‘Viento del Norte’,
track by track
by Jesús Torres
Silvia Calado. Madrid, March 2008
Jesús Torres (Photo
Daniel Muñoz)
‘Calle Espada’
bulería
“It’s the street where my
father was born in an old apartment building in Écija
which no longer exists. It’s my gypsy heritage,
although I neither seem it nor aspire to it. He died when
I was five years old. I grew up and had more contact with
my mother’s side of the family. Deep down, I feel
gypsy in theory. My father gave it to me, but I haven’t
lived the racial atmosphere. I wanted him to be present
for me, and Calle Espada means my father and the relationship
I had with my grandmother, who is no longer here either;
I have very little direct family left. It’s a bulería
to somehow remember him. Here the guitar is doubled up;
it has percussion, clapping and nothing else. It isn’t
a traditional bulería; it’s a little stranger,
a little more modern... I don’t know, I don’t
differentiate much between modern and traditional, I don’t
analyze. What initially comes out of me is flamenco, I
understand that’s my way of feeling and something
really strange can’t come out. It might have a fresher
air, perhaps”.
‘Mármol de espuma’
malagueña
“It was a baile assignment for Rafaela
Carrasco, which later became the piece that has been
recorded. We presented it at Festival de Jerez, she was
a little scared. Putting the guitar up front too, dancing
with somebody in the middle of the stage involves different
types of commitments, and with cante that comes and goes.
And Jerez… that venue makes you a little tenser
than other places. And I don’t know what happened,
but suddenly within the show we were doing, everybody
started asking us what’d happened. People liked
it a lot, I think because of its simplicity. Many times
we try to embellish things wanting to do I don’t
know what and sometimes what gets across the best is the
simple, in the sense of it being true and of minimalism
in the style”.
Jesús Torres (Photo
Daniel Muñoz)
“I did the jabera lyrics for this
song. Poveda’s
cante is there. His cante is very heartfelt, very true.
He isn’t a cantaor who breaks things up, in the
sense of going up to you and taking a ‘bite’
out of your liver, but he hits me in another way. Due
to the timbre of his voice which is really warm, because
he has great taste in everything he does and a special
way of coming down with his voice. And he’s my favorite
cantaor depending on the sensations. I love him. That,
together with the fact that at the personal level he’s
kindness itself with legs, what more can you ask for?
And for that cante por jaberas, which I understand has
no break. I saw an open door with Miguel. And the same
thing happens to Isabel; she loves him. They have many
things in common; they’re not conceited at all.
Synergies coincide, a frequency vibrates and those vibrating
to that same frequency start to gather. Unions are hardly
ever by chance”.
‘Tarantango’
taranto
“It isn’t intended for baile.
I started to do it on a tour. In order to do a song, I
have to have a musical beginning. I start off with an
idea; it might be a chord, and that reason asks me what
follows. It’s as if it were a puzzle and just one
piece fits. When I do things, I need a reason, the following
one comes from that reason and I chain them along. That’s
why I think the scores have a well-rounded sense. And
at the end I wanted to finish not por tangos, but por
tarantos. And I brought out the melody, I saw that the
rhythmics of Argentinean tango fit with it and as I love
the bandoneon as an instrument, I thought of seeking a
bandoneon”.
‘Rincón de los perdidos’
bulería por soleá
“I was doing it and just then Manuel
Liñán told me he needed bulerías
por soleá music. And I told him I’d just
started on some. At first there wasn’t going to
be baile, just music. Then afterwards, when it came time
to record it, I studied the possibility of sticking in
some lyrics. Isabel helped me mesh the lyrics. Then I
called up Encarnita and it turned out easy. It first came
out as music, then it was for baile; I talked to Manuel
to adapt it according to where he wanted to do footwork,
and he used it at the Granada Music Festival. I’ve
known Encarna Anillo for a really long time. She’s
evolved very quickly. Her timbre has always been good
because she has a gift, a huge voice and with a lot of
push and she’s a really good enthusiast, so you
can ask her for anything. In this case, it wasn’t
necessary because the melody of the lyrics isn’t
traditional, it isn’t usual. I did it. The push
she has... potentially, she’s incredible. She’s
working a lot and she’s growing on stage. I also
get along with her really well and I wanted a woman’s
voice for the tonality of the guitar”.
‘Viento del Norte’
“It came about as a musical tune.
