Interview with David Peña, Dorantes, pianist:

"There isn't much happening within the vanguard of flamenco. I think there are a lot of barriers and too few are bold enough to overcome them"

Alfonso García. Seville, February 2002

Four years after the release of his debut recording, 'Orobroy' (Musings), Dorantes launches a new album: 'Sur' (South). The recording sessions took place in Seville, Paris and Sofia (Bulgaria), and were co-produced by French musician Hugo de Courson. The result: ten tracks smattered with Flamenco, Celtic, Brazilian, classical and Bulgarian influences. David Peña, Dorantes, is a musician who comes from a family with one of the most prestigious ancestries in the history of Flamenco. La Perrata, his grandmother, whose brother was the great Perrate de Utrera; his uncle, El Lebrijano; Pedro Bacán; Gaspar de Utrera; Fernanda and Bernarda de Utrera; Bambino; going back even further, Diego del Gastor and Melchor de Marchena; and not forgetting his father, Pedro Peña, 'tocaor' of fine, mellow guitar chords and one of the greatest experts on Flamenco music. On the occasion of the release of his new recording, we visited him at his beautiful home in Aljarafe, Seville, to discuss with him his restlessness as an artist.

David Peña, Dorantes

What does music mean to you?

It's my reason for living. I couldn't survive without music. It's my vehicle of expression, an escape valve... a lot of different things. It also pays the rent.

And Flamenco music?

It's what's shaped me since I was a boy. When I listen to Flamenco I don't just perceive the music - experiences and feelings come flooding back to me. It's the foundation on which I build my music.

Your first memories of Flamenco?

They don't begin with any specific moment, it was inside me and grew up with me. It wasn't like I listened to Flamenco and said - hey, I like this and I'm gonna study it. It was almost predetermined at birth. My ancestors have left me a message, both musical and philosophical, that I must heed - it's my direction in life. Flamenco is them. They've left me a legacy so beautiful that I don't want to damage it in any way, so in my music I try to make a clear distinction between when I'm playing Flamenco and when I'm not.

When did you decide to make a career in music?

There was no definite date, although there was a day when my brother Pedro and I decided to speak to my father to tell him we wanted to be guitarists and devote ourselves to music. It made him really happy and he enrolled us at the conservatoire and complemented our teaching with his lessons in 'toque flamenco'. Until the piano came into the picture and I realised it was for me. The guitar helped me earn money to buy my first piano.

Does Andalusia have a defining style of music?

Andalusia has some styles of its own (fandangos, granaínas..) which have their origins in the jota, and to which the gypsies brought a little of their special magic with the Dorian cadence (soleá and seguiriya), creating the rhythm and a form of expression which turned this folk music into something a little more exquisite.

David Peña, Dorantes

Can you tell us a little about your career before you recorded your first disc?

I worked hard to perfect my technique, at the same time learning to read, write and analyse scores. My father and my brother encouraged me to record the first disc; they almost pushed me into it. I was still undecided, maybe due to a false sense of insecurity, but later I realised as an artist I had to come out into the open, record and give concerts in order to fulfil myself and my aims in life.

What did you aim to put across and what did you get from it?

Every song is a moment and a feeling, with no underlying theme linking them. Once the first recording is behind you, you're introduced to new worlds (record company, buying public, marketing...) and you see the other side of music which is also vital to your success as an artist. The truth is I got so wrapped up in that world that I forgot to record. I think I've changed, and for the better. Record companies aren't used to waiting four years between discs, and I have to thank them for their patience. New challenges come up, and there are difficult moments, but these situations help you mature as a musician and as a person.

So how would you define your new release, 'Sur'?

It's hard, because it doesn't fit into any particular genre, and that throws people who are used to clear definitions and everything in its right place. I'd settle for them identifying my feelings and recognising the music as mine. Flamenco is the starting point, of course, and I dip into other types of music like jazz, classical, Bulgarian folk music, Galician, Asturian, Celtic, Brazilian...

What were the recording sessions like?

It was really interesting because we laid down some challenging ground-rules: just leave the tape running and no overdubs. It was one of Hugo's ideas, as the disc's co-producer, and I think we managed to add a dimension to the music which is normally stifled when recording is started and stopped: speeding up and slowing down the tempo at will. In my opinion you get a more expressive result.

What do you think of the vanguard of flamenco?

There isn't much happening within the vanguard of flamenco. I think there are a lot of barriers and too few are bold enough to overcome them. There are more advances in instrumental music. There isn't too much progress in Flamenco singing - 'cante' - and that's because nobody studies much. In dance I think some important steps are being made. In any case, we should understand progress not as a revolutionary change, but as a step on from what went before: Beethoven was a step on from Mozart.

Are these good days for creativity?

Yes, creativity has never ceased. Bad omens are always present but it's like the end of the world, it never arrives. Now we're seeing a movement from 'Nuevo Flamenco' fever back to the classicism of guitar and 'cante'. They're cycles, and each one brings interesting contributions. You also have to take into consideration the luck factor: maybe, for example, there are two branches, one fashionable and the other not; if you do something great in the second nobody's paying attention and it goes unnoticed by the vast majority - it isn't judged fairly.

What do you think of the arrival of new instruments to flamenco?

I think it's fantastic, we have to add not subtract. We have to take into account that instruments aren't born flamenco instruments, instruments never stop being flamenco instruments. The people who play the instruments are the ones who have to feel the flamenco. Maybe people are too afraid of the critics.

What do you think of the critics?

Sometimes they don't go deep enough. I think my music should be analysed more by generic music critics than by specialists in Flamenco. Some wash their hands before giving an opinion, telling me simply that my music goes straight over their heads. Critics should keep up-to-date, and at the same time know all the ins and outs of this artform. It isn't easy being a critic because subjective and objective values are intertwined, and at the end of the day they're people with their own feelings.

If you had to choose a 'cantaor' or 'cantaora' from the pages of history...?

Pastora Pavón, La Niña de los Peines.

A contemporary 'cantaor' or 'cantaora'?

My grandmother, La Perrata.

A flamenco musician from the pages of history?

Ramón Montoya: he created new tonalities, made bold advances in music, and opened up new directions.

A contemporary flamenco musician?

There are plenty: Arturo Pavón, Paco de Lucía, and let's not forget Manolo Sanlucar, Vicente Amigo, Cañizares...

More information: Interview with Pedro Ricardo Miño, pianist