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Vicente Amigo
by Javier Primo
(January, 2001)
The
guitarist Vicente Amigo has just put out his fourth solo record, "Ciudad
de las Ideas", (idea city) eight pieces with echoes of jazz, Arabic sounds,
and of course, flamenco from all generations and sources. Vicente receives us
with somewhat tired, unfocused eyes. Ours is the last in one of those series of
interviews that record companies organize for the media during the promotion.
We descend into the basement of a café, in the entrails of a Madrid that
belongs to another era.
Vicente,
your previous record was based on your "Concierto flamenco para un marinero
en tierra" (flamenco concert for a landlocked sailor) and you called it "Poeta"
in honor of Rafael Alberti. Do you feel that record is separate and distinct from
the others?
It's
a record like any other. It's my music. The thing is, it's different because this
last one is closer to what I've always done, basically guitar. I think it's just
as flamenco as the first one, if not more, the thing is it has nuances, of percussive
instruments, drums, stuff like that, so there might be people who think it's less
flamenco or something. But I tell you from experience (laughter), this is flamenco
because when it comes to the rehearsals, hey... I realize it's a record of guitar
music and just as flamenco as the first one. I believe that... there are... moments
(Vicente mulls over what he's going to say) where you can breathe a kind of flamenco
which is more mine, and other moments when... well... they have nothing to do
with flamenco. The bolero for example, is a composition that has nothing to do
with flamenco... but it's music and it's just as much mine as any other moment
of the record.
You're
a flamenco musician, at least in your education, but you're not bound by that...
Exactly.
My music is like a kind of fusion without labels... and it's because that's my
way of feeling. I go out into the street and a lot of things from different places
might catch my eye, from many different styles and different people. That's how
my music is. What's true is that I don't like to call something flamenco that
isn't flamenco. But it's also true that in my music there are things which are
very flamenco, and others which are not. I don't have to put limits on my imagination.
At
times the label "flamenco" leaves you wide open. You know that better
than anyone.
Of
course. That's another thing. Because who am I to say what's flamenco and what
isn't, much less someone who doesn't know.
I've
heard you say that you don't like to circulate in a purely flamenco ambience.
You don't like those critics who seem never to be content...
Well,
when I want to move in a flamenco ambience I go with my little circle of friends
and I never have any problem. We just have a good time and that's it. But I don't
like going to flamenco clubs and stuff like that. I don't have the time.
So
a new record, something different to tell...
This
is like writing a screenplay. Now it was time to make another. I think the plot
is different, it's a different movie. And it's also true that it's a continuation,
another step that I hope to climb up in my life as a musician.
Does
it follow a central theme, or is it a collection of pieces composed in a period
of time?
I
want to keep on giving the best I've got. This record is full of melodies, just
like all my music. The piece "Ciudad
de las ideas" is a combination of things I have inside myself and which
seem to me to be very interesting. There are some choruses that seem like they
emanate from the center of the earth and Montse Cortés sings beautifully
and what's being developed in the midst of it all is a flamenco piece, flamenco,
flamenco. In the piece "Tres notas para decir te quiero" (three notes
to say I love you), I'm trying for the melody, naturalness and rhythm. There are
some tangos, "Compare Manuel" (my buddy Manuel), inspired in the world
of gypsy celebrations, weddings and all that. Then there's a piece, "Tatá",
which is a rumba, but it's not a rumba, it's sort of a merengue, it's a game,
a divertissement which is about trying to find a rhythmic formula. And there's
a soleá ("Córdoba")
which is one of the things that I can say I contributed, that it's mine.
Vicente
Amigo's solea.
Yes,
I think it's my soleá. Every artist has to have an internal quest and I
think that in this I found something that was inside of me.
It's
dedicated to your hometown, Córdoba.
Yes,
but it's Córdoba and it's Andalusia. When you listen to it, you're listening
to Andalusia.
At
33 Vicente Amigo has built himself a solid career. And he has helped launch or
strengthen those of other artists. A rundown of his list of musical collaborations
as composer or producer: El Pele, Vicente Soto, Potito, Carmen Linares, Remedios
Amaya, José Mercé, Luis de Córdoba, Dieguito el Cigala and
many others. More often than not, these collaborations have achieved considerable
artistic and commercial heights.
Vicente,
lately everything you touch turns to gold, the productions....
In
that case I'm going to touch my pocket (laughter).
Is
it a question of having a nose for the business, or of hard work?
I
think it's a combination of several things. First of all it takes love, if you
put love into what you do you can't lose. It's healthful and makes you feel good.
Then, let come what may. And if it turns out good... I suppose you're referring
to the records with Mercé and with Remedios, those... well I put all my
love into them. The Mercé recording was very special because it's a record
which is all mine, made to my liking. And whenever they call me to add my touch,
and I accept, I give it everything I've got. But it's also true that everyone
else did the same and... luck also counts.
Yes,
but when you're lucky again and again...
I
don't know. That's a lot of luck (laughter). Or people like you because you communicate.
Me, I don't buy a record if I don't like it.
Have
you reached the point where you feel overworked, up to your eyes in obligations
with other artists who ask you to do things for them?
