Festival Real 360º: Chicuelo + Ana Brenes

José Antonio Fajardo hails from Fuerteventura and resides in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Since he embarked on his first tour of the peninsula in 2009, his career has matured into something unique and unparalleled. It has unfolded through various singles and splits, an EP, and three albums, with his latest one, ‘Intuición,’ released in 2021.

Fajardo has developed a distinctive diction and a (lack of) control over his own voice that defies comparison. The musician from Fuerteventura has set aside everything else and is capable of completely immersing himself in his own body, using words in the service of songs that seek truth in every corner. From visceral intensity to profound delicacy, Fajardo’s voice adds its own beautiful and necessary touch to his compositions. Like a river’s flow, his pieces draw from complementary halves.

These qualities apply equally to his compositional style, where the metric flow is as precise as it is natural, and the structures flex and hide as the discourse demands. Tension and sweetness, suspense and serenity, all coexist in songs as harmonically complex as they are accessible to the listener (a difficult feat). However, while moderation and restraint may serve as a formal prelude, uncovering the content is another matter entirely… Here, a layer of emotions shines through. A rainbow that redeems solemnity, emanating from sincerity and gradually shaping essential aesthetic forms.