Miguel Poveda, cantaor. Interview

"I find myself back to scratch because
I feel more responsibility"

Silvia Calado. Jerez, March 2004
Translation: Joseph Kopec
Photos: Daniel Muñoz

Miguel Poveda again records... and experiments. Allied with composer Enric Palomar, the cantaor has plunged into the poems from exile by Rafael Alberti and, in passing, into musical waters of diverse colors. A real challenge. Convinced that the show should not be short-lived, they recorded 'Poemas del exilio. Rafael Alberti' live. And it now comes to us as an example of flamenco's infinite capacity to blend in naturally: "As long as it makes sense, there's coherence and the story fits in, why are we going to hold back?". Miguel Poveda isn't the type. Having taken on the responsibility of someone who is no longer being tested, he moves forward singing live all over the world and has several projects underway. Among them, a new flamenco album he wants to prepare after summer.

Miguel Poveda

How did the idea come up to make this album, 'Poemas del exilio. Rafael Alberti'?

The idea comes from Enric Palomar, who's the one who creates this musical work to add music to Rafael Alberti's poems from exile, that stage of the poet's when he was exiled in Argentina. Taking advantage that last year was the centennial of his birth, the show premiered at Barcelona Auditorium on May 7th, 2003. From the very beginning Enric thought of me, which was flattering since it was the first time anyone had composed an entire work for me and with those features.

What trouble did you run into when fitting your flamenco voice into Enric Palomar's music?

It was a real challenge for me because the way of composing and sketching with my voice had to change completely. The registers were going to be entirely different from the ones I usually use in flamenco. It was a matter of fitting in, of adding voice to that work he'd already finished and it took me four months to learn it all: first, the poems; next, to be able to sing them without the lyrics in front of me, understanding them; finally, to sing them with that melodic form so disparate and so complicated and so different from what I was used to and, moreover, enjoying myself, not doing the notes as if I were a machine. If I could manage to do that, which I'd set out to do, I would do so. And after two months, I started to enjoy it. Then it took me eight months of true anxiety, of having a really bad time of it. It was stressing for me.

And you all wanted to leave a token of that work...

The concert turned out so well, I had such a good time working and singing that Enric, the people from Taller de Músics and I thought that it was a work that couldn't just stop there, that it was worthy enough to release as an album. I was also at a time when I didn't feel like recording more malagueñas, soleá... Now I do really feel like it. Now it's time for that.

Miguel Poveda

Are you preparing a new flamenco album now?

Yes, I'm thinking up and compiling things for us to begin recording maybe late in the year. It's too early to talk about that album. I want to work with Juan Carlos Romero and we have to see when we can get together; we really feel like working together. I can't give any more details yet. But I have another project underway, an album in Catalan by Catalan poets such as Joan Brossa, Jacint Verdaguer, Miquel Martí i Pol... It's not going to be flamenco in Catalan; I don't want to frighten anybody. Though of course, my flamenco personality will pop out somewhere; if not, it wouldn't be me.

Getting back to the new album, how to you think flamenco interacts with other kinds of music such as classical, jazz, tango?

I think it blends in perfectly as long as you understand the story you're getting into. Perhaps the fact that I've already taken part in other projects and I'm used to being surrounded by musicians who aren't exclusively flamenco has made it more natural for me. And if other types of music blend in with each other completely naturally, if it makes sense, is coherent and has a nice project the story fits into, why are we going to hold back in flamenco? And it fit in here. Though it's not a flamenco album, there are flamenco sounds, my voice sounds flamenco, my starting point is flamenco. And there are also Argentinean sounds to give the melancholy touch in order to evoke the period when the poet was exiled in another country watching how his has turned into a mine field.

How has this experience affected your voice?

I've learned a great deal following this album. I've now had to get another song ready with Enric Palomar for a tribute to Pablo Neruda in which Joaquín Sabina, Ana Belén, Pablo Milanés and Pedro Guerra participate... And when I got together with him again it was very easy, because I already know his way and he already knows mine. And if I hadn't done the work by Alberti before, to start singing a poem by Neruda now, with that way he has of writing, would have been very complicated, as it was in his time. There are a whole bunch of tonalities, phrasings...

