Interview with Julián Estrada. Cantaor de flamenco. 'Donde queda el puente'

Inteview
with

JULIÁN ESTRADA

Text & photos: Rafael Manjavacas Lara

From
Puente Genil (Córdoba) Julián Estrada
has arrived on the scene with his fourth record “Donde
Queda el Puente”, a co-production of Flamenco
en el Foro and Montoya Musical Management. The singer
intends to make a name outside Andalucía where
he has already carved out a space in the most important
festivals and is known by aficionados, as well as find
his niche in the difficult world of flamenco recordings
where guitarists abound but cante records are hard to
find these days.

You’re a well-known flamenco
singer in Andalucía, but outside the region it’s
more difficult.

I’m afraid so, I haven’t been lucky enough
to break into Madrid, nor have I had the opportunity
to reach people so they could hear me and decide for
themselves. I’ve gone to Barcelona more often,
during the contests and festivals, but in the Madrid
market I haven’t made any headway. I don’t
know why it is, in Andalucía I’m welcome
at all the festivals, but not here.

How would you define your style?

I consider myself a classic singer, but I’m also
a man of my time, of evolution, always looking for new
forms. It has to do with giving your own touch to what’s
already been done, giving of yourself, after learning
the foundations and the forms of our art, you have to
have personality, if not, it’s worthless.

Being from Puente Genil, do you
follow the Córdoba school of Fosforito or Pele?

I don’t think my line has anything to do with
either one, I admire them tremendously, I was fortunate
enough to have been born in cante country surrounded
by people who love flamenco, naturally maestro Fosforito
and Pele, a very important singer, but I’ve taken
things from many old maestros, I especially like the
Cádiz school. I always like to say I’ve
learned from everyone and everything, adapted it to
my own style, each person has a different voice texture.
You can’t always do exactly what you have in mind.

“I was fortunate enough
to have been born in cante country surrounded by people
who love flamenco”

Córdoba is more known for
guitarists than singers, do you think that hurts singers
from Córdoba?

The truth is, there’s been a great crop of guitarists,
Vicente Amigo, Manuel Silveria, etc., a great breeding-ground
for guitarists, and the Festival de Guitarra we have
is a great boost as well. It doesn’t need to be
a problem, but they ought to give more support to cante,
they make the festival based on instrumentals, fusion
with other kinds of music, and they ignore the cante.
This year, with the 50th anniversary of the contest,
cante received much more attention, but we need continuity,
when a prize is awarded, it can’t just stop there,
with the plaque and the diploma, there needs to be support.
We represent Córdoba throughout the world and
have to be respectful, but people who are coming up
need to be encouraged and supported.

A singer without connections has
a hard time…

I started out playing guitar, as an amateur, and when
I finished military service I won a contest in Puente
Genil for local singers, and that’s how I got
started, nothing was handed to me on a platter, there
was no one to show the way. I went to contests in Andalucía,
Barcelona, Madrid… I sang at all the peñas
to make a name for myself among flamenco fans.

Then you need to be lucky too, and when the doors open,
you have to do your part as well and communicate, it’s
the audience that gives you confidence and makes you
an artist.

Do you do flamenco festivals now?

Yes, in summer, the festivals in Andalusia, also in
La Unión these last years, some festivals in
Valencia, but it all happens in three months. Fortunately
I have my place in that circuit.

You were also at the Bienal in Sevilla…

Yes yes, that was wonderful, at the Hotel Triana, a
beautiful place, it was a very positive experience and
a big responsibility.

“When a prize
is awarded, it can’t just stop there, with the
plaque and the diploma, there needs to be support”

Your latest record “Donde
Queda el Puente”, is the third you’ve made,
isn’t it?

Officially yes, but there was an early recording when
I won a contest in Valdepeñas, but it was never
marketed or distributed. So this is really the fourth,
this time with Flamenco en el Foro, a company that follows
a line I more or less keep to, placing their bets on
traditional flamenco.

You also seek a balance between
traditional and commercial…

Yes, otherwise, who’d listen to it? You have
to get through to young people somehow, even me, when
I started out with flamenco I didn’t like the
serious cantes, it’s a complicated question, but
in order to record you have to do modern material, catchy
tunes, even just to have your record on the radio it’s
necessary, and even then it’s very complicated,
even in Andalusia.

What are your live performances
like?

Usually there’s a guitar, and I do the singing,
but I’ve also got a show with piano and other
instruments.

What have you got on the record?

Alegrías, tangos, bulerías, a bulerías
song of Lola Montes, very old, also a milonga, very
pretty, with an interesting verse, fandangos de Huelva…there’s
a malagueña I learned from Pepe Pinto that I
used to hear a lot at home, he did it almost like reciting.

The first song you wanted to mention
is El Uvero.

Yes, the lyrics are from El Pele and practically all
the music too, but with some little bits of the popular
Caracol del Uvero, but to tangos of course.

Who else is on the record?

Ricardo Rivera, a guitarist, who also produced the
record, in addition to Bolita, Manolo Franco for two
of the pieces, Paquito Sanlúcar on percussion,
Fidel Cordero on piano…

“It’s the audience
that gives you confidence and makes you an artist”

Do your lyrics have a message?

I always look for a message in the verses, they have
to say something, I wouldn’t sing something just
because it rhymes, I have to identify with what I sing.

What are you favorite flamenco cante
forms?

On all my records I have alegrías, one of the
cantes I like most. I also feel good with malagueñas,
fandangos…

Do you have something you’d
like to say to flamenco fans around the world?

The important thing is to let people hear you so they
can make up their own minds, I hope the Madrid audience
gets to know me and I can offer them my cante.

Vicente López is there as
well, the head of Flamenco en el Foro, who teamed up
with Montoya Musical on this occasion. Why is it necessary
to join forces to make a recording?

[Vicente López speaks]. It’s
a new way of working, There were a lot of singers who
had never recorded, and thanks to this partnership they’re
now able to record. The world of record production is
a tough one, and it’s getting tougher all the
time for artists like Julián, we’re also
preparing Guillermo Cano’s record, and Calixto
Sánchez’. The first experience was with
Julián Estrada, and we’ll see how it goes.
Capullo de Jerez’ new record is also being put
out by Flamenco en el Foro.

See Cd – audio on-line