Interview with Diego Amador. Piano Jondo

DIEGO
AMADOR
«You have to play the
piano the way they play flamenco guitar nowadays»

Diego Amador, «Churri», the youngest of
the multi-talented Amadors, founders of the legendary
group Pata Negra, presents his second recording to Deflamenco.
According to the musician «it's the first ever
record of flamenco piano because never before has anyone
really played flamenco on the piano», although
he also includes guitar, mandolin and bass, and of couse
his own voice. He shares his reflections on the purity
of flamenco, what flamenco on piano represents for him
and his outlook on fusion. He also talks about the problems
he had at last year's Festival de Cante de las Minas
de La Unión and his view of Dominique Abel's
documentary 'Polígono Sur' about Seville's Tres
Mil Viviendas neighborhood.

Diego, how do manage to juggle
piano, guitar, bass, percussion, cantaor, composing….?
You have to make a living, and since I don't have a
lot of work playing piano…but I like all instruments,
aside from the fact that the piano is my instrument,
I also enjoy playing bass, guitar, singing….

What do like best?
The guitar is my favorite thing, and singing, but guitar
is very hard, you have to spend hours and hours to be
on top of it, you can't leave it for a moment. Piano
as well…I've put in many hours studying piano.

Do you have to force the piano
to sound flamenco?
No, you can't push it, you have to be flamenco, period…you're
either flamenco or you're not. Although the piano, for
all practical purposes isn't flamenco, you have to focus
it in such a way that it enters into flamenco. I'm a
guy who plays several instruments and I want whatever
I play to sound flamenco, but without contrivances.
It depends on the musician…if the person playing is
flamenco, the final result is bound to be flamenco,
even if it's bagpipes.

Is imitating flamenco guitar
the starting point?
When I started playing piano it was because my brothers
were playing Chick Corea's records, Herbie Hancock…lots
of people, and I started playing piano because I liked
it a lot, I didn't think it could sound flamenco, but
it does, you have to play piano like contemporary guitar
they play nowadays. People are off-base when they play
piano, they try to play it like old-style guitar and
it sounds Andalusian, but not flamenco. My way of playing
piano is different, it's like modern flamenco guitar,
the way Paco de Lucía or Tomatito play.

Does the piano have more
possibilities than the guitar, or is it more limited?
The piano has a lot to offer, but even though the guitar
appears to be more limited, it's like a woman, when
you play her right she sounds good. Piano is more Japanese
in a way, cold and electronic, despite being acoustic…the
guitar has more life, depending on how you play it of
course. When I play piano I try to get the most expression
and I go for the little details.

Who else has played flamenco
piano?
I don't think that flamenco piano has ever existed.
What Arturo Pavón did…and all these people,
that was 'songs', Spanish songs, and I don't mean to
offend anyone, but there were no rasgueados with the
piano that sounded like guitar, I'm the first person
to do guitar strums on the piano.

What about Dorantes, Javier
Coble…?
If you talk to me about flamenco pianists, I can't really
answer you…I believe that flamenco piano never existed,
I created a way of playing piano, the way flamenco guitar
ought to be played these days. It's sounds bad to say
this, but I've been doing it all my life, I want people
to understand this, I want people to understand what
flamenco piano is and what flamenco on the piano represents.
All they've done up to now is play songs, you can't
call that flamenco.

On 'Piano Jondo' you go directly
to flamenco…but there's also fusion.
Yes, there's fusion, but it's done in such a way that
it doesn't mess around with flamenco, it's hard to explain,
you have to hear it.

Do you defend the purity
of flamenco with your piano?
No no, I defend it with flamenco singing, with guitar,
with the mandolin…there's more piano, of course, but
it's an integrated whole, all the forms are flamenco,
with all the instruments.

What's
on the record, what can we expect to hear?
A piano playing flamenco, along with other openings
such as jazz and other things, but within flamenco,
without messing up jazz or flamenco.

There's tarantas, bulerías,
rondeña, siguiriya, tanguillos…there's even
a «Soleá del Churri», what's that about?
«Soleá del Churri» is a name Ricardo
Pachón gave, we already recorded it before in
a record with El Potito, but of course everything on
the record has my personal sound.

What artists are on the record?
My nephew Luis [Rafael Amador's son] on the cajón,
Miguel Vargas on bass, Joaquín el Grilo dancing
and doing palmas…and the rest of the instruments…guitar,
mandolin, voice…that's all me.

In your previous record 'El
aire de lo puro' you're defending purity, right in the
title…but you employ a lot of instruments foreign
to flamenco.
That recording is plenty pure…there's also fusion,
but in its rightful place, there's always fusion, modern
chords…when I say 'pure' I'm talking about not deforming
flamenco. When you do rumba you stick in flamenco touches,
you can't call that flamenco.

And that first record, with
the name Patita Negra that you wish you could forget…What
happened?
That was a mistake, the name and the whole thing…they
wanted me to do the same thing as my brothers…I didn't
want that but I was too young and sooner or later I
had to make my first record, I had to do it. It has
some important things, that's where the piano came in,
but with electronic keyboard, it was those times…

What's your format for live
performances?
I do the same as before, half piano and half singing,
someone else plays the guitar for me, sometimes I play
for myself if there wasn't time to prepare it. Also
bass, cajón and palmas.

Is it hard to sell a concert
that's half piano.
No, I don't think so, it's something different. There
are people who go to hear the piano, others to hear
singing, and some maybe just to see what new stuff I'm
doing.

You usually work with Tomatito
as backup…
Yes, I'm usually with Tomate, also Joaquín el
Grilo…singing, playing bass and mandolin.

By the way, last year I went
away disappointed from La Unión…what happened
there anyway?
Were you in La Unión? That show was no good,
I didn't see it, with a bunch of rumberos, it was poorly
set up from the beginning, then there was a really big
problem with the sound, I couldn't get the piano tuned
in the morning, to get everything in order and leave
it ready for the nighttime. They didn't let us do the
sound check, not in afternoon either. At 9 p.m. I was
still waiting in the hotel to do the sound…waiting
for the other group to do theirs, they finished at a
quarter past ten, there was no time to do anything,
and they put my piano behind a column so it wouldn't
be in the way. Despite everything I checked the sound
and people started coming in, I played for a half hour,
mostly because people had come to see me. I really shouldn't
have played at all because everyone crucified me afterwards.

And lastly, just out of curiosity,
you appeared in Dominique Abel's film 'Polígono
Sur' about the Tres Mil Viviendas in Seville. How do
you think it came out, does it give a faithful idea
of the neighborhood?
It's cute, it's got its moments, you know everyone in
the neighborhood and it's fun to see them, it's a documentary
about all that, everything looks very natural.