Artist Profiles: María Terremoto

María Fernández Benítez, better known as María Terremoto, was born in Jerez de la Frontera in 2000. She is part of a famous family of flamenco artists; her grandfather was Fernando Fernández Monge “Terremoto de Jerez” and her father is singer Fernando Fernández Pantoja “Terremoto.”

Since she was a child, María Terremoto has participated in many flamenco zambombas (Flamenco Christmas carols performed during Christmas in Jeerz) with her family, in which she unexpectedly became the central character of each performance. At nine years old, Maria was responsible for a crucial moment in her father’s life, the great Fernando Terremoto, when she performed on stage in the flamenco nightclub (tablao) that bears his name. That day will be evoked forever by all who were there, because unsuspectingly, Fernando passed the artistic torch to his daughter Maria in what would be his final farewell to the stage.

In mid-2014, at just fourteen years old, Maria began to make infrequent performances in Jerez. Progressively, she began to perform more often and traveled outside of Jerez, making her mark in the jondo (flamenco deep roots) scene.

Her big opportunity came in February 2016, during the significant Festival de Jerez. María gave a flamenco performance at the Palacio de Villavicencio that left everyone astonished. That moment generated unparalleled press acclaim for such a young artist. She was just sixteen years old.

This performance was the beginning of a tour of flamenco clubs and major festivals, such as the peñas de Huelva, Torres Macarena de Sevilla, La Niña de los Peines de Arahal, Casabermeja de Málaga , Pozoblanco, Baeza…and festivals such as Grazalema, Pedrera, Casariche, Pruna, La Caracolá Lebrijana and the Flamenco Fridays of Jerez, among many others.

On September 22, 2016, Maria performed a concert at Seville’s Flamenco biennial that many have called historic. After numerous positive reviews, she was the youngest artist to ever be awarded the high-status ‘Giraldillo Revelación 2016’ prize, which catapulted her to the vanguard of the flamenco scene. In 2018 she received the prestigious ‘Venencia Flamenca’, an award given by the Flamenco community ‘El pozo de las penas’. After receiving this recognition, María made the rounds on the most prestigious stages throughout Spain.

María Terremoto released her first album: “La huella de mi sentío” (IR Music, 2018). The album was officially debuted at La Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla.

Author: Angel Romero

Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.