Name: Marco Antonio
City, country: León (Spain)
Question: Well, Andres, my question is: what’s flamenco to you: a way of being, feeling and living, or all three?? Kindest regards from a flamenco from León
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Andrés Marín: To me flamenco is all three things. But about living… Above all, I’m a good enthusiast and to me flamenco is a profession. You shouldn’t go around with a polka-dot handkerchief (without downplaying polka dots) or with a given prototype to say you’re a flamenco. If you’re a flamenco, you’ll say so by singing and dancing.

Name: Kandela
City, country: Seville
Question: Hi, Andrés. Can you tell us what your new show 'La pasión según se mire' is about? I was surprised you have such traditional people as guests. Why? Doesn’t it clash with your style?
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Andrés Marín: I don’t think so; nothing clashes with my style. As I’ve said, I may be more traditional than people might imagine. In this show, I don’t want to tell of passion, but rather to HAVE passion. And I think I’ve chosen the right artists to take part. There’s no dramatic art; it’s cante and baile. I don’t want to say what the show’s about in order not to spoil the surprise. I’d like you to see it if you happen to be in Jerez.

Name: Daniel da Silva
City, country: Barcelona
Question: Hi Andrés. What do you appreciate most in a guitarist when accompanying your bailes? Best wishes
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Andrés Marín: First of all, for him to know his profession. By that, I mean that the profession includes cante, baile and composing; that’s fundamental. And then for him to be an extraordinary person, serious in his profession and for him to know how to adapt to the shows, since they’re so movable. And I say that because I have Salvador Gutiérrez here beside me…

Name: Jason Martínez
City, country: Tucson, United States
Question: Andrés, Watching you dance, it's apparent that underneath your personal style there is a strong base and understanding for traditional flamenco. When I see others trying to push the limits of what a dancer can do and still remain flamenco, the flamenco essence often seems to get lost. Any thoughts on this?
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Andrés Marín: I agree that not everybody has the ability to go beyond those limits. As I’ve already said, there has to be a little bit of love-hate, you have to know the base really well in order to destructure and have it make sense. But I think people have to try and probe in order to find their own discourse. It’s hard, it’s a search that not everyone can endure nor can it be forced. You don’t do this for money; if you go to the business side, you skip that search and you get straight to the point. In my case, things come to me slowly, but the way I want them to come to me. Regards.

Name: Manuel A.
City, country: Madrid, Spain
Question: Andrés, in some interview you talk about vindicating your origins, your parents. Who were they? What did they teach you? Thanks and good luck in Jerez.,
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Andrés Marín: My parents’ names are Andrés Marín and Isabel Vargas. I vindicate my origins because they drifted away from stages. They were well-known in the profession and they were on the best bills, but this is a question of fads… That’s happened to a lot of artists. I came back and as I just happen to have the same name as my father, it was an honor to be able to make his name active once again, because if I dance it’s because my father encouraged me to do so. Thanks about Jerez.

Name: Raúl Llamas Jiménez
City, country: Cádiz
Question: The creative process is rather distressing for many creators. How do you face that moment? Thanks.
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Andrés Marín: Well yes, it’s rather distressing. I totally agree. It’s really complicated, but it’s what we’ve chosen. And if you like your profession, you make an extra effort, although sometimes not everybody likes it. That isn’t important, but rather for you to enjoy yourself and dance honestly. I face the moment of creation depending on my state of mind, but always with a final aim and surrounded by a crew of people who are everything. When you have doubts, it’s important to know how to ask questions and ask for help; there’s always someone who can open a window that’s closed to you. Now then, don’t let yourself be manipulated or taken to the point of losing your personality.

Name: David Lagos
City, country: Jerez, Spain
Question: Andrés, who is or who are your references in old-time cante and in the current scene?
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Andrés Marín: The first thing I have to do is congratulate you on your album and send you my very best wishes. You know I’m fond of Marchena, Chacón, I like Pastora and all the old-timers, you know. And current ones, well, there are all of you, who are the ones there pulling all the weight and making no small effort. Best of luck with your album.

Name: Genaro Arteaga
City, country: Spain, Tenerife
Question: Hi, Andrés. I’m from Tenerife and I have my flamenco school here. I’d like to know if you’re scheduled to come here with some show or if there is any chance of you coming to teach a course or something like that. Regards from Tenerife
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Andrés Marín: Hi, Genaro. In principle, I’m not scheduled to go to Tenerife, but thanks for your interest. At the website www.andresmarin.es, you can find my agenda, office contact and for any consultation, you can address me there. Thank you.