It was one of the first ones. You like a chord you do,
it starts coming out, coming out... At the end, it finished
por tangos, which gives it a little twist. I don’t
like long songs. I like not thinking about the songs when
I’m listening. If I start thinking it’s because
there should have been a change. It has to take you somewhere
else for you to keep on listening, for you not to wake
up. And this song which is entirely free, at the end when
I think you finally awaken, that little bit came out por
tangos, which is moreover unaccompanied; I didn’t
want anything rhythmically. If you stick in a metronome
it’s no good, because it needed to be free. I play
solo without embellishments”.
‘Sonsonío’
bulería
Jesús Torres
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)
“It’s a more traditional
bulería which is now a few years old. I did some
lyrics for it. I didn’t think I was very capable
of doing lyrics. I tried and, well, they came out in the
end. I also had Isabel Bayón as a guinea pig, since
she sings in tune and what not, I told her to sing them.
And she helped me to fit them in rhythmically. Manuel
Gago sings here, with choruses by Ana Mari and Carmen.
The lyrics of this one were from a sevillanas and rumbas
album by a group I was in a long time ago which was called
Los Vargas. I even used to sing. I did an album for them;
all the songs. And one of the sets of lyrics from a sevillana
has part of these bulería lyrics. I took them,
arranged them, lengthened them and changed them. I don’t
even know where that album is. I used to sing... wearing
a bow tie. We were tastelessly flashy in a really big
way. And we even did our little baile steps as Los Panchos.
I laugh, but affectionately. I remember it now and don’t
know how I was brave enough to do that. Unconsciousness
does that. When you don’t know much, you’re
daring and mess up. I think ignorance causes a lot of
boldness in flamenco nowadays. When that boldness originates
from one’s truth, I might not like it, but I respect
it. But boldness often comes accompanied by a bit of fraud.
And you can see it isn’t your cup of tea. That happens
a lot in baile, especially. Someone wanting to lie to
me enrages me a little. There’s stuff I don’t
like, but it’s your thing, you’re doing it
from your guts, how am I not going to believe you? I might
be mistaken, but when I don’t sense that, I’m
not at ease. It may be a problem I have to solve. Besides,
I have examples really close by of what work is, of people
who question everything they do, who don’t prostitute
themselves in any sense. Isabel, Rafaela, Belén
Maya... I know their principles. I’ve seen up close
the effort of important people in this world. I see what
you suffer and what each note and each beat mean, where
they come from and the effort involved in dancing, creating
a company, performing somewhere, earning money... There
are unfair things and sometimes the crowd is very easily
deceived. Mario Maya, who I’ve also worked with
a lot, said that once, that if you give the audience well-promoted
crap, they accept it. There’s room here for everybody,
but there’s no proportion between the luck certain
people have with what others have. Of course, there has
to be a bit of everything and it all requires work. I
don’t take anything away from even the ones I don’t
like”.
‘Pasaje de Valvanera’
zapateado
“We also do that number with Rafaela’s
company. It came out of an assignment. She needed a baile,
I proposed a zapateado to her, which isn’t done
much. It was for baile but with a musical sense. I changed
things in it. It has percussion, clapping and guitar;
it doesn’t have anything else. It has a really subtle
bass. It’s a street there is in Seville and I simply
like the name”.
‘Alhama’
nana
“Alhama is my mother’s maiden
name. It’s the last song, she was no longer here
when it came about. I remember that my mother used to
sing to me when I was little … Here’s where
Pablo Suárez plays the piano. Guitar and piano
aren’t instruments that get along very well, that
complement one another; they have a very similar timbre,
but since he’s so subtle in his scores, I thought
he was the one who could best help me on this song and
contribute what he’s done. I gave it to him, he
listened to it, we worked on it and it’s turned
out... I like it”.
-Do you intend to change your career
now?
-I’d love to, but it terrifies
me. But really, when I have to play by myself, with nobody
depending on me, I’m more at ease.
-The thing is that you company guitarists
have a huge responsibility …
-Many times, you’re the conductor.
You’re in charge of all the other musicians. You
have to be really good rhythmically. Sometimes the real
work put in by baile guitarists isn’t appreciated.
I think people are unaware of it; they can’t appreciate
the effort made by the people who are at the back, by
the musicians at the back. The cantaores are more visible;
a voice is appreciated more. There are guitarists for
baile such as Paco Jarana who I love, and a lot of what
Eva Yerbabuena is, is Paco. I love how he plays and everything
he does. There are many examples of tremendous guitarists
whose work falls on deaf ears. They shouldn’t be
overrated or underrated, either.
