Potito, flamenco cantaor. Interview

“I stole what I needed
from Camarón”

Silvia Calado. Madrid, May 2006

Thirty years of age. Thirty years of flamenco. At the time of life when other cantaores are still finding themselves, Potito has been carving out his own path for years. The vocalist from Seville has recorded his mature cante on ‘Barrio Alto’, an album produced by Diego Amador that has kept fans waiting more than five years. During this time his vocals have continued to evolve alongside artists such as Tomatito and Vicente Amigo. Now he's clear about his niche. He admits to being a vocalist by experience, not study. And the fact is that his knowledge has grown on stage accompanying some of the biggest names in flamenco over the last three decades. And that includes Camarón who, as he puts it in our frank conversation, “you have to know how to listen to: he can just as easily make you learn as he can set you off on the wrong foot”.

Potito (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Why did you take so long in recording?

No particular reason. Because we were working a long time with Tomatito, later with Joaquín Cortés on tour, and I was also working with Javier Limón, with Vicente Amigo... With one thing and another, four or five years slipped through my fingers. I was working on this album about a year and half. Just add it up - it's seven years since ‘El último cantaor’ came out. I haven't stopped working for a moment, but it's true that it's taken a while. God-willing, we'll be able to put out a new album every other year from now on.

The audiences were becoming impatient; they're going to hold you to your word...

That's true.

How did you come up with the idea of putting Diego Amador in charge of production?

I was producing the album myself, but I found it a little tricky to be in charge of cante and production at the same time, to be calling people... It wasn't twice the workload, it was more like three times. At the time, Churri (Diego Amador) and I we were working together a lot in Tomatito's group and we got on really well, we've known each other since we were kids. I did a lot of thinking about who could help me and I decided it should be Churri. He's a great musician, a really hardworking guy, a real perfectionist, he loves doing things right. It shows in his work.

Did you have a well-defined concept for the album and the type of repertoire?

I had a really clear idea of the disc, it's almost the same vein as the usual albums I make. You've got the two tangos, the two bulerías, the two rumbas-tangos (I never call them rumbas - I get that from the group Siempre Así) and then there are two or three classic flamenco tunes. And I think that's the kind of flamenco albums that should be out there on the shelves.

Do you think the most profound flamenco is being forgotten?

People are just forgetting about flamenco. Flamenco is very profound and has much to offer still, and each one takes it in their own direction. I don't agree at all with flamenco fusion. I like blues, jazz, salsa... but if I have to listen to any of these guys that call themselves 'flamenquitos' trying to play blues, I'd rather listen to Miles Davis. Instead of listening to a group of salsa amateurs, I'd prefer a Celia Cruz album I can take real pleasure in. If we're talking flamenco, let's respect flamenco and let's conserve its true essence. I think it's more international than all other musical styles. I always say that a black man can't sing por bulerías, but I think I could do what a black vocalist does.

Do you think so?

	Potito (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Not what the black vocalist does, but rather to get into black music, into the rhythmical structure. Flamenco is a form of music that's streets ahead of any other, as it's really wide open. Even if you take a seguiriya, that just has a sparse accompaniment, there's great depth to it. You have to know how to perform it. Flamenco in today's music scene is being forgotten. And I think the ones who have to make the effort are the young people. The youngsters out there have to train themselves and learn how to appreciate flamenco. Everybody can grow to love a seguiriya. The other day a girl was telling me she didn't use to like flamenco, but she listened to Camarón and fell in love with flamenco without understanding it. What is it about this music that wins you over? Flamenco is really beautiful.

You have to take a chance and give the youth a soleá, a seguiriya...

I think even the purists are crying out to hear them. They miss this kind of album. I can understand them, they're the first ones to stand up for that kind of flamenco.

Maybe a seguiriya sounds more up-to-date than a rumba?

The fact is we're used to hearing the seguiriya in a way that we think is sorrow, bitterness... The seguiriya is a really pretty kind of music, set to a rhythmical pattern that is beautiful. The thing is that you have to know how to perform it and adapt it to suit your style. Personally I'd love to sing por seguiriyas like Chocolate did, I say that from the heart. But the fact is that I can't be Chocolate. I like him and I imitate him in my own way, putting my own personality into it. That the quest of flamenco, the way you perform it. I can't be like Chocolate because I don't think anybody sings flamenco like he sang por seguiriyas. You have to know how to listen. When you listen, you either learn or you screw up. You have to know how to listen to the artists of yesteryear.

And from days gone by who do you admire?

	"I respect those who shut themselves away for twenty hours in a room to study, but there are cantaores who are born with that pellizco, with a different approach to flamenco"

Apart from Camarón - he was the one who put sweetness into the performance, that perfection in hitting the right notes and his beautiful way of singing, and who turned flamenco on its head and lifted it to the level it's at today (he says all this without taking a breath)... And that's all you need to know about Camarón. Apart from him, Manolo Caracol was a vocalist who had that verve, one of those who would sing one day and the next wouldn't even remember. Every day it was a new cante with the same lyric. Those are the cantaores that I like. I respect those who shut themselves away for twenty hours in a room to study, but there are cantaores that are born with something else, with that pellizco, with a different approach to and conception of flamenco. Personally I'd love to spend twenty hours like that, but I can't.

Would you classify yourself along with those cantaores that are driven by their inspiration?

I classify myself with what I am, with what I have. And Caracol was an artist from that stable. Mojama was also a vocalist with that kind of vibrancy, Juan Talega por soleá... I'm only going to tell you the ones I like. I don't know, Terremoto knew how to sing... And that's just about it. I'm never going to try and sing a granaína because I don't have the voice to do a granaína, I have the voice to do other things. You have to identify yourself, define what you are and what you're capable of, you shouldn't get this wrong. That's why I told you that you have to know how to listen to flamenco: What am I like? What gift do I have? What audiences do I connect with? And then, start performing. I see it clearly, I'm thirty years old now and I see which way the wind blows...

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