Name: Gustavo A. López
City, cuentry: Seattle, WA USA
Question: Are you going to come here to the United States to present new music? We’d love to listen to everything live. Congratulations on your new album!
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Carmen Linares: I’d love to present ‘Raíces y alas’ in the United States. I hope some contacts materialize and we can present it there in 2009, probably in the setting of Flamenco Festival USA.

Name: J. Pecos
City, country: Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Question: Madam, I was smitten and enchanted by you at a live show in Costa Nord de Valldemossa (Majorca), you dedicated a Lullaby to Michael Douglas’s wife, the then pregnant and soon-to-be-mother Katherine Z. Jones. I ask you: How do you manage to prove yourself so sincere and touch the feelings of the aficionados, who I am among, with your voice of frosted honey? Is it due to skill or out of love for what you do?
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Carmen Linares: First of all, I’d like to thank you for these lovely words. You were really lucky to experience that moment, because it was wonderful. I remember it with a great deal of affection. I think that night was magical. I think it’s a little bit of both. If you have skill, you can relax. Since you know that everything’s all right, you can manage for everything to flow, connecting with the audience, for the audience to feel what you’re singing and be touched.

Name: Manuel
City, country: Sanlúcar de Barrameda (España)
Question: On ‘Tierra Firme’, a flamenco recording (1994) dedicated to several poets, cantaor Manuel Malía (Sanlúcar de Barrameda) adapts to Huelva verses by Juan Ramón Jiménez. Did Carmen and those surrounding her know that record?
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Carmen Linares: Not really, but I’d love to hear it. I’m really glad that there are people who have had the really good idea of singing to Juan Ramón, because he’s a great poet. If it’s possible, let me know how to find it.

Name: Ellen Birgitte Rasmussen
City, country: Dinamarca
Question: Here in Denmark, cante has a great following. Many people learn to sing by listening to records or by going to a class every week with a Danish cantaor. Do you believe it’s possible to really learn flamenco this way?
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Carmen Linares: Cante is learnt, like everything else. But first you have to have certain conditions which God or nature gives you or which you believe in. A voice, heart and talent. And then, you have to know the culture and the flamenco world really well, including the language. You have to be a very good aficionado and listen to a lot of cante, whether it is on records or listening to professional cantaores live.

Name: Raúl Cantizano
City, country: Seville
Question: Hi Carmen, thank you for your work, above all. You’ll always be a reference for all of us. Do you believe it’s possible, with many people’s anti-progressive, “orthodox” ideas, that flamenco cante can end up becoming something more similar to folklore than to art? I’m referring just to cante because I think the rest of the expressions are freer.
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Carmen Linares: I think flamenco has to evolve because it’s an artform and neither flamenco, nor music, nor painting can ever be anti-progressive... nor anything that’s art. Flamenco, whether we like it or not, is going to keep on evolving with life because its a very individualistic and very lively artform. And that includes cante, of course. I deeply respect people who want to keep flamenco intact, just the way singing used to be done a hundred years ago, but you also have to respect those who want to express themselves freely.

Name: Rita Vicente
City, country: Argentina
Question: I’ve known you for a short time and in my flamenco classes I danced to one of your songs. I really like how you sing and say the lyrics; I understand them and I therefore really enjoy myself. My question is, why did you choose Juan Ramón Jiménez, whom I know for ‘Platero y yo’?. I hope to hear from you and best wishes.
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Carmen Linares: Because he’s a great poet and he has poetry which is really deep and at the same time with really simple, resounding words for flamenco. His poetry doesn’t have the metrics of flamenco cantes; that’s why we’ve had to compose special music for them. Moreover, I don’t think the flamenco world had musicalized his poems very much, it hadn’t approached this great poet too much. And it seemed just to me and really nice to dedicate this album to him.

Name: Trinidad Fernández
City, country: Córdoba, Argentina
Question: I’d just like to tell you the admiration all of us flamencos feel for you in these lands where you would always be welcome. My grandparents were born in Santisteban, and since I was little I listened to my grandfather tell stories about the bulls of Linares. A Christmas gift will be to be able to tell you simply this: Success to you! and we await your visit.
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Carmen Linares: Thank you very much and I’d love to return to Argentina, which is a country I like a lot. Kind regards and Merry Christmas.

Name: Marcos Alejandro
City, country: Puerto Ordaz/ Venezuela
Question: Hi, with great admiration and respect, I’ll make use of this chance first of all to tell you how much I like your voice although I’m not very knowledgeable. I haven’t been in the flamenco world for much more than two years playing the guitar for Gabriela Fonseca’s school, my flamenco cradle. My question is the following: For someone who’s a beginner in the cante world, what do you recommend? Thanks from Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela.
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Carmen Linares: First of all, I think you have to have a great liking for it and train yourself by listening to the great maestros, whether it is through records or, if you have the chance to listen to live flamenco, it’d be the best. Since we’re lucky enough to have a great discography of old-time cante, I’d recommend listening to the classics in order to have a good base. And afterwards, to try and sing as much as possible, on stages of all kinds even if they aren’t big ones: peñas, gatherings, schools... Good luck to you.

Name: Antonio Ortega
City, country: Córdoba
Question: Bearing in mind that you are and have a really personal style, do you believe or think that you’ve been the reflection of someone in the flamenco world?
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Carmen Linares: I’d like to think so. It would be an honor for me that aficionados and artists consider me an example. I’ve also taken other artists as an example when I was getting started and I continue to do so.

