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20
years later.
Twenty takes on "La leyenda del tiempo"
By Luis Clemente
1.
"La leyenda del tiempo" represents a turning point, one that by breaking up preconceived
ideas changed our concept of flamenco music. After "La leyenda del tiempo," rock
musicians saw flamenco differently and the Gypsies, more conservative, now had
permission to freely explore other ways of expressing themselves. It remains a
monumental LP, and the foundation of the New Flamenco (Nuevo Flamenco) movement.
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2.
Recorded in the summer of 1979, it is an album of change
and transition: even to the point of changing record companies. This is the album
where Camarón abandoned the moniker "de la Isla". It is also his first
with a beard and has an unusual cover: an unsigned photo by Mario Pacheco who
five years later turned Nuevos Medios loose on the world. On the hazy back cover
of the vinyl disk, Camarón plays bullfighter with a yearling calf.
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3.
With "La leyenda del tiempo", Camarón's record sales
decreased. The producer likes to tell the story of how old Gypsies went to record
stores to return the album, saying it wasn't Camarón. "But this also happened
to Pansequito and Rancapino, friends and relatives of Camarón. They said
that Camarón had crossed the line: "For some time Camarón was bitter
and he said to me: we're going to make a flamenco record next time." So how did
Ricardo Pachón come to produce Camarón?
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4.
lyric
I hold what you did not give me In the palm of my hand, Like a wax lemon, Like
a lemon so pale it is almost white (a verse by Lorca on "Homage to Federico")
Once
the production contract with Antonio Sánchez was finished, Manuel Molina
started talking to Camarón about doing his new album; but Camarón
wanted to return to La Línea. It was at this time that Ricardo, who had
done Lole and Manuel's records, took the opportunity to offer his services as
producer and, before going away, Camarón sang the "Romance del Amargo"
for Ricardo ("the first thing I composed").
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5.
"Camarón felt fantastic because he was used to a
whole other way of recording: like being forced to smoke his joints in the john.
Technically those earlier recordings had been very ordinary and frugal, with a
maximum of eight tracks. But this time the studio was large and had a great atmosphere,
always full of musicians, Los Dolores, palmeros... " (Ricardo Pachón)
But
first they gathered together at Umbrete where, a few months earlier, Pata Negra
had recorded "Guitarras callejeras". Ricardo joined the team formed by Camarón,
Tomatito, Raimundo Amador (who had just gotten married and then separated) and
Kiko Veneno, with the illustrious Juan el Camas as cook: "The thing Camarón
liked most (he remembered) was the fried mojarrita which they brought him from
San Fernando - we fried 12 kilos of it -and garbanzo stew with Swiss Chard and
his pringá (a mixture of meats)."
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6.
Members of the band Alameda came and went in the relaxed
atmosphere that reigned around the hearth. Ricardo's house was located in the
capital of mosto (a type of unfermented wine). "I remember that Kiko's "Los olivaritos"
was like some 12-tone number. He would suggest a note for them and already the
olive groves were becoming more flamenco. We would laugh a lot, with Juan el Camas
acting as our guru. We lived there in the middle of the country and the guys from
Pata Negra stole oranges from neighboring farms, and the Guardia Civil arrived,
and then.."
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7.
Tomatito, the Gypsy from the East, probably carried the
most weight on the album. He came from Almería and, although he hadn't
recorded yet, Tomatito had already spent two years accompanying Camarón,
who transformed him into a legendary flamenco guitarist. It is from that position
Tomatito summarizes: "The time came to make a record and, when I saw the numbers,
I said: how strange. I was 19 and we were all wild for it to turn out well, for
it to be something modern."
Although
the aficionado can hear some influence from Paco's "Almoraima" on the album, it
is transmuted through Tomatito's personal style: and, to his regret, remained
almost anonymous. "At that time people were asking who I was because I sounded
a bit different. But I was angry because they didn't put my name on the album,
not even on the back cover."
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8.
