Surrounded by excellent musicians, Niño Josele has taken a decisive step in his career. There are new horizons with this latest record. A different way of dealing with flamenco that could only come from a musician with the gift of making something easy out of that which is objectively complex. Niño Josele’s guitar penetrates hearts thanks to the dimensions of his sensitivity: his virtue is not in winning, but in convincing. “Española” is the latest work of a free musician.
We have before us a very novel recording…absolutely different. Flamenco dressed up as jazz, Latin jazz… I don’t know if that dress was planned from the first moment, or if the music came first and then it took on this appearance. It was afterwards. First it was based on flamenco, which is where I’m coming from, and then it took on the other components. It’s like in the kitchen, first you work with the main product, and then you add the other ingredients, in this case, jazz and Latino music.
It’s remarkable the way all the instruments are integrated. This isn’t a guitar surrounded by other instruments, but rather a perfectly cohesive unit, like a homogenous band: although the center of attention is the guitar, there is a lot of give and take between the musicians. It’s that they’re great musicians, like John Benítez on the double bass, Dafnis Prieto on drums and so on, and of course the great star Phil Woods. They’re maestros who let themselves get carried away as soon as they hear music. In this way the integration of the instruments comes together in a natural way.
“Española” seems like my first record. There’s a before and after”.
In other words we’re not talking about a side order, but a complete well-seasoned dish. That’s what real fusion is all about. No one is trying to play jazz or play flamenco, but rather each one feels free, which in the end is neither more nor less what music tries to be: something free.
The way I see it, there’s a completely new concept on this record: flamenco is a very integral part of the whole, and that gives it new status, a different essence when it’s alongside those great musicians. Well, you always try to be up to the level of those musicians. But when I began composing at home, I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t have a clear idea of where all this was going to lead. What I did have clear was I wanted it to sound different. For example, I wanted to take siguiriyas to a place that was out of the ordinary. So the rhythm is always the same, because siguiriyas has its own compás, but you have to innovate within that rhythm and within the specific harmony of the style.
In addition to the big names on the record, there are two other names in the credits because you dedicate two compositions to them: Paco de Lucía and Bebo Valdés. They are two maestros I think we all admire. I was lucky enough to share the stage with Paco de Lucía these last five years, and I learned a lot from him. He explained a lot of things to me that few people know, and I didn’t know either. It’s not the same seeing him on television or on a video as having him right in front of you telling you how to put your fingers…that’s a real privilege. And Bebo Valdés teaches you about humility and love for the music, he has a big heart. The way Bebo has of expressing himself when he plays the piano, the instrument becomes all heart. It’s incredible.
“Lonliness is part of music, it’s part of a person”
Here we have an about-face in Josele’s relationship with the recording industry. Warner is already a large multinational, but I have the idea this circumstance didn’t work against the creation, nor against the final product, but quite the opposite. It’s as if Niño Josele had found a free space. In the first place, I feel very supported by the people behind me on this work: Alfonso Pérez, Fernando Sánchez, Olga Castrenos, etc. They’re a group of friends who gave me the support I needed at this point. And of course, Fernando Trueba and his family… As far as I’m concerned, this is a record made in the family, surrounded by loving friends who believe in my music and believe in me as an artist. That’s the greatest gift you can have in life, friends who love and support you.
To make music, you have to feel loved, supported and above all, free. Music is freedom.
One of the pieces I like best is the siguiriya…the strength is astonishing, and the way it’s presented. That’s Dafnis Prieto on drums, Piraña on tambourine, Alain Pérez on bass and Javier Colina on double bass… We weren’t sure how it was going to come out, because it’s not easy when a bass-player takes charge from the outset… The composition was somewhat daring, so we had also to find something daring. And I think it’s the first time these two have recorded together, Javier Colina and Alain Pérez. They play at the beginning and at the end, and in the middle, it’s just my guitar and Pirña’s tambourine, that adds mystery to the piece.
