Happy Thursday. This week has been a month so I’m glad we’re at this point of the week. This week we’re going to talk about Spanish singer Isabel Pantoja.
Born in 1956 in Seville in Andalusia, Spain to a Romani family, Isabel Pantoja built an impressive career. She began her musical career at the age of 7, performing in a flamenco group. As she turned 17, she met her maestro Juan Solano Pedrero who wrote her first hits. Her musical career is noteworthy for her Anadulsian take on the historic Spanish genre of copla. (Copla is a historic Spanish genre similar to the poetic genre). Over the course of her career, she has released over 30 albums. She has also appeared in a few movies and over a dozen television shows.
Pantoja was married to Francisco Rivera Pérez (also known as Paquirri), a bullfighter from Cadiz, Spain. Perez was killed after being gored by a bull. His death led to major legislative changes in Spain, most notably that all bullfighting arenas must have intensive care units. After his death, she became known as “Spain’s Widow” and was a major focus of the tabloids. She returned to music with this week’s song.
This week’s song is “Hoy Quiero Confesarme”. This track comes off of her 1985 album Marinero De Luces which was produced by Jose Luis Perales. The song is an athem to honesty. It’s about bearing your soul, dropping pretenses and dropping the weight of pretending to be someone you aren’t. There’s a raw honesty in the track. Pantoja’s performance is full of Spanish bravado and pride. There’s a lot of power in her performance. It’s an incredible performance.
From 1985, “Hoy Quiero Confesarme”.
For last week’s post, click here.
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