<<
Previous | Next
>>
Carmen Linares, flamenco
cantaora. Interview
The ‘lady
of cante’ live... and flamenco
“I think
it’s really good to join forces, because we artists
mutually contribute to one another”
Silvia Calado. Madrid, June 2007
Translation: Joseph Kopec
| |
Carmen Linares (Photo
Daniel Muñoz) |
| |
|
Carmen Linares is always involved
in new projects. Is it a need?
I haven’t stopped working, except
during my pregnancies. And even though then I’ve
had moments to leave it more aside, especially the live
performances, I’ve taken advantage to prepare an
album. Then it’s really hard to take it back up;
it’s a profession which is a little bit thankless.
People forget about you right away.
Recently, a review in the Córdoba
press praised your fight against stagnation in flamenco.
Do you agree?
Oh yeah. The stagnation is neither good
nor genuine. If you’re imitating something, you’re
not being yourself. Then, starting off with the base of
having deep knowledge of flamenco, then you have to express
it your way. That can’t be interrupted, it’s
like if you clip a painter’s wings. He has to know
the technique, but then … fly, fly. It has to be
that way. I also respect people who cling to the past,
but they have to respect the opposite option.
Tell us about ‘De aire
y madera’, one of your latest live shows.
It’s a show in which we try to
portray flamenco’s three forms: cante, baile and
guitar. Guitar plays a special role with Juan
Carlos Romero, who also plays solo. His style and
his form are in the musical composition, though we also
do traditional cante. And then, Edu Lozano’s baile,
since we want to see the three facets of flamenco. It’s
a modern show, with nice staging. It doesn’t have
a storyline, but rather is simply a display by us artists
who have joined forces in that work. To be exact, the
performance at the National Contest of Córdoba
2007 was lovely. But it wasn’t a personal thing
of mine; everyone who was there with me felt it, too.
It was something collective. Juan Carlos played wonderfully,
Edu was inspired, the percussion, the clapping …
everybody. A special warmth was generated which the crowd
picked up on. And the truth is that ‘De aire y madera’,
which we also did at
the Caja Madrid Festival, is a new show as far as
the baile, which I didn’t have since I called Javier
Barón to present ‘Un ramito de locura’
at the Teatro Real.
‘Desde el alma’,
on the other hand, has a connection with the ‘feminine’
message of the anthology...
| |
|
| "I
like joining forces with artists and giving each
one room for themselves" |
| |
‘Desde el alma’ is show with
four women where there’s Carmelilla Montoya’s
baile, which is a very racial way of dancing, very much
her own, very basic; it isn’t an elaborate baile.
I wanted to give the young women room for themselves,
to see a little bit the way each of us has of singing.
We’re from different generations and have had different
experiences. I’m the oldest, next there’s
Ana María González, a cantaora from Triana,
who really has her own way of doing the cantes. And Encarnita
Anillo, who’s the youngest. She’s 23 years
old and represents the new generation, of which in my
opinion she’s one of the best. The four of us join
forces, we do the tangos together, with young guitars,
too: that of José Manuel León is like really
modern, while Juan Diego is a more unhurried guitarist.
They’re also from different generations. Juan is
somewhat older, José Manuel is really young and
then there’s Eduardo Pacheco who’s …
just a kid! The percussionists are also really young.
People have liked this show a great deal; I hope we do
it again. I like joining forces with artists and giving
each one room for themselves.
That isn’t usual in flamenco…
Look at Miguel
Poveda at the Teatro Español yesterday with
Moraíto, Joaquín Grilo… The truth
is that flamenco is really individualistic. And I think
it’s really good to join forces, because we artists
mutually contribute to one another. Imagine Moraíto’s
rush when he saw that man dancing … They really
enjoyed it. And of course, a great show came out of it.
Well, the same thing happened to us. When Encarnita came
out and sang, then Ana Mari, Carmelilla, me… You
get inspired, it gives you strength.
And why do you sing with such
different guitars?
I like to change because when you’re
always with the same guitar, you get settled in. And I
don’t think it’s good for the guitarist, either.
