"I'm a shepherd, in the evening I like to go down to the river". Joaquín Carmona, El Canastero, is capable of telling his life in four lines of original verse, or stop conversation with a single look, or expound upon his personal philosophy in the midst of a conversation.... He says he was born "when the spirits so decided. Capricorn, almost ten". And as fate would have it, the moment coincided with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, in other words, 1936. He chose a life in the fields, between Málaga and Cádiz, "avoiding the cities and capitals". Lands where mother nature brings god closer through the cante, that which he considers "food for the soul".

Despite being considered quite a star among followers of Camarón due to what he composed for José Monje, and being well-recognized for his singing ability, at more than sixty years of age Joaquín Canastero had never before been in the recording studio. His contribution to flamenco was limited to composition, not only for the genius of La Isla, but also for other members of his family such as Antonio and Miguel el Rubio, or interpreters such as La Susi.

Joaquín el Canastero

What made you decide to record?

The recording came about because I found people with open hearts who were prepared...they're believers. I went through many trials and tribulations with this record before, because they wanted a lot of takes. And they can't get any more out of my voice. They have to settle for what there is. A person isn't always a person, you have to justify yourself. I only recorded previously about thirty years ago, but drunk.

Your contribution to flamenco is closely linked to Camarón...

My life is at the river. And Camarón loved that. He opened up to me. I remember exactly everything he said about me. They've written black literature about Camarón, it's rhetoric they're using. You have to go with a clean heart. That's the basis of knowledge, to be one's own shepherd. And that also happened to the gypsies. Gypsies have lost their galactic link. It's now that we have nothing.

Joaquín el Canastero and his dog "Amigo"

For the title of El Canastero's first work they played with your vagabond image, although it's a record of discovery...

Se Busca communicates though good lyrics at the service of the head and the heart. It's a quiet record, where we tried to make a good choice of accompanist. In live performance artists from the Habichuela dynasty who I'm related to might take part. We want to make sure that the record reaches the hearts of the people by holding back and showing them how to be discerning, so that in the end they themselves may choose.

There's lots of devil music, that gets the people worked up and breaks their hearts. That musical hurriedness is poison and goes against the individual's spiritual education. And speaking of lyrics, with Camarón it was a throwback. The verse I dedicate to him cheers people up, so we don't think about him as having died...

And where do your verses come from?

My poetry is born of my contact with the animals, with the stones, with the sounds of nature. Cante is god-knowledge. And I don't pretend to have a voice, in spite of having learned some vocal skills. A good letra comes out when you are least trying to sing. But first comes the poetry. The verses make the person listen up, as long as he has a good ear. In this way the cante becomes food for the soul, it's my best companion. But most of the time they aren't singing any good and the verses are worthless. This is why nobody can hold back the war. We're all the same wolves, but with different collars.

He relates his musings about the current international political situation to the 'canastera' gypsy tradition about which he says "we have to be the guides and respect flamenco cante". And he links this to his convictions: "I never try to get ahead and always live with respect for god". And his beliefs: "The Christian religion learns from the philosophers like Socrates who died poisoned because he stirred people's hearts, because he discovered the soul". Until finally he decides to stop speaking about the classic thinkers in order to avoid tears...

For El Canastero, who only sings by the banks of a river, even when it was Camarón himself, shouldn't the type of venue be of little consequence?

When I sing I prefer the out-of-the-way places. At small gatherings it's easier to reach people's hearts. I don't feel that same spiritual motivation in big places where there is a greater concentration of evil, those people who fear what I have to say because they're not used to my straight talk. And communication is important. But people have to be spontaneous. Truth is spontaneous, you have to be intuitive. Happiness is good for the mind. And it's money which corrupts from within and from without. That's why what I like most is believing in god, because that's the beginning of simplicity. But we are not all gods...and they don't get the idea.