Ginesa Ortega: "This record sounds like today's flamenco and flamenco as it has always been"
"Flamenca" is a significant return of Ginesa Ortega to her more flamenco roots. The singer offer a variety of eight different flamenco styles, from the seguiriya to the fandango and a cover of the bolero "Dos gardenias".
"Flamenca" is the fourth record by Ginesa Ortega, or the sixth, if we count "Luna entre mimbres" and "Suspiro gitano", two records that the Catalan cantaora (female flamenco singer) recorded when she was fifteen years old and were re-released in 1995 with the title "Rebeldía Gitana", which is difficult to find at present. The title itself already tells the story; this new record is a return to flamenco after fusion and forays into different genres. "Flamenca" is on the same wavelength as "Siento" (1997) and it is a response to the need to periodically return to her roots, to the cante grande (expression used to refer to the more traditional and solemn forms of flamenco singing). We also find essence in the record, which is contributed by Pepe Habichuela with his guitar.
The record's title is "Flamenca". Is it a declaration of intent, a warning, a notice, an invitation?
It is a very sincere title. The title arose before the record itself. First I had the very clear idea that the record should be flamenco, my soul was asking for it. Not to call it flamenco, I gave it the name flamenca because what one is, is a flamenca, not flamenco.
"Flamenca" is on the same wavelength as "Siento", but it features a certain evolution. After "Por los espejos del agua" (2002) my body and soul were asking for flamenco. This seems to be the rhythm, one record is [flamenco] and the next one isn't.
How did the record arise, and how was it shaped?
The recording work was easy, in the sense that during one evening in the studio we recorded four or five soleás and later, with Pepe Habichuela, we picked what we liked best.
However, the whole creative process for the record has been hard work. I came to Madrid last year (2004) looking for musicians who would like to participate in this work. It was the summer and it was a bit difficult to coordinate everything. I had a clear idea of who I wanted to cooperate, but they were not always available. It lasted until April of 2005, which is when I finished it off in Barcelona.
We recorded 14 or 15 themes, and from these, only 9 made the record. I don't know if I have been too demanding, but it did happen that some themes that I thought would be good finally did not suit the record, so that when it was already more or less done, we had to do some things over again.
In "Flamenca", apart from singing, composing the lyrics and some of the music, you are also the producer. What has the experience been like and what sound were you looking for?
In the previous records I was already supervising the production work, but when you produce yourself, it allows you to do what you want. It is a real luxury, because at present the 'marketing' campaigns are so strong for some artists and they are so directed, that I think that it is a privilege to take the reins of our own horse and to ride ourselves. The reality is that producing yourself makes the work heavier, because you are the one who feels the head aches and disappointments. However, the end product is pleasing, because it is what you want.
As for the sound, I don't believe that its sound is too modern. It can't be the case with something as simple as a guitar and a voice, especially if the guitar is Pepe Habichuela's one, in which case the essence must prevail. This is what arose, because the most important thing was to respect the clean, and essential, and masterful sound of Pepe's [guitar playing].
In the cases of José Manuel León or of Paquete, they have also sought their own sound. Event though I was the producer, all the musicians have had the chance to speak and vote. They left the studio knowing what they had left behind.
Possibly the sound of the record, being flamenco, could not have been anything else than today's flamenco and flamenco as it has always been, as I would say.
As a lyric writer, this is not the first time that you have written lyrics for a song, but it is the first time that you compose all the songs on a record…
I have always enjoyed writing, since I was very little. There are two dimensions, one of them is the flamenco dimension, and it is the one that can be heard in the record. To sing them, I always pick very simple lyrics, because I think it is what flamenco requires. There are cantaores who like to talk about computers and things like that, but I believe that flamenco lyrics must be simpler, plainer.
Then I have other lyrics that I never sing, which are more Surrealist.
Pepe Habichuela and José Manuel León have taken part in your record. Tell us of their contribution and of their work on "Flamenca".
When I came to Madrid I called Pepe and he came, happily, to make a soleá, because it seemed to me that if he took part in a song, the record would be more than accomplished. Then he got enthusiastic and said to me: "come on, I'll accompany you on a fandango!”, “let’s see what a taranta sounds like!...". Thus, it was a pleasure.
And afterwards, most of the themes feature the accompaniment by José Manuel León, from the new school. It is a more recent school, with a different technique and sound, but it also needed to be featured, because if the new school and Pepe's one come together along the paths of music or of flamenco, it is something that should be welcomed.
Antonio Serrano also took part, contributing the harmonica playing on the bolero, the last track on the record. He has worked with all the greats in music. He lends a degree of sensibility to anything he does, the music he makes is very personal.
At some point, you have said that your flamenco is more Mediterranean than southern. Without delving into the issue of different schools, what does this mean?
I don't mean to say that there are two styles of flamenco, or three, or four, but rather that, in my case in particular, I have grown up in Barcelona, and I have never felt the Guadalquivir river on my skin (so to speak). This does not mean that there has not always been an enormous enthusiasm there, since before Carmen Amaya.
I think that we focus our career in a different way, but we are very serious about it. I started off in the peñas (flamenco enthusiasts' clubs), but before carving out a little niche for myself there, I could not go to my Barcelona neighbourhood to listen to a cantaor, as would be the case in Triana (a neighbourhood in Seville with a strong reputation in flamenco), and this meant that I would close myself in my room to listen to all the greatest [cantaores]: Caracol, Terremoto, Juan Talega, Tío Borrico, Tía Anica la Piriñaca, Terremoto, Fernanda, Bernarda, Chocolate… and I used to soak up these records.
Even though I also think that it is a cliché that in the south you can listen to cantaores singing in the style of the siguiriyas of Manuel Torre in any corner, it is true that those of us who are from the east have worked hard to learn, listen to and understand it in a different manner. This is all I mean when I say that my flamenco is more Mediterranean than southern.
[01].Al son del tirititrán
[02].Sueños (Cante de Levante)
[03].Na más lavá (Bulería)
[04].Ecos flamencos (Siguirilla)
[05].Las palabras sobran (Tangos)
[06].Azabache (Soleá por bulería)
[07].Antorcha del alba (Bulería)
[08].Buenos duendes (Fandangos)
[09].Dos gardenias (Bolero)
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