Interview with Álgel Álvarez Caballero, Journalist, investigator and academic

INTERVIEW WITH
ÁNGEL ÁLVAREZ CABALLERO

Journalist, investigator and academic

“No one ever tried
to sway my opinion, or twist it or buy it”

by Manuel Moraga

Journalist, investigator and academic. With
over a dozen books published and twenty-five years writing
for the newspaper El País, the name Ángel
Álvarez Caballero is probably the most closely
followed of recent decades, both by flamenco fans and
the artists themselves. Now his friends and colleagues
are offering a tribute to the man which includes María
Pagés, Gerardo Núñez and Miguel
Poveda. In recognition of many years of honest reporting,
with a title that says it all: “Gracias Ángel”.

How did “Gracias Ángel”
come about?

To tell the truth, I’m not even sure. I heard
about it when it was already underway and I never knew
how this all got started. I know that José María
Velázquez, Alfredo Grimaldos and Cultyart are
involved, but little more.

How did you find out?

They told me when it was pretty well along…they could
hardly have continued without my finding out. José
María Velázquez and Alfredo Grimaldos
brought it up one day over lunch. And they practically
had the whole program sorted out, even the date, the
theater, everything….

So what did you think about that?

Well, at first I almost didn’t believe it because
there didn’t seem to be any logical reason, but
they convinced me it was true, and what was I going
to think?!…that it was very nice…

La Unión with Yoko Komatsubara

How did you become involved in flamenco
in the first place?

That was always there, the thing is, until I started
to work as critic for El País I was in a certain
groove because I didn’t have money to go to festivals
and other events. So in the early years I just heard
recorded flamenco and attended the occasional concert.
Later on, when I started writing reviews, around 1980
or 81, then all the rest followed: my summer seasons
with the festivals and attending nearly everything that
had to do with flamenco.

“I myself have been
threatened, but that happens in all art forms”

You have two facets, that of teacher
and that of reviewer. How do you manage the two?

The two overlap. Around the year 1970 I’d already
assimilated flamenco as a serious form and started investigating,
building up a database for the purpose of writing a
book, which was “La historia del cante flamenco”
published by Alianza, but in paperback. I began gathering
material, slowly but surely because this was a job that
took twelve or fifteen years. I collected everything
that came out, reading, writing, filing, and so on.
And when the book was about to come out, it occurred
to me to ask for work as a critic for El País,
and they hired me. My reviews are reflected in the newspaper.
That’s what there is. Always struggling with the
space limitations which caused me to develop the ability
to focus and narrow things down and say what I have
to say with few words. I try to deal with the most important
points, but in such a short space you can’t do
a detailed analysis, so what I do is point out two or
three relevant things from each recital. And as far
as teaching, well, after the first book came many others.
I’ve got ten or twelve published and they’re
all managed in the same way, you talk about something
and back it up. I draw a great deal from what’s
been published, but trying to give both sides of the
story, the good and the bad, because it’s not
uncommon to find both in the same place. And that’s
how the all the other books came about.

“When you take down
the barriers, all art cheapens and you reach a point
we’re now reaching, where it’s a sort of
easy, or ‘lite’ artform”

Your books are mainly informative,
I mean, not aimed at a specialized audience, but rather
oriented towards people like me who when I read your
first book, I didn’t know what it was all about.
They’re easy to read for the uninitiated, and
yet academically correct, and I think that’s their
main merit.

Yes, I think I got it right, I write solid texts, but
perhaps my work as a journalist helped me make it less
stuffy so it was accessible to a wide audience. They’re
books which are equally useful for the person who has
almost no experience with the art, as for specialists,
because I’m always dealing with new themes or
analyzing known ones, but from a different perspective.
I think this is important, it’s the main virtue
of these books.

Generally speaking, what do you
think is the role of a flamenco critic?

You have to remember one thing, you’re not writing
for performers or specialists, but for a great mass
of people, at least in my case. So the key to the matter
is to write in a constructive way, not be cruel for
the sake of being cruel, but when the time comes, to
explain why something wasn’t valid and try to
say something constructive. At least that’s how
I see the critic’s role. My readership is a great
amorphous group, and what I write has to be of interest
to a wide range of audiences.

