“Of my ten albums, only two are flamenco. I make music.”

He published this album on Nuevos Medios, the label created by the late Mario Pacheco, the neo-flamenco promoter of the 1980s.

Man, there’s the whole history of the development of flamenco with Pata Negra and Kitama… and La Maria [Pacheco] He inherited honesty, care and sensitivity. This loving way of doing things. This is the most important thing to me.

Tatuajes collects quotes from 12 legendary songs, such as Te recuerdo Amanda, Alfonsina y el mar or La bien pagá. There’s chanson, bossa nova, copla… Do you see any common thread?

They all have a depth, and perhaps a sad aura, that colors all my projects. All my life I have been drawn to sad music. I believe there are two types of people, both artists and audiences: people who like to connect with their well, their depths, and those who are not willing to do so. I think my audience likes that. That’s why I make music. There are people who want music to escape. My king does not run away from me, nor does anyone hear me.

They are Spanish and Latin songs, and include forays into French (Brill) and Portuguese (Jobim and de Moraes). Do you have to be familiar with the language to sing in it?

I’m not at all, zero! [riu] I try to get as close as possible, but I’m neither French nor Brazilian. But I worked hard and it seemed like a nice thing to do. I don’t like translating songs. Better keep the original language.

What song set the tone for this album?

Thanks for life [Violeta Parra] . The heartbeat represented by the drums is a declaration of intent. This song is a prayer. The entire project is a ritual of thanksgiving for the composers and singers. When I sing this I feel something different; I feel like I’m part of the crowd. I can sit in an audience seat and sing from there. Maybe this album is the result of maturity, because for years I thought that I would not be able to sing Ne me Quitte pas because I would not be able to surpass it, or even equal to it, but then I realized that it is not necessary. I didn’t do it to make my mark. It’s not that the song needs you, but the song makes you happy.

It’s common to talk about you as a flamenco singer, but most of your records are songs outside the genre.

So do I, but out of my ten albums, only two are flamenco. I make music. I’ve created flamenco performances, but I haven’t recorded them. Sometimes they ask me, “Why haven’t you recorded a flamenco record since 2000?”, because there were some difficulties that didn’t allow me to do so. Conditions are required, for the reason they exist, as well as the raw material. Find the perfect companions. It’s as if you want to have children, but you don’t want to have them alone. I will record a flamenco record when my time comes. When I have money too [riu]. Because I don’t have the financial support to record what I want.

Other times this was not the case.

Before registering they put a blank check in front of me. There was a Catalan flamenco boom, but I told them that recording an album had nothing to do with how many zeros there were, and that I was still learning the basics. I knew that at 50 I would sing better than I did at 25, and at 70, better than at 50, and I started out of respect for what I was doing.

Does it always get better with age?

completely. You may lose piston and vocal capabilities… It also depends on how you take care of and work on your voice. But capabilities are lost when the tool is not used well. It’s won in depth, and in position, which is what really matters.

Would a party like Tatuajes find a place in the programming?

Bowling costs more and more. Programs are more and more commercially oriented. The profile of the programmer as before, who tried to show things that had artistic value, made some bets… and this happens less and less. All the programmer now needs to know is who’s in fashion. Today, the butcher on the corner can organize a festival. But I’m having a good year with Tatuajes.