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The release of ‘eStar Alegre’ coincides with another album with great upbeat material; ‘Confí de fuá’ by José Mercé. Do you think you also have the responsibility to do flamenco for the general public?

We have the responsibility to be replacing maestros who have unfortunately passed away, as is the case of my father, Rafael Romero, Sernita, Tío Borrico, great cantaores of that generation who have passed away. And we come in to take back up their legacy with the responsibility of giving it that little year 2000 sparkle. That's the case of this album, which has the same old influence; it doesn't lose that form and those roots, but it's situated in the year 2000. The opinion of a kid who's twenty years old right now is very important to me. I ask them and they tell me if my tangos are fresh or not. I have a twelve-year-old daughter and I ask her if she likes it, she sings them... and that's fundamental to me. So we're up-to-date, but without losing the roots.

Vicente Soto 'Sordera'

And you don't need to justify yourself with serious cantes...

There's an alegría which might be what's the most orthodox, but I'm one of the few people in my generation who can afford to do so because not all of them have been lucky enough to do so complete a trilogy as the one I have (Tríptico flamenco: Jerez. Sevilla. Cádiz). I think I've got quite a serious discography, within what I'm like and how I identify myself with things. I think that the orthodox enthusiasts, if they hold it against me, I ask them to forgive me but I think I have the right to be able to sing through bulerías and tangos because I'm a gypsy who was born with those rhythms inside me. I completely identify with what I do. When I do something that I don't identify with you can really tell because I'm a very expressive cantaor. I even have a selfish point of feeling good even personally. When I'm fine, everything I get across is fine. Now, if I'm not OK, it's a bad thing. That's why when I do something, I want to like it and for it to make me feel good.

How would you sum up the new generation of cantaores?

The truth is I'm not really up-to-date, but I do see something and coincide with them at work. I think we're a little bit lacking starting to do things from the foundation up. I understand creativity, I love someone who's restless, but it's also very important to start off knowing the base. Once you've shown you know it, now let's see what you can contribute. Let's say that I think we're slacking a bit at the orthodoxy level. There are people, I don't want to give names, who are amateurs, but I'd like there to be more.

Jerez's breeding ground is still alive, isn't it?

Jerez is a land... and I don't have to say it; it's written in history. And there are always hot coals where a fire once was.

That channel does seem to be missing that there used to be from Jerez to Madrid, to the great tablaos where artists used to be made...

That's precisely what I notice in the young people, that initial phase we had, which is great luck. When I left in the year '69 it was the golden age of the tablaos in Madrid; there were eight or ten or twelve tablaos and with a group of wonderful people. I remember a group in the year '67 at Los Canasteros where there was La Perla, María Vargas, Bambino, Gaspar de Utrera, my father... I don't know who all was there; wonderful people, all of them tremendous artists. And that's the stage they need... and to sing for baile. I've been lucky enough to sing for nearly everyone in that generation: for Farruco, El Güito, Mario Maya, Antonio Gades, Antonio el Bailarín. It's a phase which is needed and really makes a difference. We artists even used to get together more often before; we used to finish at the tablaos, went to the country inn, each chipped in a hundred pesetas, ate chicken, danced, had fun and learned from one another. Nowadays that's being lost; nowadays people really move in the fast lane and a kid comes out and he hasn't had time to do anything and he makes a record and sells a bunch of copies. And what does he know about this? Who's he heard sing? Who's he seen? And it's a lack of concern, too. I think that it's important for young people, since they don't have the chances we had, to fill up on everything, at least, to soak up references.

Vicente Soto 'Sordera'

The system is different; you nearly go straight to the theater...

Without going to the starting block first. That isn't positive for an artist. It really makes a difference when an artist comes out on stage; the professionalism, the experience and the learning process. You're born singing, yes, I've been singing since I've had the power of reasoning; I remember singing since I was six years old at the Jerez festival, but later on one is made. Coming on at a theater requires professionalism to have the security and the vision to move around on stage.

And what do you listen to?

When I listen to something, I usually listen to young people, other kinds of music that I like, but when I want something that touches me I always go back to the old guard. I've got a delightful treat which is the first small record Terremoto de Jerez did. My wonders are between him and Manolo Caracol. I haven't heard other things so far that touch me so much. Caracol is still touching; that warmth is felt on the albums, that air of the live show. It's really hard to find that nowadays because few... geniuses come out.

Other types of music are also present in your work. There's a hint of a sitar on the album...

I really like traditional ethnic music, like ours. It has a close relationship with us and there are things that border, that have a good sound joining them with things of ours, that are even enriching. But you have to be careful. At the beginning, Ketama used to do things of mine. I was among the first cantaores with a group; I used to lead Ketama. In my group there was Antonio Carmona on percussion, Josemi and Juan Carmona on guitar, and I used to sing with them in the eighties. I've always been very careful with fusion because I think that it's complicated to add something to music as important as flamenco and outshine it or be up to par.

And also the other way around, since those kinds of music carry the same weight...

Of course. They're types of music that have to be handled with a lot of tact.

Vicente Soto 'Sordera'

The Sordera family plays all the styles. Where do you get that restlessness from?

There are twenty surnames in Jerez and in the end we're all family, especially in (the neighborhood of) Santiago. Diego Carrasco's mother and my mother are second cousins, Morao is my father's first cousin... I don't know. We children grew up in a neighborhood house that used to have rooms for six or seven families. And the playing that there used to be back then, since there was no television and times were tough, the children spent their time outside singing and dancing. Afterwards there are also some who don't even know how to do the clapping. A lot's been lost, but I think it's still there; it still exists. I see it because I've had a house built where I was born. When my daughter goes there she gets together with Diego Carrasco's son, with Morao's daughter... and they go on singing. Moraíto's sings really nice; mine too. The kids keep having a good time singing. That's good; it's a way for those roots of ours not to be lost.

Do you all feel the responsibility at home of continuing the family line?

It's not that one has gone out and looked for that responsibility but that's what I've always done, and in a certain way, I feel full of responsibility... as do my brothers (Sorderita and Enrique Soto Sordera). That puts things in their place right now. It's a responsibility that I hold willingly because I'm very proud of where I'm from and whose son I am. I think he was an extraordinary man just like my mother. I hold it willingly.

One curiosity. Are you as fond of literature as you seem to be?

I saw cante at home, but I didn't see any books. What I do have is experience: you're born, you're made and life teaches you. I fortunately have very great friends and among them is Pedro Atienza; we've done a great many things together. It is through him that Vicente Soto gets to know the world of literature. I'm very interested in it in the sense that we're talking about a musical culture that's kick-ass and if texts like that are joined to it, what we're doing is enhancing it. Within my little contribution, what I never do is to take flamenco away from its place because that's what I feel and how I identify with it. I see a text by Fernando Pessoa, I analyze it and it suggests to me how to sing it, whether it be through soleá, whether it be... That's the relationship that joins me to literature; it's not that I'm a man who always has his nose in a book. It's quite clear to me. I do the cantes arranged to what's suggested to me by what I read. I'm a very delicate and very selfish man; I'm not easy to deal with. And it's even happened to me with my brother (Sorderita) who among what they call new flamenco is the one who knows me best, and it's been tremendously hard for me to do things of his... He sure does mine! I have to feel it to make the most of a work.

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