– Congratulations, you are the winner of the Prize Expoflamenco for the best album flamenco of the year 2024. What do you think about the fact that around twenty flamenco communication specialists value your work in this way?
– It’s wonderful that both critics and the public have praised this work as exceptional. Many thanks to all the people who voted for our album. I’m so excited. I couldn’t believe it. Everything that comes from now on is gifts and gifts, gifts and gifts. The truth is, I’m very grateful to God, to my father, to the public, to the press, to everyone. I thank you all a million times and may God bless you.
– The disc Remembering Marchena You have even performed at Le Poisson Rouge in New York, among many other renowned venues. Did you think that this recording with the young David de Arahal would give you so much satisfaction?
– I think it may be because of the quality of the work, because it is very well crafted and there is a lot, a lot of work. There is a lot of work in this work, in this concert, in this recital, which I call spiritual recital, right? Since there is a lot of work, there is also the hand of God there, you know? Behind all this there is a very important apex, which is the spiritual, the spiritual. And here there is a duel. Here there is a closing of a cycle. Here there is an encounter with a father, that is, a farewell to a father and an encounter with another father, who for me has been Pepe Marchena.
– On a personal level, do you think that this has meant a leap forward in your artistic career to take on a greater role in the forefront of the flamenco scene?
– I would never have imagined that this work would have had the impact it has had. What you say is really true. Remembering Marchena He has put me in a place where I was not before. He has given me my place.
– Why Pepe Marchena? I understand that he was a request of your deceased father. Please clarify this, singer.
– It is a work that comes from zero pretension. This has not been done to achieve anything, to win awards, to be valued by critics or the public. This has been done because a week after my father passed away I dreamed about him and he asked me to do this. So I went through the mourning, six months of my mourning, studying Pepe Marchena, discovering a singer that the truth is I had not studied or had not delved into his work and his person. It is a work that comes from the dreamlike, from the spiritual, from a sacred place where my father communicates with me after he passed away. And well, I take charge of this mandate that my father entrusts to me, with my squire David de Arahal, who has been my right hand and the person who has helped me shape everything. With his music and dedicating his time to it. And pampering each one. cante that we were working with indescribable care and love.
– By the way, the other day I visited the tomb of the Niño de Marchena. The epitaph on the marble invites reflection: Everyone who looks here / at this sad grave / saw myself as you see me / and in this way and for sure / others will see youWhat does that letter suggest to you, my lady?
– He was special even for that. For me he is a figure who came to the world to change it in some way. And I believe that he fulfills the objective of art: to transform the world. That was what he did. And he did it very well. And of course, that is also what comes with being so brave and so transgressive: it generates many detractors. It is the price you have to pay. For being different and for being special, as Pepe Marchena was. So, even the letter that is on his grave is inspiring, because you realize that that, you read it, it changes your life completely. In the end, what we need every day is to realize that we are going to die. To give meaning to this, because if this were eternal it would have no meaning. Life is crazy. Knowing that you are dying is a great antidote to living with what you have to live, with joy, with gratitude and being here one hundred percent, right? That this is ending. So, I think that even what is written on his grave is a work of art, because, come on, he was an artist even in his grave. For me, he is a great teacher and a great guru. For me, he is a transformer of people's lives. That is what he has done for me as well.
«I can attest that at every concert where we have performed this work, a lot of people have come to tell me 'thank you, because it reminded me of my grandfather'. Pepe Marchena was his idol. In other words, in the end he is part of a generation and we have brought him back by giving him a new interpretation, giving him life and remembering him, which in the end was what we wanted, to bring this figure to the century that belongs to us»
– Is there a new Pepe Marchena behind this album?
– I can attest that at every concert where we have performed this work, a lot of people have come to tell me 'thank you, because it reminded me of my grandfather'. Pepe Marchena was their idol. In other words, in the end he is part of a generation and we have brought him back by giving him a new interpretation, giving him life and remembering him, which in the end was what we wanted, to bring this figure to the century that belongs to us. And that everyone, both adults and children, listen to this work and it stays with them throughout their lives and it remains here as something important. That for young people it is a tool to understand Pepe Marchena or to study him from our point of view. More or less this is the interpretation I get from it.
– Any other classics? cante jondo deserve to be remembered in years to come?
– I think I'm missing a lot of figures to pay homage to and to go into more depth about, both female and male. I could tell you, what do I know? There are so many that I would like to make a tribute album to… Pepe Pinto is one of my favorites too. And Pastora.
– The other two albums most voted by the editors of Expoflamenco They are Israel Fernández and Antonio Rey. Do you have any words for them?
– Antonio Rey and Israel Fernández are like brothers to me, since we have a close relationship. We have spent years touring the world together, sharing rooms, sharing dressing rooms, sharing experiences, living together. In the film Flamenco I saw clearly that Carlos Saura was a genius. They did a seguiriya number that made the theatre rise in every city where we were going to perform this work. So for me it is a satisfaction and more than a pride and a privilege to be among the most voted albums together with theirs, because I admire them a lot. For me they are like family and I also learn a lot from them. They are two great fans, two great artists and two great professionals.
– And now what?
– Now I have a lot of projects and I'm there with all of them, moving them forward, finding time to put each one in its place and give them their place. And they are also very varied, because they have nothing to do with each other. In the end, that is what defines me: I am a bit eclectic and I have a lot of fun being with one thing today and giving it shape, and then with another that has nothing to do with it. In the end, I have a lot of personalities. I like to play a lot of different music and express myself in other ways. That's a bit of me, a alter ego that each of us has. I really like music, I'm a bit of a geek and I'm very good at doing projects that have nothing to do with each other. It also depends on the person I do it with, right? Suddenly I fall in love with a musician, with his music, I admire him and I want to work with that person because I know he's a source of inspiration. Then I see what that musician does and I think what I can do to accompany that talent. That's a bit what happens to me, right? I like everything. And then, since I like good artists, I get close to that and I try to get the most out of whoever is by my side. I want to enjoy that person. I'm a bit like that, I enjoy human beings that I see who have a lot of talent. I just realized that I do that and deep down I love it. ♦
List of the best albums of flamenco in 2024 for the editors of Expoflamenco
- Remembering Marchena, Sandra Carrasco and David de Arahal
- For the love of cante, Israel Fernandez
- Stories of a flamenco, Antonio Rey
- Molten metal, Luis Moneo
- Alley of art, from David of Arahal
- Poem of the cante jondo, Miguel Poveda
- Dirty blood, Angeles Toledano
- The flamenco guitar of Yerai Cortés, Yerai Cortes
- He who goes with me and I, de Juan Carlos Romero
- Sevilla 40.0, Hope Fernandez
They have voted nineteen editors and collaborators of Expoflamenco: Alejandro Luque, Alejandra Pachón, Ángeles Castellano, Antonio Conde, Antonio Parra, Eduardo Pastor, Estela Zatania, Faustino Núñez, Fran Reina, Irra Torres, Jafelín Helten, Jesús Naranjo, José Cenizo, José María Castaño, Kiko Valle, Lourdes Gálvez, Manuel Martín Martín, Ramón Soler and Susanne Zellinger. Each team member has selected three candidates at a rate of three, two and one point for each selected, respectively.
