Flamenco - World.com / Interview with Sorderita.

The interview with Sorderita took place in June of 2001, very shortly before the death of his father, Don Manuel Soto, Sordera de Jerez.

Sorderita. Interview. June, 2001.

His name is inextricably linked to a group which broke the mold and opened new frontiers in flamenco, Ketama, and his last name, Sordera, belongs to one of those dynasties which makes a mark, since each and every one of its members is now a recognized artist, from the patriarch Sordera de Jerez, to his brothers Vicente or Enrique, not to mention the cousins Luis el Zambo or Mercé.

Now, at the age of forty, this man from Jerez who was brought up and lives in the capital, is again in the forefront with his new record "Siete Ríos Celestes" (seven heavenly rivers), where we have a more commercial Sorderita, with ballads and three songs recorded live. "At this point I haven't got to prove anything to anyone, I wanted to offer a record that would be well-supported, as this one is". He is quick to add "anyhow, if you notice, there's an important percentage of flamenco, bulerías, fandangos, and alegrías, the rest you can call it anything you like, but let me tell you, no one song is more or less flamenco than any other as such, but rather it's how you sing it. I think I always sound flamenco because that's what I am!"

In 1993 he was thrust into the limelight as singer for the group Ketama, later on, a couple of singles on his own, various collaborations on important projects such as his brother Vicente's "Entre dos Mares" (between two seas) which he plans to rework in his own way to offer a new version... "I got involved in Ketama because it was necessary at that point in time, although that wasn't recognized until years later. We opened a very important door. Ketama is one of the things that has passed through my life. I remained as long as I still had something to say, I get along with them great. As far as I'm concerned, it's the most important group in this country, the approach may have changed, but you can't deny their quality as musicians."

For "Siete Ríos" he had the participation of names such as Paquete, member of Barbería, El Boy, his son, who composed a couple of songs, and the multinational backer, Sony. The recording was made in its entirety by José Luis Garrido in Musitron (Madrid), a favorite studio of Paco de Lucía among others.

"El agua de limonero" (water from the lemon tree) is a zambra, and older folks will find it reminiscent of Caracol although it's a cha-cha" explains José who goes on to say: "'Yo con mi guitarra' (me and my guitar) was a tribute to Pescadilla in which Lolita and Rosario were going to participate, you know, they've got a right since it's their father. As far as I'm concerned Pescadilla was very great, he carried out his work in the shadow of Lola. Everyone knows Peret, but that way with the guitar, that was Pescadilla".

The young man from this Jerez dynasty never forgets his roots: "I've always been aware that the people in my family are pure cantaores. Out of respect for them I've never sat down to sing, I don't have those qualities, my brothers and cousins have, but not me. Out of respect, look, it's the same thing with my nephew Navajita".

What's clear is that his childhood was not ordinary, his sources were many, and he has lived flamenco at home since a very early age. "I've been lucky enough to have liked flamenco right from the start, and to have been able to learn from those around me, in addition to having seen all the greats who passed through my house... at the age of ten I had the good fortune to play for Caracol. I think I'm a really lucky guy!".

Well yes, sure, my son plays almost everything, right now he's drummer for José el Francés and he gave me some lyrics which we'll get something out of very shortly.

Being a composer, the first thing that comes to me is the harmony, and then I try to find lyrics, usually about love, which is my thing, and I try to make it fit, maybe I do it like that because I play the guitar. That's what Sorderita is, and nothing more, three drops of art and the rest is all done! I don't strive for commercialism when I'm composing, it has to say something to me.

Well, the way of life, that's exactly what I think is being lost. Things like dressing a certain way for example, or mentalizing in the dressing-room before a show, being alone in the dressing-room, anyhow, how are you going to have a glass of milk, or whiskey, but always some good drinking, like the cigar for jazz musicians. These are things that mustn't be lost. And then the get-togethers and fiestas of Candela: look... José, Camarón, always called me up when he came here to sing in Madrid. We used to go in by the back door, because if not, people wouldn't leave him alone, and there'd be ten or twelve of us, and we'd all learn a whole lot, taking turns singing.

Don't you think that some people go too fast now that it's so easy to record a CD?

Of course, the artist who's been through the tablaos, you can tell, even in his manner. Those were great schools. I've played for Panseco, Pepa de Utrera, Fernanda, Farruco in tablao, not on record. With greats like Camarón, the really important work comes at the beginning. Later work is justified by the first, that's where he left his mark on orthodox cante... without that his work would have been meaningless.

Yes thank god we haven't lost that. When I got married my father returned to Jerez, he was here forty years. I have the consolation of the fiestas when we get together. We're more than ninety cousins on my mother's side, and with the others we're more than a hundred and sixty!

Well, you know we gypsies from the south are the most open in the world. I married whoever I wanted. The laws are followed more by the ones from around here. Anyhow, I've never had any problem integrating with non-gypsies, and my children either. My father is more liberal than anyone. We were lucky enough to have grown up without racism. We're like "lite"!

Do you think that Andalusia was, and continues to be where people care the least about flamenco?

It's a shame, but that continues to be true. That's where there's the least work. People like Parrita, Manzanita and me can't fit in. When there's an opening, they either do pure flamenco or they move over to pop, but for people like us, there's nothing. Look at Barbería for example, it happens to them, and I though it was just me! What's more, I still remember once in my own town, I worked with Ketama and they didn't pay us, and mind you, I carry Jerez very close to my heart although I was raised in Madrid, but it's incredible they never remember me.

I want to continue the work that my brother Vicente did, with the poets of 1927, and further on, have another encounter with the African musicians I recorded Songhai with, I think that African music is the closest thing to flamenco.

What's your opinion of the new flamenco voices of Arcángel, Estrella Morente, or Miguel Poveda?

They're young people who are doing things the way they're supposed to be done, flamenco from the ground up. That really gets my respect. The fact is, I live from music and I can't say there's anything bad, but I think there ought to be more respect, it's the least you can ask... Most of them are starting to build the house from the roof, this shows in the long run, by how short-lived their success is. People buy flamenco now, that means something, don't you think?

Sorderita - a real pleasure talking to him - insists on pointing out that he's getting back to the roots. "As avant-garde as I was in the eighties, now in the two thousands I'm trying to stray as little as possible from flamenco. The funniest thing is that of my generation, now it turns out the biggest purist is me. I can talk about cante because I know it, my father knows that I'm a singer-composer and that I've always sung with respect, even though I might do blues or rock, the important thing about me is the flamenco part, that's my contribution".

"Today's very open flamenco is limited to the singer's voice, I'll always sound that way. The record companies are having their best moment now, not before. Mercé proved it was so, and look at all the copies Camarón is selling now. He couldn't have imagined it in his time. I'm a Sorderita for the year 2001, without abandoning what I have always been, and I'll show that in live performance. I think that of this generation I'm the artist for the older folk. Everyone loves me and that's what motivates me the most to keep going".