Ojos de Brujo, flamenco hip-hop group. Interview

“The magic of Ojos de Brujo lies in the flamenco”

Silvia Calado, June 2005
Translation: Gary Cook

The Ojos de Brujo hits factory is ready to blow. The band's third album is due out in the autumn and it's time to “bring all the ideas that sprung up over the course of the tour to fruition, organize them, package them up”. And in the meanwhile, to keep their fans happy, there'll be the first chance to catch a live performance on DVD. The concert show is pieced together from highlights of the three year ‘World Trapi Tour’, singled out for an award by the Spanish Academy of Music. The international success of the group under the banner of ‘world music’ has led to fruitful joint ventures that are leaving a certain flamenco aftertaste with musicians like Nitin Sawhney, Asian Dub Foundation or FunDaMental. Let's see what happens in the return match... The band's next recording project will, according to Ramón, have “more funk, more hip-hop, more flamenco, more of everything... but it'll be tighter, for sure. We have the advantage that we’ve spent a lot of time together, when we play everyone learns from everyone else.”

Ojos de Brujo (Photo: Pau Palacios)

In a few words, how would you weigh up Ojos de Brujo's career to-date?

Very positive. I never imagined any of this, Ojos de Brujo was all about playing just for the fun of it.

What's the secret of an album (‘Barí’) that not only still sounds good after two years, but that continues to grow with time?

This album was our ticket to success in the outside world. And the discovery of ‘Barí’ is backed up internationally by our live shows. It was all a gradual process like a snowball that, over the course of around two years, just grew and grew.

Why do you think Ojos de Brujo's music is understood in such different countries?

In Ojos de Brujo, on the one hand, there's a code that is perfectly easy to understand in other countries, like funk, hip-hop… And, on the other hand, there's a flamenco code more unfamiliar to them but that, when it's combined with what they know, is very attractive. The magic lies in the flamenco, that’s what wins over audiences in all its modes of expression, from the purest forms right down to the extract that is the heartbeat of Ojos de Brujo's songs. There are foreigners who listen to Ojos de Brujo because they like funk, but they start to get hooked on bulerías, or who liked reggae but ended up hooked on tangos. And, in the end, they see the light and end up listening to seguirillas and in love with flamenco. I think under any other circumstances it would've been harder to get them interested in flamenco.

Marina and Ramón (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

What effect did the BBC Radio 3 World Music award have?

It was like a breath of fresh air. After all the work we did in Europe, things like that give us inspiration to continue the struggle.

In what sense is the label ‘world music’ positive for flamenco?

Flamenco is flamenco wherever it goes, whatever label you put on it. But all things considered, the appearance of a new way of presenting flamenco will always be welcome. Let's not forget that for people that are unfamiliar with flamenco this label is perfect. Everything is ‘world music’ until proven otherwise.

	"Flamenco is flamenco wherever it goes, whatever label you put on it"

What did it mean to the group that a label like Epitaph, with such a unique philosophy, should show an interest in distributing ‘Barí’ in the U.S.?

Well, all of this is like a barometer that gives us a reading of how much influence the group is having on an international level.

We even heard a rumor that ‘Barí’ was one of Tom Waits's favorite albums lately...

That also gave me a boost… those urban legends. (He laughs).

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