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I'm María José Llergo. I'm from Andalusia, 
Córdoba, Spain.

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And well, I write songs: compose them, record 
them, and sing them live around the world.

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So, I can say that I'm a singer-songwriter 
and all those things.

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In reality, I'm a 29-year-old girl who adores 
music and wants to spend every day of her 
life giving it to others as a gift.

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Well, I started my music career singing with 
my grandfather Pepe in the countryside.

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While he worked the land, worked the field, 
shaped canals for the water to pass… while 
he watered.

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I was lucky to be there, listening to him 
sing.

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So, I copied — as if I were playing — his 
voice and his songs.

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And that's how I discovered that I also had 
a little voice with which I could play — 
and it became my favorite toy.

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Those emotions are what drive me.

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So I try to make my voice the purest reflection 
of what I feel.

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And that's how I want to be all the time: 
honest with the music and honest with the 
audience.

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My voice is a channel that transmits that.

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That transmits all the emotions, ideas that 
are up here, and that ultimately find their 
way through my singing.

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When I want to reflect an emotion, I think 
as if I were a painter

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and I choose sounds as if they were colors 
on a palette.

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Each song has its own intention and its own 
soul.

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So, what I try to do is choose the colors 
that reflect them best,

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mix them, and let them play with each other 
to make a song that lives up to that emotion.

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My land (Andalucía, Spain) is so rich.

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It has always been like a meeting point between 
Africa, Europe, Asia, through the Mediterranean 
and the Atlantic.

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We are lucky — oh, and Portugal, too! Another 
very close country.

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We are lucky to be central and to have so 
many cultures pass through over the years.

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The Arabs left their mark. The Romans left 
their mark… the Phoenicians. Many cultures.

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The Jews. Many cultures.

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And Andalucía has always been a welcoming 
land.

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Look at its name: from Andalucía come the 
andaluces.

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anda (walk) + luces (lights).

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So, I always say that Andalucíans are lights 
that walk.

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That's why we see life with that glow.

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Because in reality, our land illuminates 
us.