HISTORIC INTERVIEW WITH LA NIÑA DE LOS PEINES

Josefina Carabias. 'Crónica,' July 21, 1935

Pastora Pavón, "La Niña de los Peines" and the greatest "cantaora" in Spain, is not happy with the current state of flamenco singing and wants to retire.

La Niña de los Peines

Pastora causes a commotion in Madrid

In the street calle Alcalá, the passers-by comment that there is a noisy crowd in the square plaza García Hernández (formerly known as plaza del Rey) that the police can hardly contain. When the police step forward, I normally take three steps in the other direction, but, coming to grips with my instincts, I head toward the crowd to see what the all the fuss is about. The street calle del Barquillo is packed with people, and the horses of the mounted police in the square are rearing up wildly. The riot police with their rifles seem as though they are about to open fire on the crowd at any minute.

-Hey, what's happening here? I ask a car-park attendant who is taking in the whole spectacle. Is the auditorium on fire or something?

-It's just La Niña. She always sets off this kind of commotion.

-But, what niña?

-What niña do you think? Saying niña is like saying don Niceto... Everyone knows that it's la Niña de los Peines. Pastora is singing tonight in the auditorium. Haven't you seen the billboards?

Now I understand. Now I understand why the crowd is so excited and why the police are on alert: to avoid what could happen when hundreds of people end up without a ticket. La Niña de los Peines is the idol of diehard flamenco enthusiasts, a bit like Lenin in the eyes of Communists. As if that were not enough, her rare appearances in Madrid amounts to one or two performances, at the most. For this reason, those of us that are fans of Pastora must make do with listening to one of her records or perhaps occasionally hearing her on the radio.

Pastora Pavón, La Niña de los Peines, is getting ready in a dressing room of the auditorium. As she straightens the locks of her raven hair, she inhales the steam of some mysterious concoction. It seems that, unexpectedly, she is having some problems with her voice, and this has her very worried.

-Can you believe it? Of all nights, tonight I've almost lost my voice. I'm so upset!

Pepe Pinto and La Niña de los Peines

Because our parents and even our grandparents talk about La Niña de los Peines, and because people say that she was a niña back in the first Carlist War, I imagined that I was going to meet a wrinkled little old lady. But I can assure you that she is anything but that. La Niña de los Peines is certainly no niña, not by a long shot. She is plump and brimming with vitality. She told me that she is 44 years old, which appears to be true. In any case, she does not look any older, and she would probably look younger if she were beautiful.

-You see, I started singing when I was just nine, and I've been doing this ever since.

-How is it that you started at such a young age?

-Because you don't need to go to school to do this. It's something you're born with, you know what I mean? And if you're born with it, it just comes naturally: as soon as you learn to speak-or even before that-, you sing. I remember when I first sang for an audience. They took me to a flamenco nightclub called El Brillante, and I caused such an uproar that they made me a singer right there on the spot. In Seville-where I was born and where I used to live-everybody knew me as 'Arturo's sister.' My brother Arturo was a very well-known singer. That was 35 years ago, and just imagine all the things that have come out of this throat of mine in that time.

	"I remember when I first sang for an audience. They took me to a flamenco nightclub called El Brillante, and I caused such an uproar that they made me a singer right there on the spot"

-You must have earned a lot of money from singing.

-Oh, lots of money. But today I'm as poor as a church mouse. I've always had a lot of family and friends to support, and I can't just idly sit by and watch people suffer. Pastora Pavón 'La Niña de los Peines' is no good at saving money.

-What's the story behind your artistic name?

-I'll tell you. It wasn't my idea, it was something that the people in Seville thought of. I wanted to be called Pastora, because that's my name, but I used to sing a tango that became a big hit. It went like this:

Peínate tú con mis peines;
Mis peines son de canela...

And that's when people started calling me 'la niña der tango de los peines,' and then 'La Niña de los Peines.' That name became so popular that they started to advertise me as 'La Niña de los Peines,' and that's what they call me today."

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