Tomate gave Antonio Moreno, el Tacita, a lot of help with the rhythms. Earlier
el Tacita's free drumming had turned up on Veneno's record and, again, his name
wasn't included in the credits (he was confused with Antoñito Smash). Tacita
was the drummer on the postponed first Alameda project recorded shortly after
this time, their most popular record. The bass and keyboard players were also
from Alameda, and the electric guitar of singer Pepe Roca showed up on "La tarara"
and "Volando voy" (the same year he also showed up on "Sombra y luz" by Triana).
After Tomatito, Manolo Rosa, a marvelous and exacting bass player, played the
most on the album. Finally, on account of Manolo Marinelli, "La leyenda" featured
a synthesizer.
"Look,
the record is good, but that whistle at the end (by the moog), that isn't worth
a damn." Paco de Lucía said this to Ricardo, who qualifies: "Yes, he liked
the record. In fact, I spoke with Paco before I talked to Tomatito. At first he
said yes, but later he said that his father was a little bit hurt that after 10
albums Camarón had changed producers."
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9.
The piece "La leyenda del tiempo" supplies the music to
a gem of toe tips on pointe, the luminous finale of "El perro andaluz. Bulerías"
by the current Ballet Andaluz de Danza, choreographed by María Pagés.
Furthermore, five years ago Cauchout, a big band from Amsterdam, recorded a curious
jazzy arrangement of it.
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10.
José Antonio Galicia played drums and Rubem Dantas percussion on "La tarara",
which also featured an out-of-tune piano. The short and crisp rasgueados of Raimundo's
guitar, together with Jorge Pardo's flute, can be heard on "Volando voy" by Kiko
Veneno. Galicia, Dantas and Pardo belonged to the group Dolores which backed Camarón
in the summer of '79 in the Barcelona bullring. The program also featured Jeff
Beck, Weather Report and Stanley Clarke.
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11.
Guadiana, who has just released his first album, is one
of the seven palmeros who took part in "La leyenda." And we must not forget the
great Manolito Soler whose dancing highlights "Mi niña se fue a la mar"
co-written by Kiko and Ricardo. "From some blues chords that Kiko played, we set
it por alegrías and used the cantiñas of Pinini."
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12.
The etymological influence of the group Chicago on names in southern Spain is
odd. On Triana ("Si Chicago son de Chicago and se llaman Chicago, nosotros: ")
and the shortening of Camaron's name by Ricardo, dropping the De la Isla, done
with the (Chicago) Transit Authority in mind. "Camarón de la Isla was rather
long to become a household name."
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13.
"Volando voy," which Veneno played live, was unveiled as
a single. Some slogan hunter outfitted "volando voy, volando vengo, por el camino
yo me entretengo"/Rushing here, rushing there, I keep myself amused on the way",
with the punk "no future" attitude.
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14.
"Y
los cariños en la frontera, me van." "what I like is those love affairs
in the frontier." This was Tomatito's first record, and some of the best playing
of his career is on it, like the electric finale of "Tangos de la sultana," some
tangos extremeños and tangos of la Repompa de Málaga with lyrics
by Francisco Díaz Velázquez, the first to publish Smash's Manifesto
on the Edge.
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15.
Raimundo and Tomatito played together on the version of
a poem by Omar Kayan that Kiko put together. Kiko explains: "Omar Kayan was an
eleventh century Persian Sufi poet, Sufism being a kind of Islamic stoicism. He
was a well known author in hippie circles." "I love the lover moaning with happiness
and scorn the hypocrite reciting a prayer."
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16.
Garcia Lorca is the principal literary foundation of the album: the first four
cuts and the last number come from him. The album also draws on fragments of poems
by Fernando Villalón ("a gambler and playboy" according to Juanjo Tellez).
His steam ship was built with the idea that if they stoked the boiler with coal,
the ship could sail against the tide. The record had the "Bahía de Cádiz"
alegrías that have the feel of Enrique Morente. This was the only music
Camarón had memorized before he arrived at Umbrete.
