Interview with guitarist Manuel Fernández Molina, Parrilla de Jerez:

"The artists of today produce modern stuff and prostitute their art in order to earn more money and they care little about purity"

Fernando González-Caballos. Jerez, April 2002

Considered as one of the masters of the toque in Jerez, Manuel Fernández Molina (born Jerez, 1945) comes from one of the most important gypsy dynasties in Jerez de la Frontera: los Parrilla. Together with los Morao, they are the source of one of the most important guitar schools ever to emerge in the flamenco world. The characteristic that best describes this pot-bellied tocaor from Jerez is his extraordinary skill at the compás (rhythm), based on his powerful right thumb. Today he is one of the few guitarists that play the toque as they used to in the old days: standing up, with one foot on a chair, combining with the famous pose used by La Paquera - the cantaora whom he has accompanied for over thirty years - one of the great images in the world of flamenco. A restless spirit, Parrilla de Jerez has used his profession to travel the five continents. He confesses to be a great fan of everything to do with culture, and that is why he is just as likely to be found composing an Easter march as sending an e mail.

Parrilla de Jerez (Photo: Anahí Cármody)

Manuel, let's start at the beginning. How did you start to play the guitar?

I started to learn when I was twelve and, the way things worked out, at thirteen I was playing in public. I remember the first time I played, at the Feria de Sevilla in 1959, when flamenco could still be heard in the casetas (booths). My first teacher was my own father, but when you have got things on your own doorstep you don't often use them to the full, so I was sent to Rafael el Águila for classes, one of the greatest teachers there has ever been in Jerez and, therefore, the whole of Spain.

What make the Jerez School different?

It is difficult to say what distinguishes one type of music from another, but Jerez has a particular style that stands out because of its more rhythmic toques, that is to say, for its seguiriyas, soleá, bulerías and tangos. Although any good guitarist has to know how to perform the complete repertoire, the basics, the rhythm, and improvisation, because all are equally important when it comes to demonstrate the knowledge and ability of the performer. If we are talking about technique, in Jerez a lot of use is made of the thumb and los ligaos. And the most outstanding aspect of our toque is the way we use silence. Guitarists from Jerez experiment a lot with silences.

In the early years you accompanied Tío Borrico, Terremoto, Sordera... How do you remember the voices of those performers?

Well, I miss them because now there is nothing like them. Those metallic voices were more than anything else completely unique. Perhaps the most outstanding ones were Fernando Terremoto, who had a very clean flamenco voice; Tío Gregorio el Borrico, whose voice was also great but deeper because he was older; and El Sordera. In terms of the style, all of them stuck very closely to the type of cante that was used in Jerez at that time.

But was it any different when it came to accompanying each one?

Yes, of course there were differences. For Tío Borrico you had to play in a certain way and for Terremoto in another, despite the fact that both sang the same sort of style. The essential aim of a guitarist is in knowing how to give each one of these what he wanted. Although all of them performed the seguiriya of Marrurro or of Tío José de Paula, each one performed them in their own special way. That is why you can't play for everyone in the same way.

In the Madrid tablao El Duende, you also worked with many other stars of that era...

I played at El Duende for several seasons, following the tablao down to the Costa del Sol in the summer... In Madrid I was in Manolo Caracol's Los Canasteros; Rafael Pantoja's la Venta del Gato... Those tablaos were nothing like the ones today. The stars of those groups were artists like Rafael el Negro, Matilde Coral and Farruco... After that, the fashion for summer festivals started and, little by little, the tablaos started to disappear.

Parrilla dancing (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

In your times at those tablaos are there any particular incidents that you remember?

It is difficult to highlight one in particular, but if I had to choose one I was involved in it would be the story about the wart on my thumb. It happened that during that time I had a wart on my right thumb that prevented me form working comfortably. One New Year's Eve I finished with the guitar covered in blood, and Gitanillo de Triana told me that I couldn't carry on playing like that. "We are going to find a way that you can keep on working without having to play the guitar, because you must know how to do something else," he said. So I told him that I knew how to dance a bit to bulerías. I was about 19 years old and I remember that Sernita de Jerez did the singing. When I had finished the performance Gitanillo was waiting for me. "What's this about knowing how to dance a bit to bulerías? You know how dance better that all the dancer in Madrid," he said as he gave me a push. "Dance again because I want to see you myself". And he became so drunk that he ended up on a plane to Caracas, where he met up with Angelita Gómez - a teacher from Jerez - and said to her: "Do you know who is to blame for me coming here? Your friend from Jerez, Parrillita, who says he knows how to dance a bit to bulerías. Look how drunk I got because of that boy." From that time on there isn't a day that I play in public when I can get away without doing a few of those steps. Apart from that I have fond memories of the nights I used to enjoy listening to Manolo Caracol in closed sessions, together with Melchor de Marchena on guitar and his son-in-law Arturo Pavón on the piano.

While we're on the subject don't you think that the history of flamenco guitar has been a little harsh on Melchor de Marchena?

Well, for me Melchor has been one of the greatest guitarists in the history of flamenco, despite the fact that his work hasn't had the recognition that it deserves. You can see that from the fact that he is the only person who has played for Tomás Pavón, la Niña de los Peines, Manolo Caracol and Antonio Mairena. I think that says everything. It is true that in the same generation there were other great names like Sabicas and Niño Ricardo, but they stood out more as concert performers. I don't think there has been a more pure player in the history of flamenco to accompany the cante.

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