“What I find
intolerable is these performers who ride happily along
in a second-rate vehicle”

Even
though you try to be constructive, what could you not
overlook, what would you never tolerate as a critic?

What I find intolerable, because it does harm to flamenco,
is these performers who ride happily along in a second-rate
vehicle: artists who take whatever they like and incorporate
it with no concern for the authentic quality of what
they do. This for me is basic.

Flamenco being such a small world,
is it risky to be a critic?

Actually it is. I myself have been threatened, but
that happens in all art forms. The artist who is exposed
to the harsh light of criticism, if there isn’t
a powerful sense of what he or she is doing and what
the responsibility is, and what it means to be a public
person (something that has to be assimilated), these
things happen. But you can’t pull your hair out
over it.

“I’ve had to
develop the ability to focus and narrow things down
and say what I have to say with few words”.

Is it possible flamenco artists
take negative criticism worse than those in other fields?

I don’t know. I have no idea how it goes in other
fields. The thing is, in flamenco, since we’re
still a minority, maybe you notice it more when someone
speaks up, or they call and say “hey, you better
watch out with me”.

In all the years you’ve been
in this profession, has anyone ever tried to buy, or
at least influence your opinion?

No. That’s never happened with me. No one ever
tried to sway my opinion, or twist it or buy it. Never.
It needs to be said.

“If there’s
still one singer with one guitarist alone on stage doing
siguiriyas, it’s going to be a true relic”

How have the other critics treated
you?

Well, you get everything. Generally speaking, they
treat me well, but there are always one or two who write
or speak about me with reservations. But it’s
neither here nor there.

What’s worse, ignorance or
envy?

Well, envy is worse than ignorance…after all, there’s
nothing you can do about ignorance, not really. But
there’s not really anything to envy in me, because
it’s just my own personal sacrifice. I’m
probably one of the critics who’s made the least
amount of money with flamenco, because books, we all
know what that’s about: they bring prestige, but
this type of book doesn’t bring economic gain.
And being a critic, the same thing: it’s not big
money, newspapers pay very little and it’s nothing
to get excited about. Perhaps the conferences, but they’re
few, and you couldn’t say they pay that well either.
What I mean is, there’s just nothing to be envious
about.

Some people consider it threatening
that flamenco is becoming music for the general public.
What’s your opinion?

I think flamenco, if it continues in the same direction,
may appeal to the general public but also lose some
of its authentic flavor, which it’s already losing.
When you take down the barriers, all art cheapens and
you reach a point we’re now reaching where it’s
a sort of easy, or ‘lite’ art-form, more
choruses, more accessible to people who want to do it
without for example really knowing how to sing even
a simple fandango.

“You’re not
writing for performers or specialists, but for a great
mass of people”.

How would you evaluate the
current scene as far as information and flamenco critics?

It’s like I said before. I think there’s
more exposure to this less genuine flamenco, and the
critics in a certain sense, applaud this because if
they don’t back up what there is every step of
the way, the appeal is greatly reduced.

What do you think about the importance
of flamenco on a medium like Internet?

I can’t answer you on that because I don’t
use Internet. Personally, I’m not interested in
it. It came along when I was already of a certain age…
Generally speaking, the information doesn’t seem
particularly worthwhile, but I’m just talking
to talk, like I say, I’m not familiar with it.

How do you imagine flamenco will
be fifty years from now?

Oh! I think it’s going to be something else entirely.
And if there’s still one singer with one guitarist
alone on stage doing siguiriyas, it’s going to
be a true relic, like people who sing tonás nowadays,
or siguiriyas the way it was sung fifty years ago. Unfortunately,
that’s how I see it.

What joys has flamenco brought you
over the years?

I’ve derived a great deal of satisfaction from
flamenco, but perhaps the most rewarding thing has been
when I’ve had feedback about my writing having
been useful somehow, to flamenco fans or experts, or
to the people I mentioned earlier, the nucleus of my
readers, the amorphous general audience of a great newspaper.
When things get back to me from people like that and
they say “I read you all the time and your reviews
are really useful”, that’s perhaps what
brings the most satisfaction.

I hope you have a great time at
the tribute and enjoy the high emotion of it all…being
emotionally moved is after all, very flamenco…”Gracias
Ángel”.

And thank you too.