Pepe Justicia, flamenco guitarist. Interview

“I try never to let flamenco
get out of hand”

Silvia Calado. Madrid-Málaga, December 2006

In the last three years, Pepe Justicia has found inspiration “on thirteen special nights”. The guitarist, born in Jaén and now living in Jerez, presents a new album reflecting security and maturity, but above all, a relentless defense of flamenco sound. And that’s despite the fact that his ears are open to all sorts of influences. He draws on that globalized sound when seeking new details in harmony, but also when defining the ideal rhythm for his work. “Percussion in flamenco has yet to be defined”, he asserts over the phone. With his sights set on his next recording, which will be neither homemade nor self-produced, he’s touring stages with a traditional group and a banner: “I’m selling pure flamenco around the world”.

What does ‘13 noches’ offer?

	Pepe Justicia

‘13 noches’ is the consequence of ‘Sólo agua’, my previous album. It was nearly my introduction, since I’d released two previous records, but with hardly any promotion. It was the true presentation. And ‘13 noches’ continues along those lines; very flamenco, really deep-rooted in the old-time stuff and with my personal trademark. I like listening to all kinds of music; I absorb it as I go along, and in the end something gets captured. However, I always start off from the pure, from the traditional. I’m somewhat guarded against sensations, experiences, new influences... And the thing is it’s really easy to listen to everything nowadays. In the end, I set aside a lot of things even though they’re good or interesting musically, if I can’t find the flamenco edge. I don’t settle for just anything. I try never to let flamenco get out of hand. And at the same time for it to have something new, something of mine.

How has your music evolved with regards to your previous albums?

It’s hard to explain, but on this record I feel surer of what I’m doing. ‘13 noches’ is a direct, natural consequence of my previous album. I think I’m mature musically now. With the harmony we always find new little nuances. To me it’s the same thing, but with more weight and thirteen new stories.

How did the composing process go?

After finishing ‘Sólo agua’, new things started to come out during the tour. Traveling gives me food for thought. The title ‘13 noches’ refers to all the special nights which were captured in songs. Those compositions arose over a period of two or three years and then at home, at the studio and playing them in public, they started to take on a specific shape. It’s important to say something, but for it to be understood. I have to translate for it to be shared; if not, the music loses half of its meaning. All in all, I must have spent about three years composing and recording. The truth is I’d never devoted so little time to a record. The previous ones had been financed by me and were quite complicated to carry out. Now I have the confidence of the record company Karonte and the problem no longer lies in recording, but in finding the music. I admit that I’m not short on musical ideas... Though that’s not always an advantage, since songs don’t stem from an intention but from harsh experiences in life in most cases. Composing is always a harsh delivery. For the next album I’ve already planned to seek an outside producer in order for me to be able to focus exclusively on my guitar and composing.

What do the instrumental collaborations contribute?

The musicians collaborating with me are largely to blame for the album. When I have a song I don’t say a trumpet goes here and a bass here, but rather they’re things that pop up. The song, for example, with the trumpet has a somewhat chaotic... story. I have a flamenco guitar pupil who produces groups like Bon Jovi. He liked the really strange harmonies that song has and he proposed some arrangements to me. At the same time, he had a colleague listen to it, who stuck in the trumpet. And we exchanged all of that by e-mail. It sounds as if we were together in person.

Pepe Justicia

To what extent do you make use of new technologies?

Before doing ‘13 noches’, I made a record by assignment that wasn’t released which I worked on entirely via Internet. I’ve recorded the new one at home with my own equipment. We now have access to equipment with great quality at affordable prices. I have mikes and pre-amps the same as the ones in the top studios in Madrid. I have a conditioned room to record at home. The advantage is that you’re never going to be able to relax at any studio in the world the way you can at home where, moreover, you can call it quits and get back to recording when the time is ripe. The truth is that I love technology. The first thing I do in the morning is to turn on two computers and search for music and films. Access to new technologies has an influence on the way of making music.

Why do rhythmic styles prevail?

The styles present on this album are the ones dominating most guitar records. Twenty years ago guitarists used to have a zapateado, a guajira... And now we’re tending to go to more rhythmic styles. For example, I have tanguillos; the third ones I’ve recorded. And it’s a rhythm that works really well. This is a good place to reflect on percussion. Percussion is new in flamenco and it comes to us from latin and Arab rhythms. That’s why it just so happens that an Arab percussionist who plays the derbuka can easily communicate with you. Music in general is more and more embellished with percussion, from folk to classic. And the thing is that rhythm moves people, besides making the musician’s job easier. With percussion, it’s easier to get things across. The trend is that we’re naturally leaning towards more rhythmic music.

On this record, what we’ve spent the most time on is percussion, on finding and deciding what sort of percussion you need. There’s enough tradition in jazz; that’s obvious. But if I want a trademark in my music, which is flamenco, I have to seek it out. In the end there are five different percussionists because no single one gave me what I wanted. There are flamenco, latin, Arab percussionists... It was arduous work, going out and finding, having up to sixteen tracks recorded of a single percussion. It was lab work. Percussion in flamenco has yet to be defined. It’s easy to beat it out, but really hard to make music.

Something similar happened with Paco de Lucía when he brought out Jorge Pardo on flute. Of course, they did it wonderfully well; the bad thing was that some people started to come out to stick in flutes just any old way. I’ve hated the flute ever since then; thank God that ‘craze’ ended. And percussion has to be something that enhances, that cleans, that clarifies. In general, the hard thing is to throw away what’s left over. In the case of this album, my guitar was clear; you’re already mature and have a defined road ahead of you. The crux of the question lay in how to present it.

What’s your opinion on today’s flamenco guitar scene?

	Pepe Justicia

There are really good guitarists and each of them does what he can. I continue to enjoy Sabicas more than any other. Though of course, there are people today who play impressively. My criticism is that in music there are people who are really lost, since they don’t care about tradition. When you hear them play, you don’t know if they’re English or flamencos. I enjoy a lot more really simple, really flamenco falsetas than those such complex feats of acrobatics which even lose feeling. I prefer for it to sound like flamenco, even if it’s with just two chords. The fundamental thing is for it to sound like flamenco, which is more complex when you want to seek out different harmonies. And that’s my struggle, just like I think it’s been and is the struggle of Manolo Sanlúcar, Paco de Lucía, Vicente Amigo, Rafael Riqueni..., who are people that know what they’re doing.

What projects are you working on?

I’ve just come back from a tour of Estonia with my group. Years ago I had a septet similar to Paco de Lucía’s, with winds and percussions. And for a septet to work, you need jazz coordinates, which aren’t always under control. But now I wanted to get back to my roots. Cante, baile and my guitar. As simple as it gets. And I’m getting along really well with this format. In the four concerts in Estonia, people ended up stamping their feet. And I feel incredibly at ease with my group; I don’t owe anyone anything. I have Pepe de Joaquina and Laura Mateo on cante, Ana María Blanco on baile and Jesús Álvarez on second guitar. I love my group. They’re all young artists from the neighborhood of Santiago in Jerez, and I’m selling pure flamenco around the world with them. There must have been some reason I went and lived in Jerez for twenty years!