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17.
Gualberto remained behind with Camarón to finish
the record with "Nana del caballo grande," the one who didn't want to drink because
"el agua era negra dentro de las ramas/the water was black in amongst the branches."
Gualberto remembers: "We weren't able to rehearse anything. I arrived from Madrid;
he drank a bottle of water and I had a beer and a chorizo sandwich because I was
bushed from the trip. We recorded the number live, the two of us facing one another,
with Manolo Marinelli playing a synthesizer drone. We were looking at each other,
responding to one another. It was very natural and it worked on the first try:
no retakes, no re-recording, nothing. There were a lot of people in the studio,
but Camarón was very focused. He took good care of himself then. "Nana
del caballo grande" would be adapted just 10 years later(played with grandiloquence
by the Royal Philharmonic orchestra(to finish another record, "Soy Gitano," utilizing
a different take, one Camarón had done with Marinelli on the piano.
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18.
Its difficult to believe that the number of units of "La leyenda" sold up to the
singer's death in 1992 didn't even number 6,000, The album we have been talking
about was considered the best flamenco album ever by El País de las Tentaciones
(August 1994) in a cliched and muddled review.
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19.
Camarón and Ricardo signed a contract with Polygram for four records: "La
leyenda del tiempo", "Como el agua", "Calle Real", and "Viviré". "La leyenda"
represented a change in direction between "Castillo de arena" in 1977 and "Como
el agua" in 1981, when Tomatito stayed and Paco de Lucía returned. "Yes,
His Holiness Paco returned on the condition that the numbers be written by his
brother Pepe. Camarón was cool with this and so was I."
It
was during the recording of this album that Camarón first tried heroin.
At the time he charged close to one million pesetas per performance. Ten years
later his fee had risen to three million.
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| 20.
Rocío Jurado hit the nail on the head when she said: "That kid was born
with the soul of an old man." Camarón is reborn, as Federico used to sing
in "Así que pasen cinco años"/"So five years passed" and Camarón,
at the end of "La leyenda del tiempo": "Y si el sueño finge muros en la
llanura del tiempo, el tiempo le hace creer que nace en aquel momento/And if sleep
feigns walls in the smoothness of time, in that instant time would have you to
believe that it comes into existence. |
Controversial
Credits
Rafael
Amador was not on the recording and, while Ricardo minimized the incidence of
Pata Negra on the disk, Raimundo claimed his part:
In "La leyenda del tiempo" Kiko and I, we contributed quite a lot, even to the
point of having me rehearse quite a bit for the record, though it was Ricardo
who carried off all the honors. Many times Tomatito was in Almería, and
I remained there with Kiko going over a lot of things with Camarón, and
even Rafalillo and el Carapapa would come by. The bambera (for "La leyenda"),
for example, was a bit short at first, weaker. So we added a fusion that Ricardo
didn't create. Kiko made a recording, of "El Viejo mundo", singing for Camarón
so he could learn it, and Camarón fell over laughing at the way Kiko sang.
It was really very funny."
According
to Kiko, Ricardo had called him to get ideas, and in fact took over Kiko's plan
for adapting Lorca "who at that time was a kind of untouchable immortal poet".
Kiko adds: "The combination of Camarón and I, Raimundo and the young Tomatito
in the days before heroin with pills all around was explosive."
Nevertheless,
Ricardo says that when Kiko arrived the band had already put together "Amargo"
and "La leyenda" ("Amargo" was a romance as soleá por bulerías that
I had already created 10 years earlier.") Pachón denounced Kiko's version
of "La leyenda del tiempo" on his latest studio album and accused him of having
a lot of nerve to take credit for the music, which consisted of two bamberas(one
in a minor key, the other in a major key(that he had arranged por bulerías.
"Music belongs to the one who performs it," he concludes.
