|
PACO
DE LUCÍA: A NEW TRADITION FOR THE FLAMENCO GUITAR.
Excerpt
3: Paco de Lucía and Camarón.
Excerpt
from the book "Paco de Lucía: A
new tradition for the flamenco guitar ". Author: Paco Sevilla.
In
1969, a nineteen year old blond (in Spain, "blond" means having light brown hair)
gypsy singer from La Isla de San Fernando began a lifelong collaboration with
Paco. José Monje Cruz
"Camarón de la Isla" (the "Shrimp from the Island") had been born in 1950,
the seventh of eight children in a poor gypsy family. His father eked out a living
as a blacksmith in San Fernando, a small town located at the land end of the Cádiz
peninsula, until his death when José was only twelve. Nicknamed "Camarón" by an
uncle, due to his "shrimp-like" small wiry body, lively personality, and light-colored
hair, José found himself singing for tips in the bars and trolleys of Cádiz in
order to help support the family. Even at that young age, Camarón is said to have
caused a stir among flamencos at the 1963 Spring Fair in Sevilla, singing por
bulerías for the dancing of the great cantaor Antonio Mairena and receiving praise
from the legendary bullfighter Curro Romero. In 1966, the fifteen-year-old singer
began his professional career in Málaga with Miguel de los Reyes. From Málaga,
Camarón went with Dolores Vargas to perform in the Madrid tablao Torres Bermejas,
where he would remain for twelve years.
In
a television interview, Paco described his meeting with Camarón as follows: "...
it was in Jerez... I met him in the morning. I had been playing all night and
he had been singing in another place. We got together and we played sang all the
next day and night. He impressed me very much. Camarón is a revolutionary, a symbol
of flamenco today".
At a later date, Paco elaborated on his early contact with Camarón. Apparently,
during Camarón’s first trip to Madrid (at age fourteen, according to Paco), he
went to a recording studio where Paco de Lucía, Paco del Gastor, and Enrique Escudero
were playing for the popular singer Bambino. Bambino asked Camarón to sing for
the musical director of Columbia Records. Paco del Gastor and Escudero were tired
and didn’t want to play, so Paco de Lucía accompanied the singer alone. Camarón
sang a soleá that Paco says was very traditional, in the style of Antonio Mairena.
The man from Columbia said that singing of that sort would not sell, that would
not be interested. Paco claims that he told Camarón, "Don’t worry, I’ll make you
a record!" Of course, Paco was only sixteen at the time and not in a position
to make a record for anyone. The two didn’t see each other again for some years.
According
to Paco, the next meeting took place in Jerez, years later. They met a dawn, coming
from different juergas (flamenco gatherings). Camarón was with a son of Parrilla
de Jerez, who invited them to his house for breakfast and a few drinks. A fiesta
was soon underway, and it was then that Paco really discovered Camarón. He says.
"... I went crazy for my Camarón. I couldn’t comprehend such perfection in singing,
such precision of tone, such mastery, such taste. He had it all... This time I
proposed the recording for real and we began to work."
Camarón
has given his version of their meeting. He says that he was working in Torres
Bermejas for 2.000 pesetas a night (c. $30), along with such artist as Paco Cepero
and El Turronero. "[I was]... singing two early shows for ten girls and, later,
two more cuadros for the early birds. About two in the morning, I could finally
sing solo... Paco’s father used to come often to Torres Bermejas. One day, he
brought his son. We understood each other quickly. He liked my things and liked
his. How could I not be interested. He was un pedazo de monstruo! [roughly, ‘one
heck of a monster on the guitar!’] In the time we worked together we saw so deeply
into each other that we understood almost by telepathy."
Paco
says that he went often to Torres Bermejas, and that he and Camarón often played
billiards between sets and got together in fiestas after work. This was during
the period of the Lippman & Rau tours and, according to Paco, he and Camarón always
shared a room during the two months or so that they traveled around Europe. They
played and sang constantly, experimenting and creating for the sheer joy of it.
Back in Madrid, they spent a great deal of time in Paco’s house preparing ideas
for recording.
Paco’s
father played an important role in the development of the careers of both Paco
and Camarón. He proved to be quite astute when it came to the commercial side
of music, where flamencos in general, and gypsies in particular, often fared poorly
due to a lack of knowledge and poor business skills. This, perhaps, reflected
his experience as a go-between, an arbiter in deals made in the streets and bars
of Algeciras. According to one source, in order to appreciate the role of the
Sánchez Family in Camarón’s recording career (the basis of his fame), it must
be understood, that "... without the participation of the Lucías, it would be
difficult to explain how the untamed genius and the hypersensitive character of
Camarón could manifest itself with such strength in the hostile environment of
a recording studio. Camarón once said, ‘Even today [1991], when I step into a
recording studio, I get something in my throat and can hardly sing. Each day it
gets worse."Magazine
|
