"If you confine yourself to flamenco
you're not a musician"

Silvia Calado Olivo. Madrid, October 2002

That day Tomás Moreno Romero couldn't find a clean pair of socks anywhere. The only thing he could lay his hands on was a pair of Real Madrid football socks... they wouldn't be seen in the first two hundred photos anyway. But then came photos number 201, 202, 203… Javier Salas clicked the shutter once, twice, three times while Tomás was getting changed. A month later EMI suggested those portraits of Tomasito in his underwear might be used on the front cover of 'Cositas de la realidad', his fourth disc. "Me, I used to sing songs from TV cartoons when I was little, I don't have any hang-ups - I loved it. And my friends who know me well, they know that's the real me there on the cover". And that very photo is causing a sensation in Spain: "People die laughing when they see it, even some mates of mine from the Lavapiés barrio of Madrid who are punks and rockers. And flamencos too... El Cigala got out of a car to steal one of the posters. He said to me 'Man, this is too much!' Antonio Carmona too, he laughed his head off. I mean it's a shocking photo". Tomasito sees his decision as a bold and daring one: "Let them take another one…" And he's convinced this is "an album cover that could go down in history like some of the crazy Rolling Stones or Frank Zappa sleeves. No flamenco artists do photos like that".

So what's behind the cover? Tomás jokes that "you open the CD and there's a full frontal. You have to buy the album because the photo session inside is really pornographic!" Don't worry, he's just kidding. There are other reasons for listening to 'Cositas de la realidad' (or snippets of reality). The title gives you a good idea of its content: "The album is about everyday life, about things that happen to everyone". The title is taken from a song by Antonio de los Ríos, El Madriles, who wrote 'Noches de bohemia' and 'Camino del hoyo', but it captures the essence of the whole project well. "All the lyrics I sing are cositas de la realidad, for example those of 'Soleá punk' (no me importa que me claven cuarenta navajas, toma filosofía ahí, mientras estés conmigo - I don't care if they stab me forty times while you're with me, that's my philosophy), or those of 'El Bicho' (ante todo prefiero el silencio - above all I prefer silence). You can find snippets of reality, too, in the situations José el Pena and Trini are in". And he gives credit for that everyday feel throughout the album to Carmen Lázaro, the executive producer, "who took the trouble to find the lyrics" and who also put together the team who worked on the project. "Nothing is down to me on this release, I'm the one who's contributed the least."

Tomasito credits Tino di Geraldo with a leading role in the cast. The producer also plays electric guitar, bass, drums… "as well as treating the mixing desk with due loving care". The cantaor and bailaor considers that "he's the one who put the pieces of the puzzle together, he's created a work of art. He's worked the hardest out of all of us." It's thanks to him that on this album flamenco mixes effortlessly with rock, with hip-hop, with punk... "And I'm able to do it because Tino's so easy to work with, he's got such creative talent, he works so professionally… he knows me and he knows what I want. And here's the proof. I used to break dance when I was little... and that's something that shapes you. I can do a funky or hip-hop bulería or whatever."

The one-man-band Tino from Asturias does, though, "share the work with his partner-in-crime, my uncle Diego Carrasco, who took the disc as seriously as if it were his own." Tomasito and Tino wanted to get him involved, the aim was that "Diego Carrasco was always there" on 'Cositas de la realidad'. And if the uncle and partner-in-crime "is crazy about the disc", the nephew is even more so: "You have to make the most of that. For me, his influence is inevitable, he just rubs off on me. And he understands me".

	"A lot of flamenco artists are startled by this variety and even concede that they'd like to do stuff like that, but in the end they stick to their home turf"

And beyond this outstanding duo, Tomasito expresses his gratitude to the songwriters, musicians, technicians, company etc. He reserves a special mention for Isidro Muñoz, who wrote 'Mi Trini'. The fact that he also plays guitar on this track "is something I'll remember for the rest of my life." And he expresses similar feelings about Cuban singer-songwriter Kelvis Ochoa and El Madriles, "that's who urged me to make this music, who drove me to make those changes. Because although I had my songs, they didn't have the magic that comes from the lyrics on 'El fino de mi casa' or 'Camino del hoyo' for example. Madriles was like a father figure to me, the one who got me known". And without a doubt, the mother figure was the late Lola Flores, whom he considers "spectacular not just on stage, but in real life too". He spent three or four years working with her as a child when she introduced him to the world on her TV show as 'El Niño Robot' (The Robot Kid). And it was this artist from Jerez, Manolo Caracol's artistic partner, from whom Tomasito learned "that composure you have to maintain - I think I've got that from her."

And the result of mixing that producer, his partner-in-crime, those songwriters who've praised "us turning their songs inside-out", those musicians "who've played for nothing just for the love of music", and Tomasito himself, is a cocktail which "begins a new era". The artist, from the Barrio de Santiago in Jerez, assures us that "some discs can come out anyhow, it just depends how you do things and how much affection you feel for them". He confesses that he likes all the albums, but recognizes that 'Cositas de la realidad' was made with "a special affection". Tomasito recalls that 'Castaña' (Sony, 1999) was made "too lightly and on a low budget", whereas on this album he's taken his time, "and that's one thing you have to do if you want it to come out well".

... next