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What life do you see in cante flamenco? Do you see its future guaranteed like that of the guitar and flamenco dance?

Antonio Malena (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Not very much. We don’t pay enough attention to this. I would like for someone with a lot of strength in cante to come through. That is not to take any credit away from guitar or baile, they’re not going to fail us, but there are very few cantaores around, and those of us who are spoil what little we’re able to offer people. I have colleagues who are doing it and it kills me to see a colleague stopping me a thousand times during rehearsal. They’re warming up their feet! A cantaor who sings accompaniment doesn’t need to know how to dance. It’s like the cantaores these days – this is also why there are less of them - who know how to play guitar. They shouldn’t know how to play guitar. Leave that to the guitarists. The young cantaores of today know a lot more than the guitarists, and the guitarists want to know more than the cantaor. In my opinion they don’t know anything.

The current trends are the neoclassical and the Camarón school…

Nowadays they are going back to singing La Niña de los Peines, but why do they do that? We hear what young voices we have today and it’s a pity that they do that with their voices. It’s all very well singing La Niña de los Peines but one has to be careful. It is very nice, and you’re doing a noble deed, but don’t spoil it with your voice. I wouldn’t want them to sing it exactly the same either, but nowadays they do what everyone else does, everyone seems to distort the tones of all the cantes. They’ll take a cante and sing twenty thousand notes for one lyric. The way things are going we’ll end up with less cantaores para baile and less solo singers.

I prefer the classical styles because I realize that they’re a dying breed. It’s a constant struggle. I’m not saying that I’m against everything they do these days, but nobody is fighting to preserve the foundations. They start building from the roof down… and without a good foundation they’ll fall sooner or later. There were a lot of artists who we thought would succeed but didn’t. One after the other. That’s the way it is today. It’s all about business and money-making.

Doesn’t it worry you that, despite being liberal-minded, these statements may lead some to believe you’re a close-minded person?

	"I made two very commercial albums which I felt forced to do in order to get my name out there"

I’m the type of person who takes care of himself and doesn’t ignore his feelings. Feeling something and doing something are two different things. I made two very commercial albums which I felt forced to do in order to get my name out there. People weren’t going to get to know me for my work in tablaos or theaters across the world. Your only chance is to record an album… not to your liking. And if you don’t go along with it, you’ll never have an album.

Are you at the point now where you could record that album that truly reflects the way you feel?

It’s the right time to change the situation so that cante isn’t lost. That’s what I’m fighting for. I’m fighting for my feelings, not in favor or against anyone. This is an act of liberty because we have to be free in order to express our true feelings, not the feelings that are forced upon us.

My dream is to record an album. I would like to end my career singing for baile and recording what I truly feel. I don’t want to be a cantaor out there in the spotlight, because that way they won’t feel my cante. But if I leave a good recording of it for posterity…

What do you think of José Mercé’s formula?

José Mercé deserves a lot of respect. I admire his work and he deserves credit because he started at a very young age. But he no longer feels what he used to feel, I don’t think. I don’t see myself in his position, however well I might sing. I’d never get wrapped up in that, that’s not what I want at all. I’d like to sing for everyone, record for everyone and have everyone enjoy my cante but not on my contemporaries’ turf. I’d like that to be my gift.

Antonio Malena (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Do you think your understanding of cante is well understood? Do you think that as well as being locally-based it has universal appeal?

I think so. I’d like to record but the situation isn’t right. I don’t want to record for the big labels. I’d prefer to record in more normal and natural circumstances. I don’t want all the business, all the hassle that comes with it.

I’ve always been criticized for being too closed-minded but I don’t pay any attention to those people. I’ve expressed my opinion regarding innovation. It’s not necessary to innovate. You have people like Serna deforming the music by singing twenty thousand notes. The days of the great Tío Borrico are long gone. Nowadays a lot of young people innovate for the business aspect and don’t realize that they’re missing out on a lot of things.

Would you also like to make your contribution?

	"All I can do is to continue improving, putting more of my heart and more feeling into it. How much more innovation do you want?"

I already do, by singing. I reckon the innovation they want is the one that everyone can come up with, the one that makes a profit. I don’t want to make money, I want to be liked and appreciated. All I can do is to continue improving, putting more of my heart and more feeling into it. How much more innovation do you want? That’s the way I see it.

What contribution do other styles of music make?

I listen to everything. Las Grecas were the pioneers of flamenco pop… And who doesn’t like Las Grecas or Los Chichos? Where have all the groups gone? My children put on Los Chichos and they say, “Daddy, listen to this.” What do you want me to say – that was my generation, I had a ball with that stuff. Really I like everything. I’ve been to the U.S. and I’ve been to jazz and blues joints and I enjoyed them, the music moved me in my own way - I mean I don’t necessarily understand that music. I think you just need to feel the music and know how to listen to it. That’s what happens to foreigners – do they understand our flamenco? All they do is listen and feel the music. I’ve seen them in tears. And the same thing happens to me – it’d be silly for me to say I understand blues, or jazz, or opera, because it isn’t true. María put on an album of Maria Callas for me… and now she’s my main woman. I feel close to it, but not because I know and understand it.

You say New York is your favorite city. Does Jerez limit you?

Yes. You feel trapped, caught up in a place with no way out here, but we’ve only got ourselves to blame for that. I always saw that clearly: I always disliked that aspect of Jerez and thought of leaving. Not just for a change of scenery but to get away from feeling forced to live in a place just out of obligation… social obligation.

But everyone knows the good side to Jerez. I rarely speak about Jerez because I don’t really live the Jerez life. I finished working, got paid and I was on my way home. I’ve never experienced the nightlife, or Holy Week, or the feria. Maybe I’m missing out on something good, but that’s just the way I am. Maybe it would have changed my way of looking at life if I had been surrounded by fellow artists who showed me different things. I believe that I miss out on a lot of magic moments.

At first I had an urge to stay in Madrid, like all of us who go there, but I’m also a bit strange. I have to be very comfortable in order to stay somewhere. I’m not a fake person, I don’t like to have to suck up to anyone.

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