Camarón in flamenco's words

Flamenco-world.com

Joaquín el Canastero, singer and composer

"My life is at the river. And Camarón loved that. He opened up to me. I remember exactly everything he said about me. They've written black literature about Camarón, it's rhetoric they're using. You have to go with a clean heart. That's the basis of knowledge, to be one's own shepherd"

"There's lots of devil music, that gets the people worked up and breaks their hearts. That musical hurriedness is poison and goes against the individual's spiritual education. And speaking of lyrics, with Camarón it was a throwback. The verse I dedicate to him cheers people up, so we don't think about him as having died..."

Duquende, singer

"Camarón is liking talking about our Father in heaven"

"I see him as someone who left us great technique. Young singers are learning from it and singing better every day"

"For me, having worked with Paco and Tomatito, Camarón's guitarists, is like a childhood dream come true. A child that started singing, and look where he is now"

"Like Raimundo Amador said, I like everything about Camarón, right down to his feet!"

Raimundo Amador, singer and guitarist

"I miss Camarón a lot, I think of him every day because he was a giant. That's why I talk about him in one of the songs: "Una chapita del Cordobés y una foto de Camarón" (a Cordobes pin, and a snapshot of Camarón). If it were Curro Romero, I'd also put a photo, but being el Cordobés..."

Manuel Soler, dancer and percussionist

"La leyenda del tiempo marked Camarón. It broke molds, and it was a pleasure to participate. Camarón was still focused, and he always hit the mark. There's no one like Camarón, because nobody has his afición; I don't care who that bothers. It was like he had three voices: We'd start to look for the right frequencies, and he had a low, a middle, and a high voice… It was too much. And everything he left us... He was something else"

Manolo Marín, dancer and choreo

"If you're doing a solo number or making a recording, you might want to make it more commercial, but you have to know about the history of flamenco, not just Camarón and Paco de Lucía, Paco de Lucía and Camarón. Mind you, I think they're both great artists, but you have to go back a bit further"

Diego el Cigala, singer

"I want to be known as Dieguito because Cigala (crawfish) sounds too much like Camarón (shrimp). In the next recording it'll just be Dieguito, without El Cigala. However, when speaking of the legendary Camarón, he explains, "Look, if you're talking about imitating a genius, you might as well forget about it right now... I think I've got my own personality"

"Camarón left us with a very difficult style; you have to pay careful attention to all of the details. But nowadays, flamenco is too fast; young people are going too far. There are too many groups that use the word "flamenco," but they're really doing something else. I think that they should do real flamenco, and if not, then they should call it something else"

La Susi, singer

"My friend José influenced me just as he influenced all the artists of that era. But they called me la Camarona, and I'm not, because Camarón was one of a kind. And also I'm not from the school that came after him because I was already doing my own thing at the same time as him. I recorded a soleá with bass guitar and drums...I don't know... and his 'Leyenda del Tiempo' hadn't even been released! It was me who was doing new things! He was the giant! The most important thing is that I strongly believe in myself as an artist. It's not that I think I'm anybody special, neither the best nor the worst, but I do believe in myself"

Potito, singer

"Camarón left a big heritage and we young singers have to feed off of it, How few geniuses there are like Camarón!"

"About Camarón everything has been said. He was the one who did the most for flamenco in this century and in the next. He was flamenco and he was the leading edge of flamenco. Flamenco means Camarón"

Sorderita, singer and composer

"With greats like Camarón, the really important work comes at the beginning. Later work is justified by the first, that's where he left his mark on orthodox cante... without that his work would have been meaningless"

"José, Camarón, always called me up when he came here to sing in Madrid. We used to go in by the back door, because if not, people wouldn't leave him alone, and there'd be ten or twelve of us, and we'd all learn a whole lot, taking turns singing"

"Look at all the copies Camarón is selling now. He couldn't have imagined it in his time"

Vicente Soto, singer

"People that are interested in Sorderita, if they take things seriously, will probably hear an orthodox singer, I'm sure. When Ketama started they were close to their flamenco roots, and anyone that follows that road could easily end up listening to Camarón and others"

Rafael de Utrera, singer

"There are also singers nowadays I consider outstanding, like Enrique Morente -a very controversial figure for flamenco followers, but for me he merits all the respect in the world, because he's recorded it all- and Camarón, whom I deeply admired, but never tried to imitate. I like to hear José just for pleasure, listening to him in my house, but that's another realm, and perhaps out of respect I don't like to draw from that source"

Mayte Martín, singer

"I think that thanks to him a lot of young people got involved in flamenco, but they've forgotten something very important, which is, the cante which went before. I've drunk from those sources, such as Pastora and Caracol"

Marina Heredia, singer

"Some influences? I would lie to you if I didn't say: Camarón"

"I'm Camaron's number one fan, and I will always be, but there're a lot of really great singers; you mustn't evolve around just one person, when you have such interesting people as Caracol, Mairena, Chacón, and so many others. I like to think like the elders"

Carmen Carmona, singer

"He set a very high standard. As far as imitating him, you can't imitate him, but his flamenco belongs to all of us. If I've had that maestro, and I've got those little things I learned from him, why try to deny it? He did everything so well that he's the highest level you can aspire to. I don't sing like him, but he's the one who taught me to sing the way I do. Some do it better than others, but one way or another you have to draw from the source, which is Camarón"

Arcángel, singer

"I think that Camarón has had too big an influence on people. Listening to Camaron is a pleasure, but it was he, someone special. And Camaron did not sing like that in the beginning; he got his base from what came before. In his first albums he sang things by El Muela, by El Chaqueta, by Tomas, by Caracol... he was a quite intelligent guy and, contrary to what many might think, a quite studious guy too"

Diego Amador, singer and multinstrumentist

"My idols are three especially: Camarón, Jaco Pastorius, and Miles Davis. Then there's also Juan Talega, El Borrico, Mairena, Vallejo... I'll never stop listening to them because they are at the root of this"

"Paco de Lucía, like Camarón, is the mirror where I see myself reflected. There aren't words to describe Paco. Anyone who doesn't listen to Paco is an idiot and excuse me for saying so...they haven't got any musical culture or anything else. The thing is when I talk about him I get worked up. I've worn down the grooves of Camarón's and Paco's records from playing them so much"

Kiko Veneno, singer and composer

"The common theme in my lyrics might be flamenco lyrics. Since the beginning I've used a set of flamenco lyrics in every recording. In this one I used something that Camarón sang. He was a great humanist"

José Luis Montón, guitarist

"Camarón and Paco have influenced every living creature. No one is enough of a superman to be able to escape the geniuses. But I never analyze when I listen, I just want to enjoy it. That's why I'm not interested in snatching bits and pieces and modifying them, although in the end, inevitably, you can tell who I listen to"

El Güito, dancer

"For me those days were the best I ever had. Just think, at that time artists like Antonio Mairena, Caracol, Terremoto, Sernita, Chano Lobato, La Perla and even Camarón himself were singing for dancing"

Gerardo Núñez, guitarist

"The problem is that these are hard times for creativity. Imitation is easy. You can sing like Camarón, but the hard thing is to find your own language in flamenco"

Enrique de Melchor, guitarist

"I remember that my father's favorite singer was Camarón. They were great friends. He liked Mairena, and when he was older and he heard Camarón I remember that he always used to say: "That boy sings like an old man". That was beautiful, and it meant a lot, after all the people that he'd played with"

(These interviews' excerpts from Flamenco-world.com archives are signed by Luis Clemente, Alberto García Reyes, Silvia Calado Olivo, Fátima Yráyzoz, Fernando González-Caballos and Daniel Muñoz. All rights reserved)

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