Name: Jose A. Domínguez
City, country: of San Miguel de Tucuman-Tucumán-Argentina
Question: Dear Distinguished Carmen Linares: for the radio program, Andalucía Flamenca, produced by La Casa de Andalucía in Tucumán-Argentina, broadcast by the official radio station of the National University of Tucumán: our congratulations go out to the greatest cantaora in history, who in all honor is the current queen of cante, after Pastora Pavón’s journey to glory, we think you should receive cante’s Llave de Oro. And if there were a list, who would you consider the greatest cantaores for being the most complete and the most jondo? Your anthology ‘La mujer en el cante’ marked a great milestone in flamenco. Today, what would be the message to get across with “Raíces y alas”? Accept a brotherly salutation from the flamenco world of these faraway lands. Manuel Maya López, President of La Casa de Andalucía in Tucumán (born in Granada), Antonio Hidalgo (Vice President) and José Antonio Domínguez (Secretary), both children of Málaga-born parents.
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Carmen Linares: To me, the pillars of cante are Antonio Chacón, Manuel Torre and La Niña de los Peines; and currently, Morente and Camarón. But there are a great many others who I like and I consider them maestros and great contributors to flamenco. I’m not going to give any more names because I don’t want to forget anybody.

Regarding ‘Raíces y alas’, I think it’s a very novel record because it’s the first time I’ve done an album of my own where the music and the cante have been composed for me, as has been done in this case by Juan Carlos Romero. I’ve been really lucky because Juan Carlos is one of the best composers there is in flamenco nowadays. It’s been really exciting work because he’s been able to understand Juan Ramón’s poetry and give each poem the right nature. I’ve felt totally identified with what he’s composed and really at ease making this record. That’s why I’ve been able to give so much of myself.

Name: Luz Romero
City, Country: Alcorcón
Question: Hi Carmen. I’d like to know what you think about the fusion of flamenco with other musical styles, whether it is jazz, rock, hip hop, etc. Do you think it’s still flamenco? Would you like to do something like that?
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Carmen Linares: Fusions are really complicated. Doing a good fusion is really hard. In order to fuse well, you have to know that type of music really well which you’re going to fuse flamenco with. Fusion isn’t getting together for three hours and that’s all. I’ve listened to wonderful things like, for example, the ones by Paco de Lucía, who’s never lost flamenco’s identity in what he’s done. Otherwise, it’s hard because it might not sound either flamenco or the type of music it’s fused with, not being anything. I’d like to if I find something that motivates me and I feel like it, but not fusion for the sake of fusion.

Name: Anatole (14 años)
City: France
Question: Hello, your flamenco is a flamenco which has purity, tradition, respect for the old-time maestros as well as avant-garde and today’s colors. What do you think of flamenco’s future?
Thank you for what you do for flamenco.
(sorry about the spelling mistakes...)
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Carmen Linares: You provide the key with your question. I think you have to be in the avant-garde with flamenco, but with a really solid base, with good training in traditional cante and the roots. I think in that way, flamenco’s future is guaranteed. When people are well-trained, it’s harder to get lost.

Name: Zesss
City: Madrid
Question: Where do you feel more at ease, on stage or at the recording studio?
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Carmen Linares: That’s really easy to answer. On stage, undoubtedly. I feel the warmth of the audience there, which is very important to me. It’s more technical and colder at the studio, but it’s necessary to record; you have like a lot of control over what you’re doing and you can perfect things more. But I always try to record the albums live, with guitar, clapping and other instruments, because that way excites me more. It contributes more things to me and I feel better. ‘Antología’ and ‘Un ramito de locura’ were recorded live. I recorded ‘Raíces y alas’ really calmly, also with that method to inspire me more. I’m really satisfied with the result.

Name: Julie
City, country: Francia
Question: I’m working on the theatricalization of flamenco dancing and of flamenco in general. Flamenco dancing has been revolutionized; sometimes it doesn’t have anything to do with "flamenco tradition". Of course, evolution is a must, but at what price? I’d like to know what you think about this trend. Best wishes.
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Carmen Linares: I think baile can be theatricalized and made into shows in that sense. It all depends on how it’s done; there are shows that are really well put together and others that aren’t. It depends on the person who does it and that artist’s quality. Sometimes, I’ve come out of it the same way I went in; without understanding a single thing. But when it’s done well, it’s wonderful. Stakes have to be laid on theatricalizing flamenco dancing, but with quality.

Name: Ana Delgado
City: Lisbon, Portugal
Question: Greetings. When you sing, do you feel the audience’s energy, their presence while you sing, or do you succumb, devoting yourself to cante and afterwards looking at the crowd? Thank you for your art.
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Carmen Linares: When I sing, of course I feel the energy of the audience and a great deal, moreover. You can tell that. Logically, I empty myself when I sing and it’s wonderful to see that you connect with the crowd, that people are touched when you sing and they receive what you want to give them.

Name: Francisco de Paula Luna García
City: Granada
Question: Hi Carmen, I’d like to know your opinion about if you consider that true flamenco cante has evolved (creation of new styles, different melodies) just like toque, for example, or if the current cantaores/as cling to reinterpreting already created styles with the present expression of nowadays. Without further ado, thanks in advance and my sincerest admiration.
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Carmen Linares: I think it has evolved. All you have to do is see the old-time records and listen to how singing is done today. Guitar has evolved more, but when you reinterpret, a lot of things are also contributed.