Flamenco cantaor El Torta
returns with the album ‘Momentos’
Juan Moneo confesses that with this record,
which is released with a DVD,
“I’m starting to crawl”
S.C. Madrid, November 5th, 2007
“Real cante returns with
El
Torta”. Journalist and writer Alfredo Grimaldos
didn’t skimp on praise at the presentation of the
album by Jerez-born Juan Moneo, following thirteen years
of silence without a record. ‘Momentos’ is
a live recording at a small concert hall in Madrid alone
with Juan Manuel Moneo on toque. And as a complement it
includes a DVD with an edited selection of excerpts from
those performances. To the cantaor, this record means
a rebirth in his career as an artist: “Now I’m
starting to crawl again”.
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El Torta (Photo Daniel
Muñoz) |
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Although he hasn’t stopped singing,
Juan Moneo ‘El Torta’ hadn’t recorded
his voice for over a decade. “Flamenco needs it
and Juan, too; this album will contribute to him finding
his place beyond his inner circle”, Alfredo Grimaldos
pointed out at the presentation ceremony which took place
at the Madrid headquarters of the Sociedad General de
Autores Españoles (SGAE) on the afternoon of November
5th, 2007. And the thing is that the author of the booklet
considers that “it’s a way which is being
lost; Juan is young, but he’s one of the last trustees
of that way of understanding cante. What he who has felt
the excitement of flamenco wants is for it to happen to
him again, to unhinge him, to drive him crazy. And Juan
can drive you crazy”.
The cantaor himself responded by remarking
that he feels “strange and different. Even though
I sing Jerez-style because it’s my life’s
existence, I’m always myself”. To which he
added that with this album “I’m starting to
crawl again, with hope and the desire to learn, to scrutinize
cante, with modesty and respect”. He also said that
his cante “is communicative cante about experiences,
about suffering”. He referred to having overcome
hard times personally when pointing out that “I’ve
been a rebel, I’ve wasted time, but I have nine
lives like cats”. And he judged that “the
more blood flowing through my throat, the more I like
cante”. Moreover, he criticized commercial cante:
“Nowadays there’s economy, playback, people
are very comfortable and earn a lot. Anybody can do brain
experiments. And it can be changed; cante can be left
in the outline, the lyrics modified... I like all kinds
of music, but flamenco can’t be scorned with your
pockets full”.
“There’s only truth”
With regards to the varied repertoire
offered on the album, Grimaldos remarked that “Juan
is a lengthy cantaor, since he likes everything good,
he likes everything and he still has many cantes inside
he’ll have to bring out”. And he pointed out
the contents of some of the lyrics composed by the cantaor,
coplas alluding to the silence or the evil of drugs, since
“he reflects a lot”. On the musical side,
El Torta has had Jerez-born guitarist Juan Manuel Moneo,
plus some touches of compás by collaborators like
Tomasito
and Tino
di Geraldo. The tocaor revealed that “this record
has been a pleasure and suffering, since with this man
if you don’t suffer, you don’t express what
you have inside”. He added that “the accumulation
of sensations and the spark there is between us is captured
on this album on which there’s nothing premeditated;
there’s only truth”.
El Torta (Photo Daniel Muñoz)
