José Antonio Fajardo is from Fuerteventura and lives in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Ever since he first embarked on a tour of the peninsula in 2009, his career has continued to mature towards something uniquely his own. It has unfolded across several singles and splits —the most recent of which, with singer‑songwriter Arico, revisits Canarian folklore—, one EP and four albums, his latest release being «Trecho» (2024). Parallel to this trajectory, he has also put out more experimental work, both for himself («En casa», «A6A») and on commission, as is the case with the soundscapes he has created for audiovisual pieces by filmmakers Miguel G. Morales («La mirada pasajera», «Trabajadoras», «Escuchar la sombra»), Amos Milbor (Inmaculada), Leandro Betancor (Canarias, orillas de la historia —in collaboration with Alba G Aceytuno—) or Juanma Romero (Durandal).
José Antonio Fajardo has developed a certain diction while (not) controlling his own voice beyond recognition. The Canary Islander has left everything aside and is able to overwhelm his own body, to have the word at the service of songs that pursue truth everywhere. From the instinctive to the deepest delicacy, Fajardo’s voice holsters his personal stamp in a beautiful and necessary fashion. Like a riverbed, parts only exist in relation to their other complementary halves. The quality of his performance applies equally to his song-writing craft, with a metric discourse that is as accurate as natural, and structures that reveal and conceal depending on the nature of the lyric. Tension and sweetness, suspense and repose: these are songs that are as complex in their harmony as they are simple to the listener to take in. Although, while quantity and austerity can function as a formal anteroom, getting at the content of the album is something else… It is here where Fajardo’s pallet of emotions reveals itself. A rainbow of redeeming solemnity, which spreads from the sincerity and, gradually , takes shape in essential aesthetic forms.
Those steps he first began to take back in 2009 have led him to all kinds of stages, both within Spain and beyond its borders. From self‑managed venues, bookshops, theatres and clubs, to renowned festivals such as Womad, A Tant Rêver Du Roi, Boreal, Monkey Week, as well as small forays into other latitudes (Havana, Germany, Scotland, the United Kingdom).
