“It’s the revolution. This man has shaken up the music scene.” This is how Jesús Quintero introduced Rafael Ojeda Rojas, Falete, (Seville, 48 years old) on Ratones Coloraos, where shortly before the launch of his first album, Amar duele, the legendary presenter introduced the artist to the general public. His voice, his art, and his flair captivated a country that was not used to seeing a man wear dresses in prime time. He became an icon for many people who, beyond his sexual orientation, admired his way of not adhering to one gender, or perhaps flowing between two.
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Back then, the words “non-binary person” were more academic than street-level. “I thought being a role model was a title too big for me, because I’m not doing anything out of the ordinary,” he explains. “Simply, I am who I am. As the years passed, I realized it was necessary for many people whom I could help break stereotypes. Unfortunately, discrimination still exists. I have always done it naturally and from the being that I am. I am nothing more than what you see, and nothing has been imposed, because I do things from the heart. And I will continue to do so as long as I am here, because I am very happy,” he assures.
Falete was part, along with Califato 3/4, Tomasito, the Cantillana Azahar Women’s Choir Association, and content creator Malacara, of the El Tinglao’ Cruzcampo initiative. In it, to welcome the April Fair in Seville, they reinterpreted the song A bailar, popularized by Cantores de Híspalis. The initiative takes shape from a central concept: the Tiny Mesa Camilla, a format that brings the warmth of the most intimate gatherings to the musical sphere, and whose name, without disguise, honors the popular Tiny Desk that has left such brilliant performances on American public radio.
You have said that until a “tinglao” is set up, the Fair doesn’t really begin. How much you like a warm-up… In Seville, we love a gathering, but not to formalize anything, but to set up a tinglao. If we have to meet to organize the booth, the fair starts for us three weeks earlier. Is Holy Week coming? Then it’s time for pre-Holy Week. The same thing happens with El Rocío. When you meet with two, three, four, or ten people who breathe like you, it’s important that the beer and tapas are not missing. Andalusians love to be out on the street and hang out. In the end, the tinglao forms, and everyone sings and dances. In reality, everything is done except organizing. And you end up saying, ‘but well, do we always have to end up the same?’. We cannot be like others, and that is part of our culture.
I haven’t asked if you prefer me to address you in masculine or feminine. As you wish, because I will answer you the same way. About 20 years ago, a legendary presenter who must be 200 years old and never dies, Don Francisco, asked me on his show Sábado Gigante, which was the top show in all of Latin America, if he should address me in masculine or feminine. I told him: ‘Don Francisco, as you wish, because I have enough intellectual capacity to answer you both ways.’ And that drove him crazy. At this point in life, speak to me however your sovereign pussy pleases.
Two years ago, you received the Latin Gold Award for Best Copla Singer, an award that highlights your career and your contribution to the genre. How do you value your career and what do you think you have contributed to the genre? Primarily, freshness. I always compare copla and flamenco to furniture. A mahogany piece of furniture, which is forever, is not the same as one made of particleboard. My musical genre is like that quality piece of furniture that, even as years pass, is always there. That’s why I’ve brought freshness and broken stereotypes. Why are the bata de cola and the peineta only for women? Let’s forget about gender! Art is not gender or a label. Art is universal. If I feel like wearing a mantón, I wear it, and if I want to wear the most masculine suit in the world, I wear that too without losing my essence and identity. I have always done versions my way, with my musical references, which will remain the same for centuries to come, but bringing them to my own ground, as I feel them and expressing them with much heart and much truth.
Your references have always been greats like Lola Flores, Chavela Vargas and Rocío Jurado. If they ask you to do a cover of Bad Gyal or a reggaeton song, would you be up for it? Anyone who says they don’t like reggaeton is lying to themselves. Personally, it’s not a style that goes with me, but if you’re at a party and they play any reggaeton nonsense, your body just goes with it and you dance even if you don’t like it. Because I “perreo” even though it’s not a music genre I like or consider to have quality. However, if it’s there, it’s because it’s contributing something.
Your coming out was pure Almodóvar: you were a child and your mother was making gazpacho. Indeed. She was holding a knife, peeling a tomato, and I told her: ‘Mom, I like a boy in my class.’ That’s it, as simple as that. And my mother said: ‘And?’ ‘Well, nothing Mom, I’m a faggot.’ See how clear I was about it.
During some financial rough patches, you’ve had to do something very typical of a “folclórica”: pawn your jewels. I love that, because if I’ve been able to pawn jewels, it’s because I have them. Fortunately, I’ve been living off my own work for many years and I live like a queen. I have achieved financial stability and I am a collector of artworks and antiques. These are things I’ve always liked and invested a lot in, as well as in jewelry. I’m not going to tell you anything more about that because you’re not Broncano, so I’m not going to tell you how much I have in the bank, although I wouldn’t tell that jerk either. In this profession, one day you have an enormous volume of work and suddenly, you go three months without invoicing, and obviously you have a series of expenses. I believe that when you are aware, you adapt to everything, to Iranian caviar or a piece of bread with lard.
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Do you have any treasure you wouldn’t pawn no matter what? Two of Lola Flores’s dresses. Juan ‘El Golosina’ gave them to me. I was bothering him all day asking for them and he told me: ‘Look, faggot, leave me alone. I’m going to give it to you because I’m going to die before you and I don’t know where the hell all this is going to go.’
You say that stars should be in the sky and here, one must be human. My father told me that when I was very young, and I took that advice as part of my daily life. You can’t go crazy with divadom, because then you’ve lost all your values. Human values are very beautiful, especially when you maintain those instilled in you since birth. I was raised that way, and life isn’t going badly for me; quite the opposite.
You could have lost your head during that more media-heavy period you had. Do you regret that era? I don’t regret anything. Life is a constant learning process, and I believe that when you’re going through those kinds of streaks where they attack you in 20,000 ways, I wouldn’t have lacked the balls to kill someone and would have been perfectly calm, but you realize that he who keeps silent, wins and doesn’t mess things up. Throughout that stage, my elders were by my side. The teaching of the elder makes you curb that impulsiveness, that desire to cut heads. And here we continue.
Do you like Rosalía? I love her. We’ve spoken on different occasions, and I think she’s a 10 out of 10 woman in every aspect. She is super feminine, sensual, beautiful, transgressive, and groundbreaking. I believe Rosalía is one of those artists we’re going to have in that little corner where we have Lola, Jurado, María Jiménez, Chavela Vargas… Those strong women who have done whatever the hell they wanted. Rosalía does whatever the hell she wants, and she does it very well.
Hopefully a joint version. I would do anything with her because there’s no lack of art on either side. Or heart! We’ve spoken on different occasions, and she breathes like me when it comes to music. She’s very authentic and does what she does because she feels it from the heart, not because something is being imposed on her. If we don’t feel it, we can’t sing it, and Rosy is very much like that. We’ve commented that first we produce the songs, then we “eat” them, and then, if we have good digestion, we say: ‘How delicious this marvel was!’
At your concerts, you have a confessional where different celebrities tell you about some “pearls” they’ve been given. Would you know what to tell? I have pearl necklaces and I still love pearls, but I’ve become more exquisite. They have to be Tahitian or better.
Speaking of “pearls”, is it complicated to date artists? We artists create bipolarity. I think we are impertinent and unbearable because we change more than the weather. Those who approach us are surprised, but that’s how we are…
Is a “folclórica” born or made? A “folclórica” is born and a “folclórica” dies. Even if you’re melted down like metal, the alloy will always be the same.
