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Philosophers
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Juan Diego with Jorge Pardo |
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As a soloist, everyone coincides that his is not virtuosity, but rather feeling.
Juan Diego says that 'Luminaria'
"is almost entirely composed in the time when I went back to live in Jerez,
when I started to try and forget everything I'd learned while away in order to
play as impersonally as possible. And then it turns out that it's what sounds
the most personal. I try to make it sound impersonal, since music is there for
people to enjoy; we're simple baffles, we connect with I don't know what and we
have to make come across... the feelings of all humankind, what everyone feels,
whatever country they're from, whatever color they are".
Does that democratic zeal lead him to seek a digestible type of flamenco music?
"It's hard for me to understand jazz, for example, but I took the trouble
to play it and thanks to meeting jazz musicians who taught me quite a bit, I absorbed
it little by little. They guided me recommending me to listen to Bill Evans, Marcus
Miller, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown... and also
Sting, The Police, AC/DC". The guitarist has the sensation that this exploration
is in the minority: "Nowadays people don't stop and listen to an entire album
at home. You have to have that patience, because that life which exists now, with
that television, those radio stations with so many economic interests... It's
as if they're pushing you. Let me stop; I want to listen to this for a while!".
And that truce is what 'Luminaria'
provides: "With this album we wanted to give music for people to enjoy, not
to try and show how good I am, nor look at all I've studied, nor look what a good
person I am... no. Look how good we all are. If you feel it it's because you understand
me and if you're not able to do it on a guitar, you're able to do it with a camera
or laying bricks". Juan Diego is philosophical. He's spent nights reading
'Twilight of the Idols' by Nietzsche, an interest he says he owes to Musiquita.
He relates that the arrangement writer "was one of the people who gave me
the best advice when playing. And that calmness, that serenity is reflected on
the album... He advised me to buy everything by Khalil Gibran and I did; they're
my reference books. When you find yourself a little nervous, that you're a little
off-balance, I grab 'The Prophet', 'The Voice of the Master'... books that to
me are treasures of humankind. He was a huge artist with a very strong message
and thanks to Musiquita I discovered it more in depth. There is not more humility
and wisdom, because he knows about music. The rest of us try and make a living".
The box of prawns
Is it going against the current to bet on flamenco of feeling? "It isn't
going against the current; it's jumping out of the river. As Groucho Marx used
to say, stop the world for me, I want to get off. I don't jump into this river
because I don't think it exists either. What happens to flamenco guitarists is
that they have the guitar complex and you have to get rid of it to be able to
record solo. If not, you want to be like Paco de Lucía and the only one
like him is Francisco Sánchez Gómez". The figure of the maestro
from Algeciras weighs heavily for flamenco guitarists but, as he explains with
Juan Diego's sense of humor, "it's as if you're carrying a box of prawns
on your shoulder. Is it very heavy? Yes, but I'm going to pig out because they're
scrumptious. It's not a burden. Everyone depends on Paco. I'm crazy because I
pull out the new album to listen to it and to see what new things he's going to
teach me". That's why he thinks what does end up being a check is what he
calls the guitar complex: "I've also been through it. As a guitarist and
as a young kid what I used to want was to do the scales of 'Entre dos aguas',
which nobody does, nobody else except Paco. Until you see that it's physically
impossible for you to get there, also due to circumstances, teachers, because
life's current takes you elsewhere, your son has to go to the nursery... There
are a lot of things that you have to move forward and they're as important or
more so than the other thing. It all has to be done in harmony".
Juan Diego with Dr. Kelly,
Luminaria's producer
And Jerez? Is Jerez a burden? "Well instead of prawns, say that they're
oysters. It weighs you down if you want to imitate certain flamenco icons created
by I don't know who. I give Moraíto as an example, whom I've learned a
great deal from because he has incredible rhythmic weight. You have to draw from
there. Be like him? I'm white and blond, he's dark-skinned, with long hair, I
like whisky with water, he likes it with cola... We don't have to try and be like
anyone, but we do have to learn from these important people. The truth is that
in Jerez, the percentage of artists per inhabitant is very high and they can give
you a lot. I love meeting the important people in Jerez and learning from them.
Look at what a seguiriya Luis Moneo sings for me on the album".
The telephone
Juan Diego's most immediate project is, straight to the point, "for the
telephone to ring". He has just finished the tour with José Mercé
and "we'll see how things go at Christmas. Let's hope that some work comes
out of this album, which really, basically, is why I made it: I needed a business
card". He shares concern with his colleagues about the current situation
of the record market, little inclined to bet on instrumentals. "And you can't
depend on any artist to carry you because life teaches you that you're here today
with so-and-so and tomorrow you're not because you've missed a bus or because
it's rained. If you don't work on it personally and open up your way little by
little...".
Time passes and "kids come playing really strong, when you get gray hairs
you're no good anymore because you have no image, nor do you fit, nor can you
stand the twenty-year-old bailaor who wants you to do music especially for his
feet; you're out of your generation". He also learns from those who come
afterwards, since "they've already learned the things from the previous generation
and they surpass you slightly. Paco's new albums which I've had to digest over
time are his baby food. They come with an assured future". He thinks that
"you have to learn both from the old for their wisdom and their serenity;
and from the young because they come with a fresh breeze and they get you going,
since they bring all of life's energy which is what drives the music and everything".
If Juan Diego is asked to analyze the present flamenco guitar scene, he responds
with an encouraging message: "I know the guitarists from my generation and
there are a lot who have many things to say. I don't want to give myself as an
example of having jumped over the barrier, but they must get rid of their complexes
so that we can all enjoy what they have inside. They should bring out their music
and forget about demonstrations. They're very worthwhile and they have to let
us listen to them
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