The question “how’s everything, José”, carries sorrow within it. His broad smile has lost some of its luster, his eyes some of their shine and his head is tilted slightly downwards. “You always remember, what a pity…”, José Mercé says. Moraíto passed away less than a month ago. And if his absence is already felt between the dressing room and the sound check… it will be felt more so on stage. Moreover, tonight it’s time to remember, to take a look back, to weigh things up. The premiere of the concert ‘Nuevo amanecer’, a live compilation of greatest hits, is going to be the preamble to a turning point. The cantaor is going to record a new album with a new producer, but that isn’t the news. The news is that it will be published internationally by the mythical jazz label Blue Note, that of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington...   

José Mercé (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

What is ‘Nuevo amanecer’?

The truth is that it was my manager’s idea to make ‘Nuevo amanecer’; that is, to grab stuff from everything from the first disc I made with Vicente Amigo up to the latest one, ‘Ruido’, which we made with Isidro Muñoz. It means going back over all the songs in a show with a lot of dignity on stage. What happens is that in these times, this is really hard… There are a lot of us and we’re there little by little. It all falls on my shoulders, on my kidneys, on my throat. In principle, we’re doing it and, like nearly always, it’s sold out, it’s all full and that really gives me a lot of joy. We’ll see if someone helps us...

The ones who always help are the audience, aren’t they?

Of course, indeed. Without them, we wouldn’t be anyone. We intend to take this tour all over Spain in fall and winter. Let’s hope it can be done. To start off with, I’m really happy with all my people, with all my musicians. Besides being good artists, I think they’re wonderful people with heart who give it their all up on stage. Without them, this show wouldn’t be possible.

Which musicians accompany you?

On keyboard we have Mestre, who has already been on quite a few albums with me; on bass there’s Manolo Nieto and Guillermo on trumpet, two phenomena. We have Güito on percussion and on guitars there’s Keko de Cádiz and maestro Morao’s son, Diego del Morao. In the choruses we have Marce, Rafa, El Negro and two marvelous girls: Melián and Elena. They sing wonderfully and they do some delightful choruses. The truth is that I have a great group. I think the audience sees that what we’re doing is a great show and I hope it works, despite the crisis and everything.

Was it hard to choose the songs?

José Mercé (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

I think we’ve made a selection of the most important songs, perhaps the ones which have been played the most. But I think people are going to like any song you play from the records; it’s going to reach them.

And do you maintain the introduction to classical cante?

Yes, we have a part where we do some orthodox flamenco. I’m never going to take that away. You can’t ever remove deep-roots music or the base. What I always say is that there’s an excess of everything being called flamenco. And someone does a sevillana and says it’s flamenco, and somebody else sings I don’t know what and now everything’s flamenco. I think there’s been a great deal of excess ever since posh people decided to get involved in flamenco. Now saying “flamenco” on a bill or on an album catches people’s eye. Sometimes that’s really harmful. I agree with open flamenco, I agree with miscegenation, but always when it’s to enhance flamenco. And you have to get a little angry because it’s confusing people.

However, you’ve also been reproached for going off the beaten path…

I’ve been slammed a great deal, but really because it’s been successful. If these open-flamenco albums I’ve been making, from ‘Del amanecer’ to ‘Ruido’, hadn’t been hits, maybe everything would have been all right. But since things soared… This is really about “quijotes” (hopeless idealists); it’s really typical of us. As soon as someone peeks out, they try to step on you. Everyone gets put in his place with the passing of time. I’ve even seen colleagues who had criticized me on stage later on, doing what I was doing. I think that speaks for itself.

José Mercé, 'Nuevo amanecer' Check Sound (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

What has happened in flamenco over the past fifteen years?

I see that I’m really missing an echo. In flamenco, we say an echo, like in bullfighting, about someone who pinches you, someone who hurts you, who reaches you. I don’t know if it’s the atmosphere or if it’s what we’re eating, but there are a lot of light voices. I don’t hear voices that wound you. They don’t come out. Truly, I don’t think that starting with my generation, anyone ground-breaking has come out, who has a flamenco echo that catches your eye, that says anything to you. For flamenco’s own good, I hope some of those echoes appear.

And do you see guitar the same way?

Guitar has advanced a great deal; it has an extraordinary level and progress. But I also have to say that when you tell one of those guitarists who eat up the guitar, who grab the fingerboard and fly, “play a natural soleá”, they haven’t got a clue. That’s also very typical of this generation. Playing guitar for singing… you have to choose them very carefully; it’s really hard. And now the best one has left us… So I don’t know what’s going to happen. Toque for singing is really scarce. Today’s generation eats up the guitar, but maybe it’s that they don’t like cante or that they want to come out and give concerts straight away… In my time, we used to build up a career, the way the canons dictate. We started off small-time; we used to sing for dancing and you’d learn a lot there until you got your big break. But not nowadays. It seems as if singing for dancing would degrade you or something like that. It’s a mistake young people make: they want to be bullfighters without being apprentices first.

José Mercé (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

The last question before you get back to the sound check is a must: what can you tell us about your new album?

Let’s hope so, that there’s a new disc. We’re so very lucky in flamenco that we’ve been signed by Blue Note International and, well, let’s hope that it’s a great album with great world musicians. Javier Limónis going to be the producer and we’re going to have great musicians and great guitarists. And I want it to be a great album internationally which we can present in New York in order to go on a world tour from there.

And is there going to be a change of air?