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Once upon a time José Manuel León...

Silvia Calado. Madrid, June 2006

José Manuel León (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

The source
“I was taught how to play by my father, Salvador Andrades. I met him when I was nine years old because he isn’t my natural father. There weren’t any artists in my family except for my grandfather, who used to sing por saetas and por fandangos incredibly well. And there was some tradition out there, but nothing in guitar. My mother became a widow when she was very young, twenty-four, and five years later she met my current father, who happens to be a guitarist. I started playing when I was thirteen. My father’s taught me everything; he’s very good technically, he’s very disciplined. When I used to see him teaching his students in class, I started to feel curious and I started playing, making it compatible with my studies and with the conservatory, where I reached intermediate degree in classical guitar. I quit my studies when I finished high school because it was no longer feasible for them to be compatible with guitar”.

Influences
“I have a lot of influences from him; he in turn has Paco de Lucía and Cañizares as references. Cañizares is one of the standards as far as evolution goes, since he has evolved in another direction. He’s got more than enough technique and sometimes the “mistake”, so to speak, is that he abuses so much ease a little bit. But as far as his concept, he seems outstanding to me. ‘Noches de imán y luna’ is really amazing; it’s one of the ones I’ve listened to most. The rumba is unbelievable. He isn’t normal. His head works differently. He starts flying and flies, flies, flies... he flies away from us”.

Other worlds
“At the beginning, as a base, it’s great to have Paco and Cañizares, but in time everything changed. When I came to Madrid, that point of discipline changed and I started living music another way. I listened to a lot of different music, especially American, drum and bass, jungle, groups that play unbelievable things in seven time, eleven time. And they’re rhythms that are there, but flamencos don’t normally try to get into them. And I’ve gotten in there and it’s worked. There’s no seven or eleven on my album, but on the album by Pablo Martín there’s stuff. It’s a different way. When you listen to it every day, it’s sediment that settles there; those influences remain. And they have to come out of you some way, somehow”.

José Manuel León (Photo: Noah Shaye)

The challenge
“Afterwards the problem is taking it to the instrument we’re talking about, flamenco guitar, and making it sound like flamenco guitar. We can start to play something else that isn’t flamenco and it doesn’t work. I’ve tried to be middle-of-the-road, taking it to my way of playing, which coincidentally is flamenco guitar, whether I like it or not. The sixth song on the album, ‘Hay que ser positivo’, is more experimental, but it isn’t a trick but rather my way of seeing it”.

And hopeful anticipation
“I have my own group to do ‘Sirimusa’ live, with Martín García on contrabass, drummer Borja Barrueta, and normally Cepillo on percussion, but it’s really hard to count on him because he’s in Sanlúcar all day long with his fishing rod and it’s really hard to catch him. Ha ha ha ha. And my wife, Alicia Carrasco, who sings on the album. She’s done it really well, especially because she doesn’t seem like anyone else, which is what I was interested in. I met her while working. She used to sing, the thing is that since she’s been with me she’s been a little withdrawn. Besides, she’s pregnant now, about to give birth. First the album came, and now comes the real delivery. We’re really excited”.

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