I need to hear other guitar sounds and for it to suggest
other things to me. And in fact, it’s given me really
good results. You listen to other sounds, other ways of
playing … and you learn new things. And I imagine
it’s the same for the guitarist. It isn’t
usual, but I like listening to other ways.
Carmen Linares and Juan Carlos
Romero (Photo Daniel Muñoz)
In a world so full of hierarchies,
how do you think out the relationship between your cante
and baile?
| |
|
| "The
thing is that I’m crazy about baile. I’m
a frustrated bailaora" |
| |
The thing is that I’m crazy about
baile. I’m a frustrated bailaora, really. I’ve
sung a lot for dancing, and really, my feet get carried
away. I simply go and see baile shows. And moreover, since
bailaores usually have such good cantaores with them,
because there are some wonderful cantaores for dancing,
I enjoy myself two-fold. And since I enjoy baile so much,
I don’t mind singing some lyrics for Edu Lozano
at a given moment. And I’ve sung them for him. It’s
OK. I have no problem with that, since it enriches you
as an artist. If you know how to sing for baile, much
better. The more things you know how to do, the better.
What does Edu Lozano have?
He has a way of dancing … He doesn’t
do anything gratuitous. Edu dances what the moment demands,
what it calls for. And he’s so shy that you have
to tell him to dance more. On the other hand, I feel a
little bad that he’s such a good artist and he doesn’t
know it. And in Córdoba he did some really nice
things which went with the moment. He didn’t try
to triumph or dominate anybody at any point in time. He
was a hit for his sincerity dancing, for his honesty.
And what possibilities do you
see in Encarnita Anillo?
Encarnita has been singing since she
was a little girl, solo, for baile, she danced when she
was a girl... She has the rhythm inside, she loves cante
and she’s a cantaora with a lot of feeling, with
a lot of heart. I think she’s going to be somebody
in flamenco.
Carmen Linares (Photo
Daniel Muñoz) |
|
| |
|
What do you think of this new
generation of cantaores in general?
I think there’s a really good breeding
ground, people who have a lot of information, there are
a lot of CDs, a lot of DVDs, a lot of access. I see that
perhaps due to the illegal copying of albums, it’s
harder for them to record. We weren’t demanded to
do commercial stuff when recording, and they are. Sometimes,
they have to be stuck in the middle. But right now much
more flamenco is being done than before, there’s
a lot more access to the theaters … The hard thing
I see for them is having to be stuck in the middle to
provide quality, and at the same time to sell their albums.
And that’s really complicated.
Do you foresee changes in the
relationship with the record market?
I don’t have any problem right
now, but I know that young people do. There are now people
who produce their own albums and then give them to the
distributors. A lot of things can also be done through
Internet. In short, I think everything’s going to
change. Look at Marina
Heredia’s example.
It’s sometimes inevitable
to think that a veteran like Enrique
Morente is still the most daring. And the young people?
It’s a little logical. Since we’ve
already done many things, we dare to do others. But they
have to forge their career. I remember seeing a performance
by Morente at the Teatro de la Maestranza, where he appeared
with young cantaores. It was really funny because all
the youths did classic cantes until Morente came in and
did really new cantes. They might be afraid of being rejected.
But Enrique has always been ‘too much’. He’s
been ground-breaking, but knowing what he’s doing.
I have great admiration for him, I know him well, we’re
friends, he’s an artist who has opened a great many
roads … The range was closed and he went ‘bam!’
and blew it wide open. He’s made us lose our fear.
We’re moving forward. That’s fundamental in
art. And of course, in flamenco. Of course they’re
really beaten-up artists. But when there’s quality,
there’s quality. Nobody can take that away from
you.
But it’s true that the
range of styles is much more open. In cante, not everything
is Camarón any more...
The thing is that Camarón was
such a strong artist that not yielding to his charm is
complicated. He was a monster; he used to sing so nicely
and so well that it got to your soul. He really had it
all. Since he was an artist of my time, I was doing my
career and he was doing his. When you’re younger,
he influences you more. Logically, he’s influenced
me, because I loved him. But I’ve done my career
at the same time, so I haven’t had as much influence
from him as from Fosforito, Mairena… or Enrique
Morente. Enrique is somewhat older than me and I always
used to look at myself in his mirror.
<<
Previous | Next
>>