"When
an adaptation of a folk or traditional song is made, the copyright belongs to
the adapter..and for this reason he can claim the role of adapter," qualifies
Kiko. For his part, he feels Ricardo dismissed him in order to compose the second
parts. A shady affair for a luminous record.
A
Retouched Self-portrait
Six
tracks from "La leyenda del tiempo" were reclaimed for the "Autorretrato" ("Self-portrait"),
a double compilation album released in 1990. In the new mixes, swirling around
in the percussion and palmas, are none other than Manuel Soler, Tino di Geraldo,
Diego Carrasco and Doctor Kelly. They performed on the variations of "Volando
voy" and "La tarara." In the former, Tino plays bass in a passionate Caribbean
style and in the latter he inserts the taranto of La Gabriela.
Although
Tomatito played both guitar parts on the original version of "Romance del Amargo",
on "Autorretrato" the jagged sounds of Juan Manuel Cañizares are substituted
on second guitar. He also contributed jazzy asides to "La tarara." There was no
attempt to fix-up nor outdo the excellent original. These are other takes, other
gems polished following the example of the original.
Oral
Testimony
Camarón:
"The closest I ever got to rock in my recordings was "La leyenda del tiempo."
There I took risks and did things that were not typical of flamenco singing. (:
) You have to be careful not to step outside the limits of flamenco such as they
are." (1989)
Ricardo
Pachón: "It was an experimental album that, after 20 years, has become
emblematic. This record has been the inspiration for many young people and their
own albums. Is it an essential recording? If essential means pivotal, why then
yes, because there is a before and an after "La leyenda del tiempo." Its about
discovering a new language for flamenco and canción española. "Blues
de la Alameda" by Smash was also a pivotal song."
Paco
Vargas "With Ricardo Pachón, Camarón came into contact with other
music and other poets. Without preconceptions, he opened his heart and ears to
the art and encompassed it with his tremendous musical ability, offering his genius
to flamenco singing made art. "La leyenda del tiempo" in this sense signified
the beginnings of a revolution that's still going on today, as unhappy as some
are about it.
Kiko
Veneno: "It seems exaggerated to me to hear people talk about it as a fundamental
album. Evolution is going to dictate the record's greatness: though its true that
sometimes the commentators have a better perspective on things than the artists
themselves, immersed as they are in their work. Yes, the Gypsies were resistant,
it cost them a real effort to get the hang of it. It was something underground
within the music industry, a lot of people in modern music were pulled in for
this record."
José
Manuel Gamboa: "The importance of "La leyenda del tiempo" in the history of flamenco
is comparable to that of the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
in the history of rock.
Gualberto:
"This record was akin to when Dylan started to play with The Band, realizing,
of course that Camarón didn't have his own band. Camarón was creative
in what he did, though I recognize that I like the first records with Paco best.
Later he gained power and expressiveness, but the seed was there and I'm especially
fond of it.
Antonio
de Miguel: "A seaworthy ship passing between salt marshes and amplifiers. Sailing
farther than Smash, with a better rudder than Veneno, and with more grace and
taste than Triana."
El
Tacita: "Unforeseeable. No one could have imagined at the time that it would have
such repercussion. Indeed, the reviews were very bad in the beginning. The brother
of Paco de Lucía told me how we should have done it, while the brother
of Manolo Sanlúcar told me that it was the best thing he had ever heard."
Norberto
Torres: "The poor sound quality and the sort of veil obscuring the sound of the
guitars bothered me. It didn't allow you to guess what Tomatito's playing was
really like. Logically we thought that he ought to be a new Paco de Lucía
when Camarón chose him to be his accompanist. Although surprising, Tomatitio's
playing was very energetic and sounded very Gypsy. You had to listen to it carefully.
Juan
el Camas: "José's voice was captivating, taking difficult notes and toying
with them. "La leyenda del tiempo" was the work of a genius, and he left us this
message before going away. Camarón was the one behind it."
Luis Clemente,
1999
Translation: Marie Jost
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