Interview with the guitarist Ramón Jiménez:

"Guitarists are the driving force
behind flamenco"

Silvia Calado Olivo. Madrid, May 2003
Translation: Norman Paul Kliman

He was born in Santander, but, due to his family's rambling lifestyle, he could just as easily have been born in Cuenca. His brother El Entri fell in love with flamenco guitar, and put Ramón Jiménez on a road that would soon lead him to perform in tablaos in Madrid. There, he coincided with Antonio Canales, El Viejín, the Parrilla brothers and Ramón Porrina. Together, they composed 'A Cuerda y Tacón,' which created a means of interplay between dance and guitar. He followed this highly influential approach with Antonio Canales, but he has also worked with Joaquín Cortés, Luisillo, Rafael Aguilar, and many others. Through his 24 years of accompanying dance, he has accumulated a considerable amount of knowledge and insight. His first release, 'Sembrando Inquietudes' is the crystallization of the skills he gained over a period, and marks the beginning of a new era. Ramón claims to be responsible for the special air of the Caño Roto style of Madrid, and he is fighting to put the guitar in a more prominent position.

	Ramón Jiménez (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)

Ramón Jiménez was an outstanding student of a school for generations of guitarists: the tablao. Los Cabales, Café de Chinitas and others provided him with a schooling that he considers invaluable: "Guitarists today are missing that, and it's reflected in their playing." He defines this process as "the depth and understanding that you get from the creative process." Some of his classmates were Rai Heredia, Joselito Soto, Antonio Canales, El Viejín, the members of Ketama. "There were a lot of us and we learned a lot from each other. Just imagine: We were all very creative, and we picked up a lot from each other."

After doing military service, he performed in Zambra, which, at that time, was like a showcase for a new generation of dancers. "That's where Antonio Canales, El Viejín, Bernardo Parrilla, Juan Parrilla, Ramón Porrina and I started to work on 'A Cuerda y Tacón.' It made an impression on all of us. We developed a way to arrange for dance that has served as a model for other artists since then." This modus operandi established "an involvement between guitar and dance that was completely new at the time," he explains. Ramón states that "until that time, guitarists had focused their accompaniment on a simple and noisy style of strumming. We created a new approach that put the guitar closer to the forefront. You had to play the guitar instead of just making noise, and we searched for a way to achieve that interplay with the dancer." Ramón thinks that the dancer Antonio Canales has left a clear message for other dancers to observe: Listen more.

From tablaos, he went on to dance companies, including those of Rafael Aguilar, Luisillo, Joaquín Cortés, and even Gigantes de la Danza, which he describes as "a classical-based company that included Maya Plisetskaya, and always featured a guest dancer like Adrián Galia or Lola Greco." He never stopped collaborating with Antonio Canales, and states, "I've spent my entire life working with him."

After accompanying dance for 24 years, his friends proposed his next objective: recording. He comments, "They make you feel like an important guitarist, even though you've never done anything." Ramón accepted the challenge: "Two years ago, I decided to stop accompanying dance, because I'd done it for a long time, and to start a new period in my life, focusing more on my playing." The first result of this new direction is 'Sembrando Inquietudes,' which he describes as "all the things that I'd observed in my music; everything I'd put into it and the things I'd gotten back from it. It was like sitting down and talking about all of that." For this reason, he knew it would work: "I saw the reaction of the artists involved, and I was confident in the results from the beginning. I knew that it was all going to come together."

Recording debut

Ramón explains that 'Sembrando Inquietudes' is "a guitar recording, but I tried to maintain the focus on flamenco at all times." He is quick to acknowledge the merits of his trade: "I think that guitarists are the driving force behind flamenco. We're the ones that study the most, and we're concerned with maintaining a certain level of skill." He states that this concept is apparent on the surface and in the underlying values of his debut recording: "Technique has to lead to soulfulness. If there's one single quality present in this recording, it's feeling." But rhythm is also a strong element: "My playing has always been very rhythmic. I've always been in demand for dance accompaniment because dancers like my tight rhythm. I could have made an entire recording of bulerías, but, in the end, I chose just three that are very different from each other." The recording also includes a rondeña and a taranta, which he describes as "styles that are a little more serious." He states that the track 'Ande Yo Caliente' "isn't actually any style of flamenco; it reflects my involvement with contemporary dance companies." Two tangos round out the recording. The guest artists on the recording are singer Montse Cortés, bassist Javier Colina, violinist Bernardo Parrilla, and guitarist Jesús de Rosario. He describes the release as "a very accessible recording."

Nonetheless, his restless nature already has him looking in a new direction: "I've always agreed to anything new that the dance companies wanted to try." Examples of this are his collaborations with innovative projects like Arrieritos, Danzahar and Contratiempo. "When you're involved in something like that, you're assuming a commitment to look really closely at the music you're playing, whether or not you're aware of that commitment. It's a challenge that I've always been glad to accept."

His enthusiastic approach is the result of his many years of experience accompanying dance, an area in which he considers that he has "achieved a lot, in terms of the guitar." He states that, when turning his efforts to composing, his experience "is a great help, because you know when something is going to work." Ramón is critical of "young guitarists that start to play professionally without any previous experience in tablaos and dance companies. They put themselves in situations where they're forced to create, and that lack of experience is obvious. I don't know how to explain it technically, but I can tell that they're missing something."

next >>

revista@flamenco-world.com