Carmen Amaya (I’ll never forget the
first time I saw her, I was immediately hooked), Carmen
Mora... I spent countless hours running the tape over and
over. I learned from all those people when I was fifteen.
But I continue to learn and will keep learning as long as
I live.
“A Cuatro Voces”
I think cante has been very important for me since the very
beginning, first unconsciously, and later on, consciously.
I believe that cante is the heart and soul of flamenco.
That’s why if I’ve been able to have three or
four singers, I always wanted them to be different, each
one contributing something distinctive. Singers have had
a lot to do with my evolution. It’s one of the things
I’ve been most concerned about and coddle the most:
the music and the voice. As far as I’m concerned it’s
fifty percent of what I want to put together on stage. I
would have liked to dance with singers like Antonio Mairena,
Caracol, Marchena, la Niña de los Peines... I also
would have liked to know Sabicas personally.
“When you have nothing
to say, the best thing is to keep quiet”
Creating and growing
Creation springs from the need to express something. It
might be small odds and ends of questions and answers that
finally gel into a larger concept. There’s always
a small doubt you seek to resolve, and that turns into a
show, and the process never really ends because you’re
never satisfied with the results. I try to concentrate on
what that small doubt makes me feel, and little by little
the necessary elements take shape. And talking to other
people, endless conversations with Paco (Jarana) and the
people around me, everything moves forward in parallel lines:
the idea, the music, the needs of the stage, the scenography.
When one idea is completed I don’t obsess about “and
now what?”. On the contrary, it’s like giving
birth, and all you want is to be close to your baby until
it matures. And of course, when you have nothing to say,
the best thing is to keep quiet. Or retell what already
exists, because there’ll always be someone who’s
never seen you before.
Photo: Rafael Manjavacas
“I want to outdo
myself every single day, not fool anyone and be honest with
myself”
The voice of silence
When they look up to you as a reference, I remember my teacher
Angustillas always said: “don’t pay any attention”.
I’m proud people have this opinion of me, but I love
to be down-to-earth. I’m wary of creating that responsibility
because it’s not what I’m looking for. I don’t
want this to become my tombstone. My goal is to go up on
stage, have a good time and share. I want to outdo myself
every single day, not fool anyone and be honest with myself.
Eva
What I’m most concerned about is my latest show: it’s
the baby of the family and needs the most attention. In
the personal arena, my dream is to be able to have another
child. I’d love that. With time, I dream about having
a small place near the sea, on a little cliff. A place where
I can savour my loneliness.
Calzados Artefyl:
Dance shoes from Arte Fyl, art for
the Art.
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Madrid.
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“Amor de Dios”)
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