Interview with Rafael Campallo. Alburquerque Festival. Bailaor flamenco

INTERVIEW Rafael Campallo Albuquerque Flamenco Festival, 2006

Mari Katsigianis posing questions and Damaris Solis
translating

MK: Welcome to the Festival, your
work is great!
RC: Thank you!!

MK: Can you tell us how you developed
your particular show?
RC: The concept behind this show was well thought-out musically
and is the result of the close relationship between myself
and my siblings. Because of that close union we respect each
other’s artistic talents and that’s perfect for
me. We have been able to achieve a harmony and tried to convey
a measure of sweetness to flamenco, with charisma, along with
the personality that I think myself and my sister and other
siblings try to find in flamenco in general. This show has
been developed around the way we relate to each other.

MK: Why do you feel the need to
impart “sweetness” to flamenco?
RC: It’s a form of expression, the way the cante is
introduced, the music, the beginning of the phrasing. There
are different ways to introduce the “entrada”
[the signal at the beginning of a number]. Instead of the
starting out being musically dense (rancio) or raucuous in
volume, we sought to go beyond that, to the ethereal. It was
better to start off slow and deliberate, and delicately build
from there.

MK: How do you think the artists
here regard the FFNM compared to the other festivals in the
United States?
Well, I can’t speak for my colleagues at the festival,
but I can tell you what my opinion is. I know that it has
been 20 years since the festival is in existence, which says
a lot about them, and take note that it is very well organized.
That they make sure the artist is well taken care of, every
detail attended to.

MK: From what we see here, I know
because I have been to both places, I will see what they do
here and then I will see some of it in Jerez; do they bring
us the same things here that they show over there?
RC: Well if Mari was in Jerez, she would have seen me in a
different production in that there are four dancers and the
concept is straight flamenco. Each one does their particular
dance, and thereafter we do a fin de fiesta. In the beginning
there is a short choreography by Manolo Marin and it’s
not the same thing that we would do over here. Over there
what you will see is a show. Here we are able to perform in
a production developed between Adela and myself. The way in
which we dance/perform is always the same; we each have our
individual styles. My philosophy is that in whatever festival
I participate in I will dance the same here, as in Japan,
as in Sevilla. I will give the same quality of performance

MK: Do you travel with one outfit
in your carry-on at all times?
RC: Normally, I’ll try to carry a working outfit all
the time, with shoes and such just in case. I may not have
what to wear in the street, but I’ll have an outfit
to dance in.

MK: Because Albuquerque is an established
flamenco city, it has more support for the flamencos. Do you
see other cities becoming like Albuquerque in how they support
flamenco?
RC: Every time that I have come to the U.S. it has been with
Cristina Heeren, she’s a woman of great influence here,
and I have never had any problems in any of the festivals
I’ve participated in. I’ve noted as an artist,
I am very well received here. Over the years I recall that
I was in San Francisco working with a well-known dancer there
(whose names escapes me) and we were organizing many productions/festivals
in that city and again, I was well treated and received. What
an artist needs to see here about coming to the U.S. to work
is not which festival is better than the other but the way
in which the artists are treated. I mean, you go with your
group to work, and you need to know that there have been some
preparations made for you.

MK: We love how innovative and
beautiful the productions are starting to be. If you had a
dream budget, that you could do anything you wanted on stage,
what would you do?
RC: My dream project is to dance every day for the rest of
my life. Projects come and go, and ideas come in all the time.
There is one idea that I would like to see developed — where
flamenco is mixed with other types of music. Yes, I am aware
that flamenco has been done with just about every type of
music. Actually, I don’t like to talk about the future,
that’s something of a delicate topic for me; you never
know what is going to happen to you. I like to live in the
moment, and also in the moment that I am dancing.

MK: You have your particular style,
the distinctive Campallo style. What kind of music do you
see yourself fusing with?
RC: Actually, Hip-Hop, yes, it lends itself to it. It is a
form of expression like flamenco. It is a life-style, just
like flamenco. In Sevilla there are great rappers, you know,
also jazz musicians. In flamenco, it’s about what you
are feeling, your life-style. If you’re sad, you will
show it by how your body expresses emotions, including when
you are happy. In Andalucia we live this life, you see?

NOTE FROM DAMARIS: Mari spent
a little time telling Rafael how important the internet is
to flamenco. He is not into using computers or the net, yet
we told him it is because of the internet that people knew
he was coming. All in all, we were enthralled by the humility
and beauty of Rafael Campallo.