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What with the delays and all, do you give in to the temptation of constantly touching up what's been recorded?

Once it's finished I don't even listen to it. They say records never finish being recorded. The thing is I reached the point where I had to stop. I'm not going to make any more changes because if not, I'd never finish it. The last few days of recording there was a lot of commotion; stick something in here, change that over there. There came a time when I had to say period.

	Marina Heredia (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

No matter how much personality you might have of your own, references are always inevitable. What are yours?

It's a very personal album. At least we've tried for it to be. We've always - I speak in plural because El Bolita and I have been at the studio for 24 hours - tried to let ourselves be guided by our hunches and to isolate ourselves from everything. What I can tell you is that I think Jaime Heredia ‘El Parrón’, my father, is one of the living cantaores who does the soleá best. The soleá is the most important thing in flamenco.

The violins and the contrabass carry great weight on your upcoming record.

The contrabass adds a lot of weight and a great presence. It seems to strengthen the contents of the words. The message in ‘Las madres locas’ has to be told forcefully and the contrabass is ideal for that.

In the last two years you've only performed twice in your hometown. Are the demands on your career taken badly?

We've worked in a lot of places but really little in Granada. Due to the fact you're from Granada, you're offered two performances a month and that gets old fast, because even though the people love you, you shouldn't overdo it. That's why I like to pace myself and not burn out the cities.

You've also changed your look for this album. You've gone from the ordinary skirt in ‘Me duele me duele’ to a modern bata de cola dress and a perhaps more serious look.

I've always had a very solid look and I don't like disguising myself when I come out on stage. When I used to do other songs I couldn't come out with frills and flowers. I'm a flamenco artist. That's the way I feel. I like wearing a good dress on stage. Jeans are for going shopping. My dresses aren't typical frilled dresses. I'm very presumptuous and I really like to put on make-up, especially for work.

You're going to perform soon at the Albaycín Festival. What do you think of the traditional flamenco festivals without any acoustics? Do they still make sense nowadays?

Horrible. This Albaycín one is one of the few exceptions, but in general there are things that are unbelievable that shouldn't be like that. They'd rather spend the money on bringing in another cantaor and make the festival longer than use that money for a sound company. In my case, I'm not into most of those festivals. It's a touchy subject.

You're going to perform in Japan soon. A concert with those technical means would be unthinkable there …

Obviously. That's their bread and butter. Even so, their following is so great that bad sound wouldn't matter to them.

Marina Heredia (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

It seems as though the artists from your generation are following a similar path. Arcángel, Miguel Poveda...

We're at a great moment in time. We might be lacking in great figures like there used to be. Some will say there's no longer a Caracol or a Camarón, but when a hundred years have gone by, some of the ones now will be appreciated the way Mairena can be considered nowadays. You've got to let artists mature so that they can forge their own legend. That can't be done overnight. A lot of people will come out. I like listening to everybody; it doesn't always have to be Poveda or Arcángel. There's a kid in Jerez called David Lagos who's got a very personal voice and he knows cante really well. In La Línea there's Chocolate's nephew, who's called El Pulga, who's unbelievable doing seguiriyas. Flamenco is at its best moment.

You started off as a bailaora together with Estrella Morente. Your maestra, Angustias la Mona, says that since you two were so bad at it, she decided to have you sing. Is that true?

We weren't that bad. We were just a little bad. They couldn't bring themselves to tell us to quit dancing until we ourselves did it on our own. In the end we changed fields. We liked baile because at that age it caught our attention more. Thank God we changed to cante. Afterwards we started singing as a game at Peña Platería with Manolillo Liñán, El Charico, Miguel Ángel Cortés.

You have this so pent-up inside that you seldom do a little dancing on stage …

I don't know. I don't always do it. Just when I feel like it because I'm not used to it.

Do you think that to pay tribute to a mythical cantaora, you need to do your hair up like in the twenties?

Well, everyone does what he thinks is best at the time. I think everyone has their personality marked clearly. You yourself have to know where you stand. We're not in the twenties now. We're a little bit further along. We're very young and it's OK for us to make mistakes as long as it's not somebody else who trips you up.

The institutional support received by flamenco over the past few years has created malaise amongst musicians from other styles. Do you think it's fair?

We've just had subsidies for five years and have spent five years broke. If pop sells three million copies and flamenco three thousand, they've got no reason to complain. Besides, as far as I know, rock comes from England and flamenco is something of ours. I've really been feisty lately and nobody should get offended by what I say. The record company question has riled me up.

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