Oh
yes... really a lot. A lot of the time you just have to say you can't, and I don't
know how to say no. And many times they call you and you can't, you can't be recording
every day with everybody. There is neither time nor energy for that. And then
you say you can't and maybe you make an enemy because they think you're full of
yourself. I'm a real flamenco lover and I like cante, but now I can't because
I have to devote myself to my own work, to my record, and my company which is
counting on me.
In
fact, you've even gone so far as to collaborate with yourself, with the voices.
Yes,
but it's just an anecdote. I like to sing but not to show off that I sing. Sometimes
there are messages, due to the particular character you want to give, your way
of seeing things, and if it turns out that you can do it, why not?
I've
heard you say that art is divine and the guitar nothing more than an instrument
to express it. You've got the instrument. And the divine part?
I
think I possess...(he doubts), and I hope that whoever doesn't think so will forgive
me, I think so (laughter), why should I tell you I'm an instrument? Look, art
is divine but it wouldn't exist if it weren't for those who perceive it and are
moved by it. And taste can be developed and there are many people who are moved
by music that doesn't move me. In any case, I consider art anything that moves
me. And from the simple fact that I can be moved by art, that means I have something
divine. And that's a privilege. But that depends a great deal on who's listening.
I'm crazy about Pat Metheny and there are people who aren't quite so sure about
him, but it's all the same to me.
Yes,
there's a clear influence, and not just in you, but in other guitarists like Cañizares.
Well,
now everyone wants flamenco collaborators, or things which denote flamenco on
all kinds of records. Flamenco draws from other sources in the same way. And maybe
it's to make it a little more open, or out of the artists' necessity, because
he belongs to that music, or that music to him.
That
could make people become interested in flamenco, but it could also make people
think that flamenco is something other than what it is.
Yes,
of course. If I were to say that this isn't right I'd be speaking against myself.
Not because we're talking about flamenco, but about creativity and if a musician
decides that he wants to put something flamenco in his record, you have to listen
to the results and see if you like it. For me, I think it's perfect, that people
are free to be open to other kinds of music, or to be closed. Every artist should
have his own criteria.
Do
you consider yourself the standard bearer for the new generation of guitarists?
Many people view you like that.
I
consider myself just another guitarist of my generation. And I consider myself
an artist. That's what I do, I'm not a guy who's glued to a guitar, I like to
enjoy many things and later bring it out in my guitar which is the medium that
best serves me to express myself but... you know... I try to offer art, not just
guitar.
Filtered
through your guitar.
Of
course. I want to make mine all that which moves me. That's very common in artists
and I'm a little mystical about art, maybe you shouldn't be that way, but I am.
It's how I am at this point in my life.
You
haven't gone in for Buddhism or anything like that.
No,
I've read a few things and I'm very interested. But just once in a while. That's
how I am, I enjoy the moment. I get interested in something and then it stops
being interesting. But I always try to have something which interests me. An incentive.
What
are you interested in lately?
Well,
in Kavafis, the poet. My record is called "Ciudad de las ideas" because
of a poem of his called "El primer peldaño" (the first step).
He is the poet who has hurt me the most and cured me the most. It's incredible
how this poet can help people's souls.
Do
you like poetry?
I'm
interested in everything. But I don't have time to read everything I want, just
like I don't have time to listen to everything that I want, nor see all the movies
I want to see. Nor even to play the guitar as much as I'd like.
So
that's the mystical part, but playing, composing, is a question of work.
It's
work. But I give great importance to mystical things, when it comes to perceiving
art. I'm not into bullfighting, but I go to watch some bullfighters for the art
of it. My grandfather used to take me to the bullfights, but I would get bored
because I didn't understand it very well... but there are artists in bullfighting
that are enough to get you hooked forever. And there are flamencos who cause people
to come from other countries because they have been moved by them. It's not that
they say "I'm going to go because I saw flamenco". No, they've heard
some artist who has changed their lives. That's what art is.
Who
got you hooked on flamenco?
Paco
de Lucía, when I was three years old. It's his fault I play the guitar
(laughter). If you don't like my playing, you can blame Paco (more laugher).
I
remember that line, "me gusta fumar la yerba, la hierbabuena" (I like
to smoke grass, mintgrass). Was there any where you wrote that?
That
was in Córdoba. I said, "I like to savor things", I don't say
(laughter) "smoke". You said it, not me. I don't smoke any more. Ten
years ago I smoked, but I smoked three packs of cigarrettes, blonde, anything,
Fortuna, Chester, Lucky, Marlboro, like a chimney.
Was
it an easy birth, this last record?
Well,
it was a little difficult. But I think it takes more work to get down into a mine
and not see the sun. Or climb up on a scaffold. The thing I value is the final
result, doing something all mine and giving it to people who like music.
You
don't give it to them, you charge them.
(Laughter)
Well of course we charge. Just like they charge me to put the tiles in the bathroom!
Javier Primo
From the flamenco magazine "alma100". January, 2001.
Translation: Estela Zatania
Tour
2001 "Ciudad de las Ideas" Places and dates
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