“My son doesn’t want to play guitar because he says his hand hurts when he sees me play”
You went all the way to the U.S. to present your record. Did that little gypsy boy from Almería ever imagine he would do anything like that?…present a work of this level in the world capital of music? Was it in your plans, or at least your dreams? No. If someone had told me this when I was playing my guitar at ten years old in the studio with my father, I would never have believed it. What I was always aware of is that I like playing guitar. I started out in flamenco as a dancer, at six. I liked Spanish classical music, so Spanish dance was very attractive for me. I danced a farruca. Then, I changed to cante. But then I realized neither dancing nor singing were for me, so I concentrated on guitar, something I had right on hand because there have been some great guitarists in my family. My father plays guitar, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, my cousin Tomatito…
Some great guitarists from Almería. Almería has always been guitar country. In my family we always had that tradition. My grandfather had a very good guitar he never let me play, but when he wasn’t looking, I’d pick it up and play it. And when he’d catch me, he’d always say “you mustn’t play that guitar, you don’t know how to make it sound like a bell”. I never understood what that meant, but one day he explained that when his father played taranta, the guitar sounded like a bell. I was only ten or eleven. Later on, before my grandfather died, I played taranta for him on that guitar and he said: “now you make it sound like a bell”.
“I’m very proud and happy when I’m abroad and someone asks if I’m a gypsy. I say “of course!”
How many hours a day do you practice? When you’re younger you’re more organized, you play from such and such hour to such and such hour, then to class, then two hours with the friends… But as you get older, it’s harder to have that discipline. Now I pick up the guitar whenever I feel like it, and there are days I go from 8 in the morning to 12 midnight playing guitar without even realizing it, that’s a problem I have. Unless something happens, like if I hurt a finger or something like that, I don’t realize how much time I spend with the guitar.
How much sweat and tears has it taken to get this far? Tears, trials and tribulations… I think when a musician wants something, it has to cost. There are always people who want to make you doubt about whether you’re worth it or not, whether you can stick it out… But I think these things make you stronger, they make you more of a musician and they help you learn. I’ve always wanted to learn more and more. When I got to Madrid at 20 I started listening to great musicians like Bebo Valdés who was around Spain, and I met him through Trueba, and Jerry González, and all the musical mixture there is out there. The desire to learn gives you the resolve to continue.
These two children in your house…are they proud their father is a musician? I’m very happy with my kids, because they’re my life. They’re everything. My son doesn’t want to play guitar because he says his hand hurts when he sees me play. He likes percussion and that’s what he wants to play when he grows up. My daughter, for now, just wants to be a princess.
Lately there’ve been all these TV programs where gypsies are always seen in marginal circumstances…are you proud of your background? Of course. I’m proud of where I come from and who I am. I’m very proud of being gypsy. It’s a way of life. For various reasons, I was brought up well, humbly but well. It’s true that on television they show gypsies in a very bad light, but there are also others who have jobs, who live well, who are teachers, lawyers… Our ethnic group has to keep moving forward, and I’m very proud and happy when I’m abroad and someone asks if I’m a gypsy. I say “of course!”
And speaking of pride, how are you doing with “Española”? As far as I’m concerned, “Española” is my first record. There’s a before and after. It comes at the best moment of my career, when I feel more prepared as a guitarist, because after the tour with Paco de Lucía, I think I’ve got a better foundation. And the same thing happened to me with Bill Evans. After working with his music, I feel enriched. That’s when “Española” was born, where I can express what I think now: for example, the way I see a bulería, a siguiriya or a rondeña. You begin to realize music is always open, and always has room for innovation…there’s always something new.
Days ago I heard you say in an interview that contrary to what people think, when you finish performing, you pack up your guitar and go to the hotel to escape from the applause and the audience, to the peace and quiet of your room. How do you manage loneliness? You get used to it. Loneliness is part of music, it’s part of a person. Loneliness is what makes you, after a concert, continue to have your feet on the ground and not believe in too many lies or truths. Praise is nice, we all like it, but afterwards you have to come down to earth a little, get back to the room, look at yourself in the mirror and see the reality: you are alone. That’s when success means nothing. And your have to keep thinking about the next concert, and correcting the errors you made in the previous one.
Be that as it may, Josele knows he’s not alone. His music is appreciated and has a following. So when Josele passes the test of the mirror and stiffens up, you can be sure that someone, somewhere in the world, is enjoying his record and feeling grateful to him for providing spiritual soul food the way he knows best: via the freedom of music.
