Diego Clavel, flamenco cantaor. Interview

“I ask a lot of people questions because
that’s how you learn cante”

Silvia Calado. Madrid, January 2008
Translation: Joseph Kopec

Diego Clavel continues with his tireless anthological work. The Sevillian cantaor finalizes his new album, this time focusing on the cantes de levante. “I no longer feel like making the simple records I used to do”. Since he got down to work on the soleá, he has tackled the task of putting certain cantes in order and classifying them. And he does so with all the modesty befitting a farmhand tilling the land. “I think flamenco needed that explanation and I happened to be the one to give it. But the thing is that it’s my work, it’s my life; it’s no great merit”. What he does boast of is the satisfaction of having smoothed the way for the coming generations of cantaores.

What do you offer on your new album?

Diego Clavel (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

Twenty-two tarantas, six mineras, four tarantos, the levantica - which I’ve done two ways, the way El Cojo de Málaga used to do it and another -, the cartagenera... And there’s a novelty flamenco’s going to have: malagueñas canarias, not by El Canario. It’s a cante which I took from a program on Canary television which is called ‘La Bodega de Julián’, where they do folk cantes. And they sang the malagueña with a lot of bandurria (similar to the mandolin), very ‘averdialao’ and I listened to it and said “we have something here”. I added lyrics to it and slowed it down; I’ve turned it into a still malagueña. And two different malagueñas have come out of it, two new cantes flamenco is going to have, very distressed, very nice. There are also fandangos mineros, the murciana... in short, everything to do with the cantes de levante.

These kinds of albums must involve a lot of prior work in research, selection, classification...

Going here and there, asking questions, listening to a great deal. And I moreover add my own lyrics... Though for me it’s easier to add my own lyrics than if someone else gave them to me. Time? What anyone puts into their work.

How do you do the research?

On this album, just like on the soleá one, I’ve taken a lot from old recordings. I’ve also taken a lot of things I knew off the Internet. A lot of people who find out what I’m doing send me what they have. And I moreover pack up and go to La Unión to ask about a cante, the same way I went to Huelva when I did the fandangos one. Afterwards, I would sing them for my friends and asked them for their opinion, because I’m not one just to say I do it this way and that’s the right way. No, I ask a lot of people questions because that’s how you learn.

What leads you to decide on a certain style?

I decide to do it because, for example, there are a lot of malagueñas recorded, but many times they aren’t specified... There’s a huge mess with the creators. When I made the malagueña album, I didn’t think about the following fandango, soleá, cantes de levante and seguiriya ones. I got down to work on that cante I’ve always liked a great deal... and I started searching. And then I decided I was going to do several albums that way. I no longer feel like making the simple records I used to do. I’ve practically recorded everything. And my dream now is to sit down with the seguiriya and not record anything else.

Diego Clavel (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

Is flamenco cante still in need of order and structure?

I think so. There was the malagueña. There were a lot of malagueñas that were lost. There were three creations of mine on that record. I’m a really bad promoter; I never sing my malagueñas. It’s possible a kid might come along some day and people will chalk them up to him. That’s happened with many old cantes. The work on the malagueña was really important. People talked about ten or twelve malagueñas, but forty-seven are presented here.

The Huelva record was also important. People talked about some thirty fandangos styles and I ended up recording sixty different ones with their names, their place of origin and their creator. A cante which was a real mess was the soleá. Antonio Mairena, may he rest in peace, did a lot por soleá. I had an anthology of his which includes every cante por soleá. There were twenty or thirty there. And it turned out that I was able to find over eighty. I recorded all the ones Mairena had, plus all the rest, with their names and places of origin. For example, in that anthology, a cante is labeled as soleá de Alcalá, but it might just be that the first set of lyrics is from Alcalá. It doesn’t say anything about the rest. And I say from Alcalá and from Joaquín el de la Paula. From Alcalá and from La Roezna. And so on and so forth with those from Triana... That’s my work and the dream I have. I think flamenco needed that explanation and I happened to be the one to give it, due to my perseverance... and long hours. I’ve gone to bed many nights with my earphones in, listening and listening. But the thing is that it’s my work, it’s my life; it’s no great merit.

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