Name: María Luisa García
City, country: Australia
Question: It seems to me that a person reaches a time in his development as an artist where he either understands flamenco style and the music, or not. How did you reach that moment and what did you do? How did you study? Then to be able to be the innovator you are today, what reference do you create with? Thanks
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Andrés Marín: I was born into a family where I had no choice but to live with flamenco, so there’s a little bit of a love-hate relationship there. When I was 7 or 8 I used to do the primitive shuffling steps and everything my father showed me, and I was lucky enough to live in companies with Valderrama, etc. starting as a child. I didn’t realize it, but that remains in my subconscious and surfaces. To be able to innovate, I don’t believe in innovation, but rather to reinterpret things. It’s true that you have to have a base of the old-time genre, but it might have been more modern than people today. What’s old-time? What’s modern? You simply have to seek your identity and get away from fads, so everything can revolve around you and you maintain yourself. I use flamenco as a vehicle to be able to express my other restlessness about other disciplines and arts, but always starting with the base of body expression, which is stronger than the genre.

Name: Joaquín Rodríguez Rosado
City, country: Jerez Fra. Spain.
Question: Don’t you think flamenco is losing its essence and its identity with so many foreigners doing "THAT FLAMENQUITO" without the ANDALUSIAN form of uttering our "ACCENT"? Because nowadays there’s flamenco from all over the world. In cante, baile and toque. They imitate it all, but it’s like not sprinkling a good STEW with SALT. Best wishes and Thanks. J.R.
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Andrés Marín:I don’t share your opinion. I think flamenco is a universal artform and everyone has the right to enjoy this art and all kinds of expressions. We’re lucky to live on foreigners. It is true that our culture is very specific and we have some identity codes which we ourselves know, but that doesn’t give us the authority to judge every person. I believe in open flamenco, starting from respect and the truth is that there are foreigners who dance and play really well.

Name: Mimi
City, country: Barcelona / Spain
Question: Hi Andrés! What a shame I’m not in Jerez this year to see you. I hope you make a stop in Barcelona; we need to listen to and see flamenco art around here.
My question is: Is it really important to count the times when you dance? In my case, it’s impossible for me to dance and count. I learn the steps by ear. But my instructor says it’s impossible not to count. What do you think?
Thank you very much! And all the best of luck at the festival, kindest regards!
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Andrés Marín: Mathematics, for Pythagoras. Because you can’t be mechanizing your ear. Everything in life can be counted because everything’s mathematical if you want it to be, but in music you have to forget about counting. If you want to do it to study, I think it’s fine but I don’t think it’s the right road. When I began with my father, who was of the old, old school, when flamenco was booming, he used to ask me “son, how do you count” and I’d tell him “don’t worry about that, teach how you’ve taught me”. I therefore use counting as prior analysis, but forget about it in order to be able to enjoy yourself.

Name: María
City, country: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Question: I’d like to tell you that a little over a year ago, I began to go deeper into this wonderful artform called Flamenco. As I started off "grown-up" (28 years old), I wanted to ask you what advice you could give to a beginner, and if you believe that age can play against me achieving that grace which is so admired in bailaores and bailaoras. Thanks and congratulations on your successful career!
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Andrés Marín: Better late than never. What you have to have is a lot of patience and passion for what you’re really doing. Forget about plans and simply do it; everything will come in time. I recommend you to listen to a lot of old-time flamenco and really soak up who those personages were in order to have more of a foundation when performing. Good luck.

Name: Juan José González
City, country: Spain
Question: Are you of the type who come out on stage with everything prepared to the millimeter, so that any performance of yours is an exact repetition of another, or do you improvise something on the spot which when later on you’re asked to repeat, you say: I don’t remember any more!? This would mean genuine purity to me and not the other as many might believe.
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Andrés Marín: When you work on a show with an extensive infrastructure with diverse technical as well as artistic parts, and you don’t limit yourself to a simple excerpt of certain lyrics at a given moment, prior background work is required. So that doesn’t seal you off when performing or reinterpreting that work. In my case, I don’t like dancing always thinking about the same choreography because to my understanding it would go dead and lose the risk of the moment. It is true that we have to have things in order because if not it’d be chaos, and that wouldn’t be a show to repeat. You always have to give an opening. To me, imperfection is great purity. In order to decompose, you have to know how to compose.

Name: Claudia Martins Cabido
City, country: Portugal
Question: Dear Maestro! It’s impossible to ask you a question when there’s so much in flamenco to discover and so much in your regard about that passion... an entire lifetime doesn’t even manage to understand the universe of your interpretation which is so rich and moving.
A good question is answered with another question, isn’t it?
Kindest regards from your student,
Claudia
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Andrés Marín: Thanks, Claudia, I’m glad to greet you once again and that you understand my shows, since they’re so personal and open at the same time. I hope you still have the same passion. See you soon.