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You've now sung on quite a few albums...
Five, counting this one.
Now do you think you're a singer?
No, no, I still don't think I'm a singer. Not with five, nor with twenty. I'm
never going to be a singer. I consider myself a bit of a guitarist, to be honest.
The truth is that I like it more and more and I have a better and better time,
but as a troubadour who has things to say, not as a singer and much less as a
cantaor. Those are big words. I was going to record Guadiana's song, but I told
him to record it completely just in case... And when I heard it I said, no way,
I'm not singing; this is beautiful just the way it is. The song's very pure; I
had to leave it that way. Just with one guitar only, the bass of El Churri (Diego
Amador), clapping and voice. No fusion at all. And it was something I wanted,
because with all the fusion I do... I get started and it comes out all by itself.
And I think I can do it if I want to, if I forbid myself. These scales, no, no.
Blow them away, as I say.
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Raimundo Amador |
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The conversation, relaxed, takes other directions. Suddenly, we're talking
about how hard it is to tune a drum. And Raimundo remembers John Bonham: "I
like Led Zeppelin for the drummer more than for the singer. He flipped me out.
And the bass player too". A recent anecdote: "Since I have insomnia,
I'm a vampire, I was listening to the radio one night, and they brought John Paul
Jones here to Radio 3. I was about to go there, but I thought they weren't going
to let me in. You see, they nearly don't let me in when I'm going to be interviewed...".
Rock hurts him... and quite a bit. "I remember once when King Crimson came,
one of the best groups there is, with Robert Fripp, openers for Roxy Music, who
are probably really good but I don't give a damn about them. And on top of it,
King Crimson played and you couldn't hear anything; Roxy Music played and you
had them right next to you. I was there with my brother Rafaelillo, we were already
Pata Negra, and we left really steaming". And he gets enraged by the little
general knowledge there is about this musical expression. One self-reference:
"In Seville I was even asked on a radio program if this kid had any experience.
The writer got yelled at... I've made about eighty records, between mine and the
collaborations!"
Even with the Icelandic singer Björk...
Besides, that song's beautiful. The lyrics have to be too much.
How did that business come up?
I don't know, she wanted to do a song with a Spanish guitar, which had nothing
to do with either Spanish music or flamenco or anything. Just the instrument,
because she wanted to change the song around. I had been previously introduced
to her in Barcelona. And I wanted to meet her because people think she's very
dry... Well, she is strange, like me too, but she isn't wicked or anything. She's
kick-ass with her friends; she's a darling. People think she's really hellish,
but not at all; on the contrary. I flipped out with her. As a singer she's wild;
that isn't rock or... She's like me, she's a chameleon; she does scales of jazz,
pop, rock, classical. She does whatever she wants with her throat. In my book
Björk's very strong, one of the strongest. Björk is today's Janis Joplin,
but with her style, her voice; the way she cracks it, the way she splits it. When
we were at El Cortijo, she always used to ask me to sit beside her. I flipped
out with Björk a ton.
I've also played with Buddy Miles, Jimmy Hendrix's drummer. I did a tour with
him not long ago. Now he sings and plays the guitar, the day he feels like it
he gets on the drums and shakes things up; as soon as he drops his hand, you wouldn't
believe how he plays. He's a strange creature. And how he can sing... We did seven
or eight galas. We had a good time with him; he's very funny, too.
Raimundo Amador |
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Is it gratifying for you that music enables you to communicate with people
from other worlds?
Yes, but what happens to me is because I'm a fool. I used to say that speaking
English was tacky. And now I regret it. I don't even want to speak Spanish! I'm
used to speaking my way... For English, even worse. I used to think it was a very
foolish language. Rhythmically, it's good for singing; I don't like French and
Italian so much.
Like Andalusian...
Yes, that's true; I hadn't thought of that.
But there's the universal language of music, isn't there?
That one doesn't fail. If not, what would I be doing here?
Let's go back to the album. There's also a song with Rosendo, the rock side
of 'Isla Menor'?
Yes, the rock and Carabanchel part. I had that song and it was the producer
who thought of calling Rosendo. Some journalist has even asked me if that guitar
was Rosendo's. No, no, in the end he does play, but I'd already recorded that
song without knowing he was going to play. He has his rock style. We're both mixed
up together there better than the sea. I like it, I like it.
What other collaborations would you point out?
There's Alvarito, who wrote the arrangements and recorded everything; there's
Antonio Serrano, of course, on the harmonica... Horacio Icasto plays the accordion
and a brilliant solo on a Rhodes. I'd already done some things with his son, Tato.
There's also Nacho García Vega in a song by Los Delinqüentes...
A group heir to Pata Negra and Veneno, one of your 'children'.
Of course, they're fans of ours. And now I do a version of one of their songs.
Things turn around. I'm really excited about it.
What projects are you working on?
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"I like to look back; it's important not to forget what
you've been through"
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For now, profiting a little more from the album, the best side of all, that
of the galas. The album can be promoted, but you have to surround yourself with
people for it to grow. I'll keep some of the musicians from the beginning, but
others are leaving. I don't know what's going on, but they always take my musicians
away from me. What am I going to do? I'm the breeding ground. I've also been in
that situation... and a lot worse. Since I began, I've been in all positions.
How things have changed. But I like to look back; it's important not to forget
what you've been through, what you've enjoyed, everything that's happened.
On the wall of the company's meeting room where we've spent a while with
Raimundo, there are photos hanging of the artists being promoted. Those of UPA
Dance and Junior stand out in quantity and size. "Have you heard him?",
asks Raimundo Amador. "The kid's cool". But it's unanimous that the
monster of flamencoized hip hop is La Mala Rodríguez, with whom he's already
collaborated on a couple of occasions. "She had to sing lyrics that said
something like 'take a lude, dude, don't have a cow'. She asked me - I'd just
been introduced to her, the chick's out of this world -, "hey, you're not
saying that because of me, are you?". And I told her it had already been
done and I didn't even know she was going to sing it. "Oh, all right, if
not...". Man, she's blunt. And she's a tremendous artist, unbelievable. I
cracked up when a colleague asked her: Why do you call yourself La Mala (The Bad
One)? And she answered: because I'm... bad".
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