Miguel Poveda, flamenco cantaor. Interview

“I’m along the lines
of brave artists”

Silvia Calado. Madrid, November 2006

Seville is the land which has given him the peace of mind he needed to come back to flamenco. Miguel Poveda never gave it up live, but all of his recordings since ‘Zaguán’ had pursued other musical genres. And for this return, he’s chosen a new travel mate, guitarist Juan Carlos Romero. Guided by “his taste, his criteria and his trademark”, an album has materialized inspired by the city where he has resided for the last three years and which has opened its doors wide open to him, both personally and professionally. There, he’s done collaborations with artists of the likes of Israel Galván and Eva Yerbabuena. There, he’s made the audience fall in love with him at the premiere of ‘Tierra de calma’, a long-distance album which “is going to be understood much better with the passing of time”. There, he’s now forging new projects...

After so much intense work with Chicuelo, how does your collaboration with Juan Carlos Romero come about?

I felt like trying out compositions by Juan Carlos Romero, his work, his way of composing. I’d already had the hope he’d collaborate on some song or another on some previous albums, but since I went to Seville three years ago and I’ve had him as a neighbor, I’ve had a lot of conversations with him about flamenco, he’s shown me what he was composing and finally, we decided to do a complete record. I really felt like doing something different within flamenco. I’ve still got a lot of work to do with Chicuelo, but he was really tied up with his album, Duquende’s; he’s involved in ‘Qawwali Flamenco’... We’ve given each other some time off, like married couples. But we’ll be back.

What catches your eye about Juan Carlos Romero both in toque and composing?

I’m really lured by the fact that he’s an artist taking on a commitment to music, and in his case, to flamenco. For example, when composing a seguiriya, he’s capable of spending days turning it around in order to create a new sound, but without it sounding old. That he suddenly decides to compose malagueñas when everybody’s composing other stuff. That he turns a farruca around until he gets the score right... I find it admirable on his part. The truth is that he has a very special trademark in his compositions and when you sing stuff by Romero, it sounds like Romero. And he’s a guy who has taste, criteria... and I like what he does.

How was the repertoire selected?

We did a sort of evaluation of cantes. I’d never recorded a seguiriya before and it was one of the first things he’d done. He showed me what he was composing as we went along. He did some tangos which had that sound like from Triana. They’re new lyrics but they have that form in majors which had stopped being used, since normal flamenco tangos are usually composed now. He’d check to see if I liked it, I’d study it and we’d work on it. I suggested a malagueña to him, but in the end I decided on his. I also suggested the copla to him because I’d been singing it live and it’s the first thing that comes to me through my mother and the radio. I came to flamenco as a result of the copla.

Miguel Poveda (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

There’s also ‘Canto de la resignación’ by Carmen Linares...

When we already had the soleá, the malagueña, the farruca, the tangos... we counted nine cantes. Juan Carlos thought we could round off the album and he called me, saying that he had the idea we could do that martinete by Carmen Linares but solely dealing with the voice, since she’d given it an arrangement within the context of a show. And he wanted the same song to fit into the context of my album, more flamenco. He asked me if I didn’t mind, I even talked to Carmen about it and she told me she was thrilled, that she hoped to God I’d sing more of her stuff. I think it’s wonderful; I like that score a lot.

And highlighting the special details is your collaboration with Diego Carrasco in the bulerías ‘Alfileres de colores’. How did that come about?

I’ve known Diego Carrasco since I started going to Jerez when I was in my early twenties. I’d first met him in Granada on a flamenco program which was recorded for Canal+ with Enrique Morente, Juan Habichuela... It must’ve been about 1994. And we started to strike up a friendship. When I’d go to Jerez, he’d act as a sort of host. When we grew closer was in the show ‘Arena’ by Israel Galván, which we’ve already been touring with for two years. And every time I’ve seen him do that bulería, I’ve told him I’d love to sing it with him. It’s like a duel; I love it. I wanted to tackle the challenge of that way of Diego’s. On all my albums, there’s always room for a tiny pinch of Jerez, some participation of artists like Moraíto, Luis el Zambo, Chícharo... And I didn’t want it to be missing.

Is there something special about Jerez’s flamenco?

	"And I’m a flamenco enthusiast above all else"

There might be people who find Lebrija or Utrera more special. At any rate, I think they’re important within flamenco. If you settle for one, you aren’t an enthusiast. And I’m a flamenco enthusiast above all else. I like all its shapes and forms, from La Paquera to Juan Valderrama, from Borrico to Marchena, sweet cante and the wildest cante. And the same in toque and baile. I also really like Lebrija and Utrera, which has a really particular bulería. But Jerez is my favorite and I can’t explain why.

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