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Madrid. May
1999
Miguel Poveda was
winner of the XXXIII Festival Nacional del Cante de las Minas de La Unión
(1993). His first recording appeared on the CD that compiled several of the best
moments of the competition that year. In 1995 he released his first album "Viento
del Este." In this interview, we will discuss his new record: "Suena Flamenco."
You are always
asked about your heritage, since you aren't a Gypsy nor are you from Andalusia.
It's the most crazy
thing to always have to address this issue, it seems a bit absurd now because
those prejudices are already exhausted, there is very visible evidence that it
isn't important anymore. The majority of Gypsy singers are very good and always
have a special way of singing, but it is clear that there are good non-Gypsy singers
and the best guitarists like Paco de Lucía and Vicente Amigo are not Gypsies,
they are the most interesting ones, the best that there are... It's the same in
dance, La Yerbabuena, Belén Maya, Israel Galván... though flamenco
is always more common among Gypsies and Andalusians. The sound of the Gypsy voice
is very good, but its not enough to have a flamenco voice, you also have to know
how to sing with it.
For me the real
question is understanding how somebody 26-years old in this day and age came to
be a professional flamenco singer even though he isn't from a family of professional
flamenco artists. The normal thing for a Spaniard of your age is to want to sing
pop, rock, Latin music...
It isn't something
that I set out to do, I didn't just say one day "I'm going to be a flamenco singer
and I'm going to study I don't how many records." Rather, its something that is
part of you, you are born with it or you have this restlessness, though not everyone
can be a singer.
I suppose that
musicians always start by playing the music that appeals to them the most.
In my case I heard
flamenco and flamenco-influenced music, Juanito Valderrama, Manolo Caracol, Pepe
Marchena, these were the tapes my mother listened to, and I sang what I heard.
At times flamenco
has this image of being very kitsch, which inevitably then has the youngest segment
of the public reject it.
The majority of
flamenco artists lead a very different way of life. You encounter them with people
who are aficionados, who sing very well, live in a small town and leave to record
a record. But when the time comes to become a professional it is very different,
it's a good thing to know how to dress, how to talk, how to set aside that type
of image. But there are also artists who, if they were separated from their origins
would ceased to be authentic; in the case of la Paquera, you have to know how
to appreciate all that she is.
As for me as far
as living is concerned, the city where I live and other issues, I have always
tried to distance myself from that image of flamenco and to get close to flamenco
as music, not as a way of life, but as music that I know how to perform or that
I like to perform.
Paco de Lucía
is someone who has conveyed a more serious image.
And, for example,
Belén Maya with the intelligent way she dances, expresses herself and dresses.
Your sister
is a dancer and sometimes she dances at your performances. How did she get into
flamenco
dance?
She always had
this restlessness. My mother liked flamenco very much, in fact she enrolled the
three of us in a dancing school, though in the end my sister is the only one who
dances.
Do you like
to dance?
I'm a huge fan
of flamenco dance, I like it a lot.
Don't you dance
on stage?
No, except sometimes
at the bulerías that mark the fin de fiesta. (Note: traditionally this
is the last number, where all of the artists take a turn dancing por bulerías.)
I'm a frustrated dancer...
The attitude
of a dancer is different. Would it embarrass you more than singing?
Yes, I think so.
When you sing you can close your eyes, you sing, and that's that. Dancing is different,
then you have to dominate the stage.
Is it a question
of personality?
To be a dancer
you can't be so timid, the singer sits down and concentrates on singing...
Among the new
generation of flamenco musicians we find people who besides studying a lot of
technique
are concerned with studying the past, doing research. They seem to be restless
musicians.
Whoever comes from
a flamenco family sings what he has lived and what he has learned within his family
about flamenco. In this case what happens is that you have to show a much greater
interest, you have to search more. Inside of Miguel Poveda the singer is an aficionado.
I like to do research, understand why things are a certain way. Then I can do
my work with coherence and intelligence.
Is it necessary
to know the origins and evolution of the palos?
A very few singers
have mastered almost all of the palos, and I'm not one of them. I'm not an expert
on all of the palos. There are artists who are brilliant in a series of styles,
for example I really get off on the "bulerías" they sing in Jerez and their
"Soleá por bulerías."
But to hear people
sing "tarantos," " malagueñas," or "granaínas" extremely well, you
wouldn't look to Jerez, for these styles you need a different type of singer.
In addition
to the classic flamenco performers, who do you like?
Estrella Morente
has a great future, Mayte Martín, Montse Cortés who sings on my
record, also Arcángel... and Morente for the way he dominates so many things.
As a concept...
Yes, as a concept
I would say...
And of the ancient
masters?
Manuel Torre, Antonio
Chacón, El Tío Borrico...
Compared to
the themes and styles of the lyrics of Manuel Torre, we could say that the level
today
has come down quite a bit.
In the past, they
sang lyrics that were simpler, shorter and more intense. Those lyrics expressed
a lot more than the lyrics of today and they did it using a much richer language.
I often turn to lyrics from years ago, but they have to be believable when I sing
them because a lot of time has passed. There are lyrics that I could never sing,
I couldn't say "while my father was in the forge," because it is a world that
I have never known... however, lyrics about love never go out of date, they are
much more forceful, those today are more affected, more lightweight, even so,
there are good lyricists today.
Two of your
favorite numbers from the record are the "Jerez Bulerías" and the "Alegrías."
The Jerez bulerías
because that is the place where they preserve flamenco in its purest state.
In Jerez they have
a very special formula for creating bulerías, and I sang them like they
usually do there, surrounded by friends, rapping on a table top, with palmas (hand
clapping) and guitar, improvising... we did the number twice and went with the
first take because it was more spontaneous, more natural.
How did you
all record it?
All of us together
in the same room in the studio, rapping on a table.
Would you like
to record every number on an album this way, live, with all of the musicians playing
together? Do you lose much power in the studio?
They are two different
things and you have to understand that that's how it is; indeed there are things
on records difficult to do live. I like my live performances more than my records,
though a record allows you to eliminate mistakes and to always be on pitch, to
have good sound and be better organized... it is more perfect and that I also
like. But in a live performance I wouldn't want you would look for the same thing
as on the record. On a record I like the fact that things can be more perfect,
but I prefer live performance which offers me something different altogether.
The experience
of a live performance is also different for the audience because at a live performance
you are there for an hour listening to a singer, but with a CD its possible to
listen for a little while to a song, sometimes without even paying much attention
to the music.
I would like a
listener to listen to the album with care, with headphones, that way you can catch
a lot more, well, anyway, everyone who listens to it, if he enjoys it, what does
it matter so long as he enjoys it ...
What other types
of music do you like?
I like Latin music,
Brazilian.,..Cesaria Evora, I also listen to a lot of Spanish singers, Rosario
and many others, too.
And in other
languages?
Very little, I
barely listen to any jazz; I have an album by Billie Holiday because it was recommended
to me. What I really listen to is classical music.
[Magazine[
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