When my father worked at "Los Canasteros" there was a guy there that played really well, called "El Nani". We all knew him. When I saw him I was really impressed with his playing. He asked me, "Aren't you going to play like your father?". I just played a little, practically nothing. So I said, "I don't know. I'm studying." So he showed me a falseta and I was hooked. I told my father that I wanted to play and I stayed in Madrid and I stayed at a boarding house where he stayed and I started to study. At that time I was playing with the house musicians, but behind the set, behind the curtains, so Caracol says to me "Are you ready to play?", and I went red. I wanted to die, and I said that I was, so he says, "Well get yourself a suit, tomorrow's your debut." I was about fifteen...

Photo by Arbelos

I didn't have a suit back then. It was funny because the tailor, you probably know about him, Faustino Tero, who was an old friend of Caracol's and my father's, he didn't take the right measurements and the suit turned out huge for me. I went out to play at Los Canasteros in a suit twice my size. But the important thing for me was to debut there with those important artists.

I have always been in love with the guitar. At that time I was at Los Canasteros, and I used to study a lot. I remember one night Paco de Lucía came by and liked my playing. He was just starting out back then, working around Europe, and he was also very young. He suggested doing concerts together, and I learned a lot with him. We spent a year traveling all over the world, I learned a lot.

Enrique de Melchor

I have always felt a huge amount of respect towards making solo recordings, because it seems really difficult to me. In order to do a solo recording first you have to make the music yours, have a little personality, good tone, a lot of things. I eventually did recordings, after getting back from the concerts with Paco.

Studying wasn't a routine with him. He was so in love with the guitar, if he didn't have any work he'd pick up the guitar and play for hours by himself. He liked playing, like few people do, because with the guitar you reach a point where.... There are two ways to study the guitar, one is where you play for your own enjoyment, and the other is when you force yourself to study it. I prefer the first way, of course. Unfortunately you've got to maintain a certain level, and you might have to force yourself to study it, and that's not good.

Melchor de Marchena

I remember that my father's favorite singer was Caracol. They were great friends. He liked Mairena, and when he was older and he heard Camarón I remember that he always used to say, "That boy sings like an old man." That was beautiful, and it meant a lot, after all the people that he'd played with.

I always tell people starting out to enjoy playing. You've got to have a good time playing and dedicate a lot of time to it. It's very demanding.

I remember something that my father once told me, I always mention it in interviews, I'd been playing in Japan for a year, playing a lot every day, and my father said: "You're going to have a hard time making it." I was surprised, and I asked why. He said: "Because when you do things right, it takes a long time to make it; but when you do, no one can take that away from you." That's old-folks' philosophy, but it's really deep, too. So I'd tell guitarists not to get discouraged. Not to think, "Things are going bad.", or "There's no work", if you love the guitar, you're optimistic and you want to get somewhere, you'll always be able to make a living.

Life is what changes. Now we're like a whole world that's opening up with this and that. But it's actually a very small world. We've always had the same customs and the same kind of humor. For example, in a flamenco fiesta, somebody says something funny and those that aren't insiders won't understand it. It's a small world, but you've got to be inside it and live it all your life to understand it.

I live happily, quite happily, because I've got my family: my wife, my daughters.... I earn enough to live well; I'm still in love with flamenco, which is the most important. So I don't ask for anything else being happy with what I do is important enough.

I did my last recording in 1992 and went for four or five years without recording anything. I'd spend all day playing, but I wasn't coming up with anything. I started to worry, to wonder what was happening. But in the end, during twenty days there was a period of inspiration, or whatever it is, or worries about things, or being unhappy, I don't know why. During those twenty days I came up with all the material on the recording and I went straight into a studio to record it.

It's strange because the record has eight songs, and when I had seven of them, I just had to get it finished. I remember it was a Sunday, and I came up with "The Dance of the Gypsies", with Amancio Prada and Paco Rabal, and in an hour it was finished. I still couldn't play it, but I spent Monday working on it, and two days later I went and did it. I came up with some words for it and I wanted someone to sing it who wasn't a flamenco, because I had this sound in my head. It wasn't "mestizaje" (cross-breeding) or anything like that, I just wanted someone to sing, "Roads of dust and sand...", like a troubadour, or folk singer, a guy at the recording company, a friend of mine, Roberto, suggested Amancio Prada and I thought it would be beautiful, at least for me. For the recited part, somebody else suggested Paco Rabal and I thought that with the voice that he's got it would be wonderful.

On this recording I didn't set out with the same intentions as my other recordings: going technically further than anyone else. I wanted to do this recording for myself. I wanted to do what I felt like at each moment. People's responses have been wonderful because everyone has noticed how fresh it sounds, so... It's been well received. I remember that Félix Grande said something, I asked him why people liked it and he said, "because you didn't intend anything with this recording. You've already proven yourself and now you're playing for yourself and you've transmitted that to the public." That made me think.

Paco de Lucía plays on the record, too. I had that number finished, the "Fandangos de Huelva", and when I spoke to Paco he asked, "What do you want me to do, then, if it's finished?". I said that I'd take out a "Fandango" that he could play, and then accompany me in the end. It was great working with him. He's not only a monster, but a beautiful person, and he spent a long time with me. I think it's one of the best songs on the record, and one of the most beautiful "Fandangos de Huelva" done in a long time.

What can I say about Paco? He's the greatest! I know him pretty well. He's outstanding in his field. If he's your friend it's for life because he puts his heart into it. That's why he plays like he does. He must have two or three hearts instead of only one.

I like Manolo Sanlúcar, not only because he plays so well, but because he's dedicated his whole life to the guitar, to music. When he was playing at a place called "Las Brujas", where I met him, he was already an excellent guitarist, but he didn't mind earning 700 pesetas a day, making just enough to eat. He was, and still is, in love with the guitar.

Vicente Amigo is an excellent guitarist. He's one of my favorites because he sounds like Andalucía. I'm sure that Vicente Amigo would give up a few years of his life to have been born a few years before he was, because he would have liked to live that atmosphere. I admire him a lot for his playing and as a person. He's a great soloist.

I can't understand that term, "new flamenco" On a tape where I'm playing a solo, that's "New flamenco". If I'm "New flamenco" now, just imagine 25 years ago: it'd be really "New flamenco"! Paco is new flamenco and always will be. Remedios Amaya, too... I recorded with Remedios Amaya 20 or 25 years ago and she sang just as well as she does now, so that's not new flamenco. An example... I don't want to mention names, but... Navajita Plateá has nothing to do with new flamenco. They're two gypsies from Jerez that sing really well. They aren't, and don't even want to be, new flamencos. They make their own music, and that's all.

I've recorded with so many people. Right now, I don't know if I want to record with anybody. I like Remedios Amaya's voice, she reminds me of Camarón, who I liked very much but.... she sings very well. I don't know...La Paquera. I like her voice a lot; it's like a torrent of passion. I don't know...

I like a lot of people, but after having played for Caracol, Mairena, so many others, it's hard to say. I liked Fosforito's cracked, hoarse voice. Mairena sounded powerful. I like Mercé, a lot of people. Lebrijano sounds very personal to me. In a fiesta he could blow anyone away with his bulerías. There are so many voices, but I don't like to name names because I always forget someone. I like Rancapino because his singing sounds like it's coming from beyond the grave. It kind of scares you when he starts to sing. There are a lot of important things that...