Jose Mercé: Profile
THE MOST ROCKING FLAMENCO SINGER

At age 45, fame and recognition have hit him with full force. Jose Mercé is "the boss". His new album, "Aire" that Virgin Records is promoting intensively, features the defiant singer from Jerez in the style of a flamenco rock star. The soulful rocker is clad in black, with a lock of hair falling over his forehead and a pair of sunglasses that hide his gaze. Drawing an invisible line between the past and the present, he breaks the mold with a set of songs that could be categorized in any which way, but in the end leave no one indifferent. Fifty thousand copies are guaranteed to be sold in barely four days and they confirm that the effort has been worth it. Moraíto Chico (guitar) and Tino di Geraldo (percussion) are featured guests and the "jaleo" comes straight from the land of this Jerez based singer.

If they told this to José Soto Soto when he had to appear at the "Basílica de La Merced" to sing in the church chorus, he would have fallen face down. Back then, his worries consist stages throughout half of Andalucia.

The magical nights wouldn't end on his arrival to the capital of Spain. Nothing could be farther from the truth. He got to know "tablaos" first hand, like Torres Bermejas, where he met a petite, timid youth with blond hair and the voice of a boy: Camaron de la Isla. A singer that would remain imprinted in his memory. Together they walked many miles on those never-ending mornings. They would learn from the songs of pain, from songs of bitterness to work songs. With predetermined destinations and schedules.

"Caminos Reales del Cante" or "Bandera de Andalucía" were works that intrigued them to the point that they were able to bring out palos with ancient flavor. The same goes for the "Tangos del Piyayo". Mercé never stopped studying the old singers. He always loved to submerge himself in the ancient songs, finding in the process his own style, from which a complete, professional and unforeseeable singer was born. The cause of the latter was that the aficionados began to follow him. If the performance gets heated, he doesn't have to loose his nobility, he just dances for a second to the rhythm of bulerías, as the singers of Jerez are accustomed to, obliging the audience to be cured from their wounds. This is how so many began to attend his shows with fervor.

José Merce's life has been marked by a fixed course and a cruising velocity. However, around age 40, he began feeling the yearning of an artist unsatisfied with his work; the yearning that drives one to a higher point. It is here that he has achored his ship today, from the journey across the "jondo" geography. Knowing that his story was the only one he could tell, he veered away from the traditional songs, but not from flamenco. The productions put out by Virgin Records (for some exquisite, for others simply commercial) fulfill him as an artist. No one can say that he doesn't seem happy being able to play the blues or performing what could be a jondo song for the year 2015. What is certain is that he has been elected.

The lyrics of his new album, as he preconceived, have to do with the ups and downs of any mortal. Until recently, it seemed crazy to sing a martinete about a government worker who abandons his lover and gets away on the local train. "Aire" however, allows it. The singer from Jerez has always defended that, "we don't get around the pueblo in a donkey cart any more" and pointed out, "how many people don't rely on a television and VCR in their living room." The aficionados that judge him, as a flamenco singer, watch if he rolls up his sleeves or not, while they sit at their tables. Mercé does it when the moment is right. As for the purists, they focus on changes in his voice, to see if he lengthens or shortens the palos to the right measurement. It's like the commercial that asks the society president that he be judged by his results and not by the fact that he wears a pair of jeans and a plain tee-shirt.

Mercé has a big advantage in his favor. He knows the art of singing extremely well. He knows that his, "quejíos" are injected in his veins with fast life and bring out Gypsy echoes in his genes. And above all, he doesn't fear the intermediaries, like that executive who is convinced that the investing in Mercé will be excellent for business.

By David Fernández
Translated by Jessica Lorber