Vicente Amigo, guitarist. Interview

“I've been searching for that moment in sound
since I started playing the guitar”

Carlos Sánchez. Seville, April 2005
Translation: Joseph Kopec

There's a time for everything. That is what exceptional guitarist Vicente Amigo thinks. He hadn't recorded anything solo for five years... but had been doing things non-stop. There's the album he did with El Pele. Now he's back in action with ‘Un momento en el sonido’ (‘A moment in sound’), that instant he's always tried to search for with his music. A place, a moment, a site to be able to place it. It's his way of understanding life. This album is full of dedications. To him, friendship is a very important part of life. And music, his means of expression. Now he has an intensive month in store for him between promotions and preparations for the tour he is to begin in Japan in May, but he feels really excited about and satisfied with this album. You can see it in his regard, his smile and his attitude towards life.

Vicente Amigo

Five years without recording anything solo. Didn't they leave you alone?

I didn't leave myself alone (he smiles). It's true that I've been constantly restless. But I think that things take time and sometimes you have to take a little bit longer. There might have been other people who were in more of a hurry than I was. The logical thing would've been to have done it about two years ago, but at that time I did El Pele's album, which is as much mine as his. But I think it was worth the wait. I hope not to make people wait so long for the next one.

How long have you been working on this album?

I started working on this album last year. I went to Rocamador, a place in Extremadura, to get my ideas together. A monastery that's there amidst the holm oaks. A wonderful place. That's an ideal place to go and compose. I went there with my computer and my guitar. It got to be midnight and I'd lost track of time. I got my ideas together there and developed them. I did it over several weeks that I had off. In January I went to the studio and in March the album was already finished. I've dedicated one of the tracks to that so beautiful monastery, to that peace in the air there.

‘Un momento en el sonido’... What are you searching for on this record?

You always have to give things a title. I always say that some day I'll make a record with no title. Like a blank check (he jokes). Besides, I like to really get involved in everything I do. When I do the songs I like to name them. I'm very fussy about those things. I gave it this title because I was there, in Rocamador, composing the taranta and while I was doing so, listening to it, there was an instant which was a moment in sound. It was that moment when your heart skips a beat. And that's why I gave the album that name. Starting off with the fact that notes are places in sound, I'm searching for that moment, that place in sound which makes you feel something special. It's a way of focusing the art. I dedicate this taranta to my fellow sufferer, José Manuel.

Is that the message you're trying to send out on this record?

Of course. It's what I've always sought, not just on this album. It'd be absurd to say this is what I've sought on this album and not on the rest. I've been searching for that moment in sound since I started playing the guitar. It's hard to explain that title when it's so easy to listen to.

Can you comment on the rest of the tracks appearing on the album?

The rumba ‘Demípatí’ is a non-existent word. I gave the RAE (Royal Spanish Academy) dictionary a swift kick there (he laughs). It's a sort of game that has something to it. It's a rumba where the melody isn't simple. It has its harmony and its rhythmical games. It's like a game between the three of them. It's not an easy rumba. You have to listen to it more than once. I really like this track. It came out naturally. It convinced me from the very beginning. I didn't have to change it around a lot. Tino di Geraldo plays the drums here.

	Vicente Amigo

‘Campo de la verdad’...

The title ('Countryside of Truth') has a double meaning. There's a neighborhood in Córdoba called ‘Campo de la verdad’, where men used to fight duels many years ago. It's a humble neighborhood and it has a very rich name. I remember once when I asked Curro Romero where he lived and he answered: “In the countryside, where the truth is”. And it all coincides because I thought up this track for bullfighter José Tomás. He's a true bullfighter. Everything I've been through with him is essence. He's marked history. He's a wonderful person and I needed to give him a bit of my work that would stay there for a long time for the people who listen to my music. It's a way of thanking him for what he's given me on the afternoons I've gone to see him. Friendship is very important to me. Music is a way to express my life. And they're part of it. I'd love to make the best possible music and express it the most clearly.

‘Mezquita’ (‘Mosque’)...

Once it was done, I saw myself inside the Mosque playing it. I tried to do a very traditional soleá. In the most traditional tones. From the top, as we flamencos say. A, G, F, E. I try to breathe those rests, to play really slowly. I play very old-fashioned style, recalling what I understand as traditional flamenco. I've dedicated this soleá to El Pele, whom I've spent a lot of time with.

‘Tangos del Arco Bajo’...

I've tried to do it the way flamencos understand it. With that feeling. There's a part at the beginning where I seek that feeling, but I also try to make it hurt you under your skin. There are some arpeggios that have their pauses that made me think about what skin is. That contact, that friction with air. It's a very flamenco track. The company's picked it as the first single. I thought they were going to take the rumba because it's faster. But the tangos are very flamenco.

You've dedicated the bolero to your son Marcos, haven't you?

I always say it's for him not to get jealous. But the thing is that my son Marcos was born during this period when I haven't recorded anything. I'd already dedicated a track to my son Vicente on another album. Really, I compose the songs and then I dedicate them. The only track I did with the dedication in mind beforehand was the one to José Tomás. I did think of him there from the very beginning. As you see, nearly all the songs have their dedication. I try to give them away, to dedicate them to people important to me. It's like when the bullfighter dedicates his fight. An album is a lot of bits of work and I try to dedicate them all. You struggle for a lot of afternoons to carry out an album.

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