forty years later Amaya drugs Stepping barefoot on the Eurovision stage with her boat, Blanca Paloma will fight to “value flamenco” with EaEa, a lullaby (or an “antinana”) loaded with “identity, roots and power” at this festival.
Of the 18 applicants who applied to the second Benidorm Fest who aspire to win this position as Spain’s official representative in Liverpool (UK) in 2023, he is the only one to repeat after reaching the fifth place in the first edition without more than 1 support. sonorous and hypnotic and a single edited song, Secreto de agua.
Blanca Paloma Ramos (Elche, 1989) “I exist thanks to Benidorm Fest”, laughing, how she helped the national premier jump from behind the scenes where she worked as a set designer and wardrobe manager to prove herself as a singer and writer on stage.
But in the following months, she has released multiple new songs, Niña de fuego, busy above all composing more songs and getting the others out of the “mix drawer”, trying them out live at different concerts this summer and thus imitating her own song. He has his own repertoire for what will be his first album.
EaEa emerged from all the work that was co-developed with producer José Pablo Polo and sometimes Vicente Huma. He later concluded that he “fits for something that can represent a country at Eurovision because he has enough identity, roots and power”.
From the moment he received the first note, it is impossible not to separate this candidacy from the Spanish tradition. “It’s risky because we haven’t been doing flamenco since 1982, but as the only rhythm of our culture it was an identity mark we wanted to value because sometimes it seems to be more valued outside of Spain,” he explains.
“For me, flamenco is like a legacy”, she describes the musical influence of her all-Andalusian paternal family, especially her late grandmother Carmen, whom she describes as “the Seville mother, the tailor, the spirit of the party”. and after-dinner artist».
Remedios Amaya didn’t do much at Eurovision (she finished last), but things could change thanks to Rosalía’s work at an international level in recent years. “While there has always been such interest, it paved the way for many artists like me to try to convey that influence in a personal way,” she admits.
In this sense, he states that beyond the buleria pattern that EaEa maintains, this is the only song on his future album that he will not dare to call flamenco, due to its combination with melodies and folkloric sources from a wide variety of traditions, including Arabic and Sephardic. , to compose a lullaby or an “antinana”.
“I wanted to justify the lullaby as a study song, perhaps the first in human history because it was sung by a mother raising her baby, and I think it’s very nice that it’s the first music we hear outside of the heart beat. ; Singing around the world, albeit in different ways, is always a transfer of love”, on a topic that can be equally devoted to a lover.
staging
It also does this on a sequence and some edits that escape the predictable. “It is very important for my songs to have a story beyond the classical structure that takes you to unexpected places, contains many contrasts and reflects that journey from shadow to light, from vulnerability to empowerment. It is at the core of life and I define it”, he states.
This is what he wanted to convey in his staging, a “challenge” for someone who has been professionally dedicated to it for 10 years. She reports that after her hypnotized candid theatrical reading with Secreto de agua in 2022, she added a “more cinematographic” dimension this time with camera shots.
Those who do not want to wait for Benidorm Fest will have the opportunity to experience their “trance” live at the concert that will be held at Café Berlín in Madrid on the 12th.