INTERVIEW WITH JAVIER PUGA
Artistic Director of the Mont-de-Marsan Festival

Javier Puga is from Granada but he has been living in Seville since the age of 17 when he came to this city to study at the university. In the capital of Andalucía he had the opportunity to meet other young people who, the same as him, felt a special attraction for flamenco. His love of guitar gradually got him involved in Seville's flamenco periphery of the sixties. In this way he came to know many of the stars of the era when he hung out at the places where these artists were frequently seen. As a result of the accumulated experience, year after year, he has managed to apply his personal approach and way of understanding flamenco to Mont-de-Marsan's Festival de Arte Flamenco, to the extent that the festival now enjoys international recognition and prestige.

How do you live flamenco?

Actually I feel like a part of flamenco because I've experienced it from within. Probably, the fact that my life led me down a different path has made me much better able to understand Seville's flamenco ambience of the sixties. I can't conceive of any other way of approaching flamenco except by delving all the way into its world and living the actual experiences.

How did you first get involved with the Flamenco Festival of Mont-de-Marsan?

When I met the members of the organization they had already held the first edition, so my relationship began in the fall of 1989. Around that time a woman appeared in Seville called Antonia Emmannuelli - a great lover of flamenco - and she wanted to find someone with specific qualities in order to make the contact between her team in France and the actual flamenco world. During that era I had a close relationship with the director of Seville's French Institute, Dña. Elisabeth Burgos, so she put me into contact with Antonia Emmannuelli for an exchange of ideas. In this way, after several conversations, we realized that we were on the same wavelength and we began to work closely in a relationship that continues to this day.

What was your part in those early editions?

Well, after that contact, I offered to help out to the best of my possibilities. So I was assigned a conference for the upcoming festival which was being prepared at that time. I remember at that time that in addition to giving my conference, I acted as interpreter for the famous critic Manuel Martín Martín at his own conference. From that point on, I was very excited about the possibilites the festival had to offer and I offered to work with them. That made me become a part of the organization as technical production assistant. For several years I was carrying out that mission until as the years went by the responsibility grew until it reached the point that 100% of the programming was up to me.

When were you named Artistic Director of the Festival?

In 1996. Given the number of jobs that kept accummulating year after year, I suggested to the authorities of the Conseil General des Landes that they might make me the person in charge of the artistic direction. In fact, that's just what I was already doing, without officially holding the post, so they accepted my proposal.

What exactly is the job of the Artistic Director?

Actually it's not much different from what I had been doing up until the time they named me to the post. It's a job that I carry out with great pride, and it's very hard because it requires permanent effort and dedication. It's not simply a question of knowing what has to be programmed at any given moment, but also "why". To be quite honest I have to admit that the selection criteria that I follow is none other than that indicated by my own personal taste. That's how I've been doing it up to now, from Seville, at the same time that I'm in permanent contact with the extraordinary organizational team comprised of workers from the cultural department of the Conseil General des Landes. I'm aware that I have a tremendous responsibility, but it doesn't bother me too much because I know I have wholehearted support for the festival, from the human and organizational point of view, of the city and the department.

What place do you think the Festival de Mont-de-Marsan occupies in the world of flamenco?

Every year, the first week of July, Mont-de-Marsan's Festival de Arte Flamenco has turned into an obligatory visit for flamenco-lovers from all over Europe, including those from Spain, from where more and more people come each year. I think that little by little we've been able to achieve a certain prestige and project an image based on meticulous attention to detail in each and every aspect that the organization of a festival of these dimensions entails.

What guidelines do you follow when it comes to assembling the programming of the festival each year?

Above all I have to recognize that over the years I've earned the confidence of the organization and the politicians, to the point of being able to program, without fear, that which my own feeling and love of flamenco indicate at any given moment. I never forget about tradition, I never forget Lebrija, Utrera, Jerez, Morón, Triana, the real thing, the old values. But I'm not a closed person either, which is why I want all the different manifestations, however modern they may be, to be present in the festival. In fact, I think that's what has given us the distinctive trademark we now have.

According to Javier Puga, wherein lies the secret of Mont-de-Marsan?

I believe the secret lies in the personalized treatment received by each and every one of the artists, journalists and technicians that travel each year to our festival. Mind you, from the moment you first talk to them, until they go up on stage and then you send them home, the constant attention they receive is totally individualized, caring, and affectionate. Sometimes from me, and sometimes from the team that assists me. And that's why there are so many shared moments, dinners, lunches, chat sessions, spontaneous fiestas, which is the ideal I've always been after all these years. That's what I thought a festival ought to be, and I think that for the first time this year I've managed to make it come true, seamlessly.

What offstage moments do you especially cherish?

There've been quite a few actually. I could certainly say that the best flamenco fiestas I've experienced in my life have taken place in Mont-de-Marsan. To give you an example, the dinner this year with La Paquera, La Macanita, El Güito, Chicharito, Angelita Gómez, María del Mar Moreno, Pepa de Benito. And it was really short, not more than 45 mintues. Yet, who could possibly bring together a group of artists like that on one stage? It's impossible, which is why the fiesta has the magic that it has. But getting back to the main theme of the question, I remember one year when Bernarda de Utrera spent the whole night singing away, or the year that Rafael de Utrera ended up crying and hugging Antonio Moya after a whole night of singing.

Now that it's over, how would you evaluate the XIIIth edition of the festival?

As a matter of fact, for years I've been saying, "this one has been the best ever". That's not the problem, the problem is when you start to think, "Now what... what can I do to better the festival?" For four or five years I've been saying the same thing, so I've reached the point where I've had to stop saying it because it seems we're contemplating our belly-buttons and I don't want to give that impression. We just want to do some good flamenco and I have no doubt whatsoever that we can be pleased with ourselves.

Translation: Estela Zatania