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And some "drums" aren't the same as others either...
Of course not. There are also people bad at playing the guitar. Why does it
have to be pure, why does it have to be good if you're playing it badly? As soon
as they see an instrument, they're already talking about the drums... No, man,
you analyze it. The easy thing is to say that it's not flamenco. Why not? Because
there's a percussion instrument? Because there's a keyboard? I think they'll realize
it some day. They act as if work were being taken away from them when another
musician is added!
  
José Mercé (Photos: Daniel Muñoz)
Speaking of instruments. On the one hand, there's that mutual understanding
with Moraíto...
Moraíto and I have had a close bond since we were born. We were born
in the same neighborhood in Jerez, in Santiago, we've know each other since we
were little, we went to the same school, we played the same things. Morao and
I have always known each other and the truth is that we have the same feelings;
we understand that that's the way flamenco is. And he knows when I'm going to
make a mistake, I know when he's going to get it wrong... There's a sense of security
to go out on stage having him at my side. It's not that he's the only one, because
at a given moment I can play with another guitarist, but beyond a doubt the chemistry
there is between Morao and me... Well, and between all of us who are there. We're
people who understand one another; we get along well. We've been working together
since 1997 and what we do is enjoy ourselves both on and off stage without complications
or anything like that. That's really nice.
Among those other guitarists there are two young guys who are also from
Jerez: Juan Diego and Diego de Morao.
Juan Diego is a guitarist that I love and he plays marvelously. And Diego de
Morao - Moraíto's son - has tremendous restlessness. I think the
seguiriya 'La libertad' is a new style of playing, a new way of performing guitar
por seguiriyas. He's gone down a few strings and made a mess there... All that's
really nice, if he gets it wrong, well... he's really young; it's good to make
mistakes. I think he's great. I'm singing a classic seguiriya by El Manijero,
by Tío José de Paula, and he's playing on another wavelength. You
have to understand that too.
Another key to the album was Isidro Muñoz. What was his contribution?
Isidro is a fresh talent for today's flamenco. He's a guy who's on our same
wavelength. We've known each other for ages, since I got to Madrid in '69. Back
then, since he's a guitarist, we lit up the Ateneo with a performance. We've never
stopped being friends. Isidro's been on these last two albums and Vicente Amigo
was on the previous one, but tomorrow it could be somebody else. Isidro is a monster
at what he does; it's that simple.
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"I just ask young singers to be patient, not to want to be
bullfighters before being apprentice matadors"
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What do you think of the current cante panorama?
I think it's great; there are a lot of good young people. I just ask them to
be patient, not to be in a rush, not to be on top of what is going to come, to
take it slowly... not to want to be bullfighters before being apprentice matadors.
They have proof of it in me. I started out at the age of thirteen, and when I
really started to be a little well-known and more popular was starting in '97
when 'Del amanecer' was recorded. I've built a career the way I think you ought
to do it, starting out as an apprentice. I began at the tablaos, then I appeared
with Antonio Gades, I've sung a lot for dancing. In '83 I got the chance to sing
solo in the festivals in Andalusia... This isn't just something that happens overnight.
Do you think the fact that there was a figure as strong as Camarón
eclipsed other contemporary artists?
No. I always say that Camarón will always be Camarón; a genius.
The young people who want to imitate him take up his last work and I think they're
all going to stay in José's shadow. It is a good idea for them to listen
to him, but rather his seventies' stuff. I was lucky enough to work with Camarón
at the Torres Bermejas tablao in Madrid and I've heard Camarón sing the
way he should be heard. I knew who José was. These young people listen
to his latest legacy and I don't think that's José's school.
Paco de Lucía also used to encourage young people to listen to what
there was before Camarón...
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"You don't have to limit yourself to how Manuel Torre used
to do the ay. I respect him a great deal, but I want to be myself"
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If you don't listen to the roots, if they don't listen to Manuel Torre, Chacón,
Niño Gloria, La Pompi, Vallejo, Pastora... I think they're starting the
foundation from the roof, so they lose a great deal of flamenco. You also have
to listen to the period of Caracol and Mairena. Sometimes you talk to these kids
about Juan Talega and they laugh. And they go around as if they know it all.
But afterwards people respond to the classic cante...
The two things aren't incompatible. Flamenco is eternal; it's all been done.
It can be renewed, but a seguiriya is a seguiriya, a soleá is a soleá
and that's all there is to it. What you have to do is add your personality to
the cantes that are there. You don't have to limit yourself to how Manuel Torre
used to do the ay. Great, but that was Manuel Torre and I respect him a great
deal, but I want to be myself; I don't have to do what everyone else used to do.
And why does José Mercé's flamenco sell?
Because it's the first time a record company's done a promotion like one for
any pop album. That's all. I remember that before we used to make a flamenco album
and it sold three or four thousand copies, Camarón used to sell seven or
eight thousand copies at that time, which was something quite extraordinary back
then. Paco de Lucía himself never sold records and Camarón has started
to sell more records after his death, unfortunately. No multinational has worried
about flamenco and in fact, nowadays even Cadena Dial - a Spanish radio station
for music in Spanish - doesn't play flamenco; it's outrageous. That's what
I don't understand in this country; we're a flamenco country and they don't accept
flamenco. I just can't believe it. What's up? Is Latin music the only good thing,
isn't flamenco worth anything anymore?
Don't you think the supposed experts also have a negative influence? The
impression seems to be that there's no other music that is so self-destructive...
I always say that flamenco critics are never constructive; they're always destructive
because they seem to be judges, as if what they say is the way to go. Do they
hold the truth? Why didn't I sing well today por seguiriyas? Just who are you?
And do this... (he plays the beat por bulerías on the table with his
knuckles). Well then why are you writing about flamenco? It's that simple.
If you go to that extreme... we'd all be just as radical.
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"What do I care if he doesn't understand what I'm singing as
long as he feels it?"
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Do you think they lack other musical references?
They don't understand it; they're really dense. All they say is he was great
with the soleá, but when he added the violin, it was over. What's really
important is the feeling. The good thing about the crowd is that something touches
them, but they might not understand a thing about cante.
They might not need to in order to feel it...
Exactly. Music is a universal language. If a guy's hair is standing up on end,
that's good enough for me. What do I care if he doesn't understand what I'm singing
as long as he feels it? I didn't understand the Beatles either, but they touched
me. I listen to all kinds of music and if it touches me I take the trouble to
ask in order to understand it. That's the important thing in music. I do the cante
as I feel it because that's just the way it comes out. In any branch of the arts,
there can't be molds...
There are things recorded by Manuel Torre, but there are things that talk about
two centuries ago of which there are no recordings. The malagueña by El
Mellizo, with all that's said about it, the idea we have is the one his son El
Morcilla recorded. Then why are they on about those things? We have to believe
what his son says. They make a gossip corner story... The room of perfection!
He sang at four o'clock in the morning in a room...! Wait a minute; if you'd had
a recorder, when you played it the next day you'd have said he was howling. At
four o'clock in the morning everyone feels good, in their glory, singing and dancing;
there's no responsibility or anything. Now listen to that tape when you get up
the next day. Is that me?
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