Singer 'La Perrata' dies at 82

In
Utrera it’s said that her brother, the great Perrate de Utrera,
always said that his sister sang better than him. However the singer was
only heard at family gatherings until the early nineteen-seventies when
she made a recording with her sons, singer Juan Peña «El
Lebrijano» and guitarist Pedro Peña. It was then that flamenco
fans could appreciate for the first time the wise and weathered voice
of María la Perrata who was the cousin of Fernanda and Bernarda
de Utrera, aunt of Pedro Bacán, Gaspar de Utrera and Turronero,
and grandmother of Dorantes and Pedro María Peña.

Born in Utrera in 1922, she married Bernardo Peña when still a
young adolescent: «the gypsy girl that Don Bernardo was clever enough
to steal away and take to Lebrija» as Manuel Peña Narvaez
writes. In this way the family ties and shared cantes of Utrera and Lebrija
were reinforced. Perrata preserved her family’s cantes, and stars
like Antonio Mairena would visit the house of Bernardo and María
to enjoy the purity of that heritage. She was the object of various tributes,
including that of the second Caracolá Lebrijana festival, the peña
El Rincón del Cante de Córdoba and the peña El Taranto
de Almería.

La Perrata con Pedro Peña
photo: Ramón Amaya

The singer had been in delicate health for several years and was barely
able to speak. Nevertheless, last year her son el Lebrijano told us that
she still sang to him, and only he was able to understand what she said.

La Perrata con Lebrijano
photo: Gilles Larrain