Interview with Oscar Herrero. Flamenco guitarist

Interview with
OSCAR HERRERO

“Who says you have to
play sloppy and aggressive to be flamenco?”

by Manuel Moraga

From the mountains of Madrid comes this new
work in a generous format (nearly one full hour of music
plus another CD with the same compositions played as
guitar solos), and generous of spirit (full of tributes
and acknowledgements), which includes the noteworthy
collaboration of Enrique Morente. The title song opens
the recording: «Abantos», yet another tribute,
in this case to the mountain of the same name which
was witness to, and the source of Oscar Herrero's inspiration.

Oscar Herrero – Abantos – 2CD

And so it is, your studio’s
window opens straight out to moung Abantos. From this
vantage point you see it every day…
Exactly, it’s my friend… The only one I’ve
spoken to since I’ve been here. And this is where
the record was conceived – although there were
some themes from before – and it was recorded
here as well, in this very room, my studio. I spend
endless hours here with my guitar, and what I see is
my friend Abantos, and I even speak to him sometimes.

How many years have you had
this friend?
Four

“Abantos” is
the title of the record and the first piece that opens
the work. There are two parts: it begins melancholically
and then there’s a sudden change. It’s as
if it had two personalities.
One part is called “horizonte” and it’s
clear what’s on the horizon (he says looking out
the window). It’s a slow, melancholy section.
The guitar is accompanied by some other instruments.
Then the rhythm comes in and the other part of the piece
called “Compañero” kicks in with
the collaboration of several musicians, and Enrique
Morente, who interprets the dialogue between myself
and the mountain. I put it in taranto key, which gives
a lot of depth, and at the same time I add the rhythm
of bulerías.

The alegrías is dedicado
to Javier Barón. Many dancers claim to feel more
comfortable with certain singers or guitarists. As a
guitarist, do you feel the same way? Do you have a greater
musical rapport with some dancers more than others?
Not in quality, but because of the expressive ambience
of one or another connects better…
It’s exactly the same with people and this is
where the personal angle comes in, aside from artistic
considerations. You have a way of being or thinking
or feeling which is more like a certain person’s
and you get along better. In this case it’s an
alegrías I composed serveral years ago. We were
on tour with Victor Monje “Serranito” and
Javier Barón was in the group. Miguel Ribera
and I played for him and he danced alegrías.
That inspired me to do a concert piece for guitar based
on alegrías, but with the structure of the dance,
the ‘silencio’, the ‘escobilla’,
the bulería ending….

I spend endless hours here
in the studio with my guitar, and what I see is my friend
Abantos, and I even speak to him sometimes.

There
are other tributes. “Carnaval” is tanguillos
dedicated to Serranito with whom you’ve spent
a lot of time. What did you learn from him?
The thing I got most from Serranito, as well as Enrique
de Melchor – the two guitarists I’ve worked
with accompanying them in concert – is, logically,
the personality they transmit. I’ve learned how
to be on stage, how the professional world of flamenco
works, in addition to their advice and constantly listening
to them. Also the mere fact that they teach you a falseta
or a piece, these are experiences you accumulate from
close association.

What about “Triguito”,
who is the minera dedicated to?
“Triguito” was a guitarist from Seville
who was a great influence in my formative years. I started
out with my father, who taught me the basics, everything
he knew, and afterwards he found a teacher for me, who
was Triguito. He taught me things of Sabicas, Ricardo,
Montoya, he taught me the rhythms and gave me the most
important preparation for who I am now.

There’s a singer I’m
unfamiliar with for the minera, Basilio Villalta.
He’s a good friend of mine. A semiprofessional
singer who helped me a great deal when I was starting
out. He took me to all the places of guitar. We’ve
shared many a stage and I learned to accompany cante
with him, at least in part. I wanted him to be included
here.

He has a wonderful voice
for mining cante.
I really like him a lot. He’s one of the most
reliable for cante de Levante.

“You have to acknowledge
and thank those people who have done something for you”

There’s a lovely melodic
evolution in that minera.
There’s something else I like very much: at the
beginning you hear the sax of Pedro Esparza in the guitar
part. He does his falseta and gives the entrance for
the singer and accompanies a minera verse of Basilio
Villalta. Then the guitar comes in, another verse is
accompanied with the sax and then the guitar continues
on its own.

¿Why do you dedicate
“Rumbule”, that mixture of rumba and bulería,
to Enrique de Melchor?
As with Serranito, it’s a tribute to Enrique,
but it could have been any of the pieces. I didn’t
compose it thinking specifically of him, but only after
it was complete

The soleá is rather
discreet and yet somehow very intense, charged with
emotion at every moment.
It’s sort of my way of playing, and soleá
allows this interpretation, especially when you play
guitar alone, without singing or dancing. You can toy
with the tempo, stretch it out, speed it up… Soleá
is a majestic form and you have to try transmit. If
it had that meaning for you, I’m glad because
it means I’ve achieved something.

You dedicate it to Claude
Worms…forgive my ignorance, buy I don’t know
who that is either.
He’s my partner. A French guitarist who’s
doing tremendous work for flamenco guitar. He’s
not Andalusian or even Spanish, but French, which is
neither here nor there, on the contrary, it’s
all the more admirable. He has numerous books and I
began my first teaching efforts with him, through publications,
a series of five books…we just finished the fifth,
devoted to bulerías, and I think it’s an
important work within the flamenco guitar. We published
it with a French firm.

