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What does Pedro
Sierra contribute as a producer and as a guitarist?
A lot of people ask me that if we spend
so much time together, it must be hard... What he gives
to me is a lot of security because besides being a magnificent
guitarist, he’s a real flamenco enthusiast. That
gives me even more security. And if I do something that
isn’t completely right or that I can do better,
nobody knows me better than him and of course, he always
tells me. I hear a lot of people saying you can’t
imagine how my so-and-so or how my what’s-his-name
is singing, and my husband is always telling me the opposite;
this has to be done better... Compliments? The minimum.
Besides, that’s good, because it helps you to outdo
yourself.
La Tobala and Pedro Sierra
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)
You wanted the album to have
a luster similar to the live show, didn’t you?
Yes, because I used to record an album
and it was really nice, people would listen to it, it
earned money for the record companies and it helped me
to become known. And Pedro, joking, told me now that I
was going to record with his record label, it was going
to be an album which was going to sell less. And it might
sell less, but out of all the ones I have, it’s
the only one I don’t mind listening to again and
again. That fills me with satisfaction. I think I’ve
done something I really like and I can listen to. And
it fills me with pride that colleagues call me up to tell
me they like this record.
I realized that I recorded an album and
I did some tunes, some tangos, some bulerías, touches
por soleá or por seguiriyas, but when the time
came to sing live, I did traditional cantes por soleá,
por alegrías... I had to make an album I could
really perform live, with your guitar and your clapping.
Otherwise, you had to get together with a bunch of people...
I think that in flamenco that’s happening to many
colleagues. It’s the album I really felt like making,
an album which identifies me as what I am.
La Tobala (Photo Daniel Muñoz)
Do young cantaores have an attitude
of going back?
As far as I’m concerned, I’d
already tried several formulas after seven albums, and
I demanded from myself to do what I really felt.
The album is also classical in
instrumentation...
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| "The
freshness flamenco has, which it has more in live
shows than on albums" |
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Another thing I set as a personal challenge
is that I didn’t want a lot of interventions. There’s
the collaboration by Manolo Nieto on bass, there are also
some acoustic guitars by Michael Jaccarino. And fundamental,
the flamenco guitar by Pedro Sierra. But after choruses
and so on, no. I wanted to do all of the vocals myself,
except some choruses there are in the alboreá.
And another thing I have to say is that albums can always
be corrected, since one is never happy, but you can say
that this is a nearly live album. We used the old way
of recording. We did guitar and vocals and entire takes.
And if it was cut, it was on very few occasions. There
are even things which remained which I thought weren’t
going to like in the caña, where there’s
an “olé” which sprang from my soul
due to a falseta of his. We did it with the intention
of maintaining the freshness flamenco has, which it has
more in live shows than on albums because of that, because
it’s a feeling which is really hard to capture and
record. So it has a different intention. Many times it
isn’t how perfect it is, but rather the intention
it has. Perhaps a spin, a quejío... and you say
“oh, it wanders a bit here, but the intention is
there”.
And what about singing in Portuguese?
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La Tobala (Photo Daniel
Muñoz) |
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Personally, I felt like it because Portugal
and Extremadura are first cousins due to their proximity.
There are many Portuguese gypsies who sing really well
por tangos. I’ve done some pure tangos extremeños
and then these, which still have their extremeño
accent, but with some new creation and lyrics in Portuguese.
I think there’s a link.
Over the last few seasons you’ve
collaborated with Manuela
Carrasco. Now that you have a new album, what are
your projects?
Yes, it’s true that we’ve
had a really good period collaborating with Manuela Carrasco,
but we’ve been devoting ourselves to the album for
some time now. They’re periods. Now we have performances
of our own. And then we also have a show, ‘Encuentros’,
which premiered in March at Seville’s
Flamenco Thursdays at the Fundación Cajasol,
with pianist Sergio Monroy and bailaor El
Junco, besides Pedro and me. It’s just guitar,
piano, cante and baile. Now everybody has a big group,
but we feel like a project like that, with just enough
ingredients. Pedro Sierra is the musical director, and
they’re like one-to-one collaborations, everyone
together... it’s to share. I do a number alone with
El Junco. I do another thing alone with the piano, then
the piano with baile... Different relationships are established
between us. And separately, there are recitals. One thing
I can show off about is that I always sing my stuff. Personality
isn’t created, it’s there; either you have
it or you don’t. I sing the way I feel it. Seeking
personality is not having it.
Has La Tobala changed from the
first album to this latest one?
I’m always going to be the same.
The new album is there, you have to listen to it... and
you have to go to the shows to check it out.
La Tobala with Samara Amador
and Pedro Sierra
(Photo Daniel Muñoz)
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