	"I've been able to put myself in the shoes of someone who has to leave his war-stricken country"

Let's also talk about the lyrics. You're singing verses on this album with contents. We've already heard you say that if you don't believe what you're singing...

In that Alberti I've been able to put myself in the shoes of someone who has to leave his war-stricken country. I've been able to appreciate a poet's sensitivity to express it. How can you write about such a tragic situation with so much taste, with so much talent? The way of explaining it with so much beauty seems incredible to me. I've learned to know another part of Rafael Alberti's poetry, which might be among the most interesting ones in his career.

Do you think flamenco excessively resorts to poetry and, specifically, to Lorca?

I've never recorded anything by Lorca, but I have sung him on occasion, just like everybody else. And yes, it's true that Lorca is overused by flamenco. I might do some touch in the future, but not an entire work because nearly everything has already been done. And of course there are other poets. I really like Valente, Gil de Biedma, Benedetti, José Hierro, Luis Cernuda, Pablo Neruda...

	"I think the lyric-writing scene for flamenco is quite poor"

And the truth is that I think the lyric-writing scene for flamenco is quite poor. What is done the most now is to do little refrains, with the same old theme. I've also sung them but for me, that period remained well behind. Flamenco has always been poetry, with a very flat, very simple style. And very mediocre writing is being done today, without that depth the old lyrics had. Forever singing those same old lyrics is a little boring. Fortunately, there are people who write very well such as Isidro Muñoz and Juan Carlos Romero, but few others.

It seems as if the public has gone from testing you to respecting you. Where do you find yourself as a cantaor right now?

I find myself back to scratch because for some time now, I've felt more and more responsibility. I'm more and more nervous when I come out on stage, when it should be just the opposite. The latest performances I've done have been serious commitments: at Seville's Central Theater, at the Caja Madrid Festival, the one tonight at the Jerez Festival... They're performances I do with a lot of zeal; I necessarily want to come out with flying colors and that never depends on just oneself. But I like those butterflies. I'm never going to say how I see myself nor how I sing, nor do I like talking about myself, since you run the risk of getting lost. What I am starting to realize more and more is that I still have a long way to go, a lot to learn. Instead of knowing more, you know less.

Where is your search taking you?

I'm always learning from old cante, there are always things you listen to for the first time because there are a ton of old records and it's impossible to listen to them all. Then there are things you haven't listened to for a while and when you recall it, you listen to it with a different novelty, it gives me other sensations, I discover other details. And then I learn from everything. Working so continuously is an important running process; the trips, the stages, facing such different audiences... And I learn from the artists who surround you, what one's about, what another one's about. I like to always know what they're all doing; it helps me to do things.

Miguel Poveda and Chicuelo rehearsal at Teatro Villamarta

Last year we missed any album coming out by cantaores of your generation.

All this piracy business has hurt flamenco quite a bit, since the multinationals that were putting their money on flamenco have now stopped doing so. They used to make a profit on other things and they didn't use to make money on flamenco, but nor did they lose any. Since now they're losing on other things, they're not putting their money on flamenco. It's harder and harder to make a record, this country's musical scene is more and more disastrous; just what's driven by television. I can't talk about very distant times because I'm not that old, but ten years ago you heard all kinds of music. The specialized programs no longer exist. The strange thing is that flamenco is still booming, at least live. Since flamenco artists haven't worked in such a way that they come out with an album and then go on tour, there's always the live show. Of course, the album helps; it helps to have a recorded work.

There are just a few hours left till you get up on stage at the Villamarta Theater. How do you cope with singing before such demanding enthusiasts?

I handle it responsibly. I've always said that I sang the same way. Some time ago I was asked if I was afraid to sing in Seville and I said no, that I've never been afraid to sing anywhere. What I have felt is respect, but the same you need to have for the crowd in Helsinki, New York or Tokyo. Though no matter what you say, in the end it affects you. The other day before coming out to sing in Seville, I was trembling and you don't know why. You act brave and you make the same effort as anywhere else, but in the end, you can never come out just as relaxed. And I think that in these places even the legs of the mightiest tremble.

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