The record is full of dedications.
Full of generosity of spirit.
I think you have to acknowledge and thank those people
who have done something for you, and all these people
have helped me in some way. The least I can do is dedicate
a piece to them.

I believe that concept indicates
maturity.
I don’t know if it’s maturity, but certainly
an obligation: to acknowledge everyone who has influenced
me and express my gratitude to them.

“The guitar is an
instrument with many possibilites and we can’t
keep doing the same thing over and over”.

Another interesting item
in this work is the taranta-petenera. Tell me about
it…
That came out of a live show with Sonia Cortés.
I wanted her to sing a petenera, but due to the tone,
I had to put the capo on 4 as if it were a taranta on
2, which is the same thing, the same tonality, it ocurred
to me to do it like that. Taranta is free-rhythm and
petenera is also free, so I think it worked well, because
taranta is a guitar and cante form with a great deal
of feeling. I really think it comes off well, and it
also gives another color so we don’t have to hear
the same old thing. The guitar is an instrument with
many possibilites and we can’t keep doing the
same thing over and over.

Taranta tends to be a melancholic
piece, sometimes with a touch of anger, but here it’s
almost sweet. Does it have anything to do with the fact
that you dedicate it to the mothers of the world?
No. It just came out that way or perhaps you see it
that way. When I compose I don’t usually think
about what I’m going to say.

In my opinion your messages
are well-told, your guitar is easy to follow, your playing
is clean, the guitar rings out. I think this is important
at this point in guitar-playing. Your approach, development
and resolutions are perfectly easy to understand.
Lots of people think you have to play flamenco guitar
with a lot of speed and strength, and if not, you aren’t
flamenco. I’m considered flamenco precisely because
of what you just said, because I take more care with
the melody, I make it dynamic, I’m concerned that
everything I do has to make sense… In other words,
what you just said. I don’t think there’s
any conflict. We all agree flamenco music comes from
within, that it’s visceral, not like other kinds
of music, such as classical, where every measure is
prescribed as to the way it must be played. That’s
why it’s not at odds with playing a piano, or
playing clean. Who says you have to play sloppy and
aggressive to be flamenco? I don’t get it. Some
people say Manolo Sanlúcar isn’t flamenco
because he also plays with a lot of melody. These things
really hurt at first, but I’ve gotten over it
more or less. I continue in my line, trying to make
music tailored to my own taste and I try to get my message
across.

“Music is a language
that requires no prior knowledge to be understood”

As far as the arrangements
go, they don’t get in the way. Everything is focused
to get your idea across. Sometimes you hear pieces where
the arrangements drown out the guitar. On this recording
nothing gets in the way, and everything enhances the
finaln result.
It makes me very happy to hear that. A lot comes into
play in that respect, starting with each one’s
personal taste. As you know, the instruments are usually
recorded independently, and are then mixed afterwards.
In the process there is a large percentage of both good
and bad decisions. I tried to do it according to my
own taste with an extraordinary technician, Oscar Herrador
who did the mixing, under my supervision of course.
Then another great musician, Fran Villarrubia, did the
arrangements for several pieces and also took part in
the mixing to leave it more or less set.

How did you manage to get
Morente?
In all honesty, my relationship with Morente came down
to two brief encounters, but this summer we crossed
paths here, at El Escorial during some courses for the
university and that was just when I was making my record.
He’s on the piece “Abantos” on the
bulería part, which isn’t exactly a bulería,
but rather a melody I put to the rhythm of bulerías,
or bulería waltz, in taranta tone. And that’s
when it came to me…I saw that theme was perfect. I
decided to put it to him thinking he would turn me down.
But it seems Enrique thinks highly of me and the work
I’m doing on the guitar, and he’s a great
guitar fan, in addition to being a charming person,
wonderful. He said he would do whatever I wanted. I
waited all summer until he finished “Sueña
la Alhambra” and then I went to Granada, to his
house, and there he made a fabulous recording, as always.
He added several voices and I’m very grateful:
to have his participation and because of what Enrique
Morente represents.

It’s a double CD…in
addition to the complete work, there’s another
CD with the same pieces but on guitar only.
I got the idea while I was recording, because as you
know it’s practically impossible to record a solo
guitar record nowadays, among other things because it
doesn’t sell, and also because I think flamenco
isn’t just guitar, singing and dancing, but any
instrument can be flamenco and when you’re well-accompanied
you can do many things. But aside from that, there are
also many people who like the guitar, to hear it on
its own, and since these are themes devised with the
guitar in mind, and which can be played alone or with
other instruments, I had the idea and that’s how
we got two records from one, for people who prefer one
thing or the other, or both.

What would you like to give
with this work to whoever might listen to it?
Music. Be it flamenco or whatever, music is a language
that requires no prior knowledge to be understood. I’ve
played in many countries including several where they’d
never heard flamenco, but if you communicate feeling
and emotion with a particular language, in this case
flamenco guitar, people sense your message and your
expression. And as a final goal I’d like to achieve
a sense of peace and tranquility.

Is there anything left you
didn’t record?
No. That’s why this record has such a long duration,
one hour. I wanted to include everything and have nothing
left over so I can move on to another stage of development
for the next record.

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Oscar Herrero – Abantos – 2CD