We sat down for an exclusive interview with Paco Peña, the world-renowned flamenco guitarist, composer and producer.
Paco Peña’s show Solera returns to Sadler’s Wells Theatre on 2nd-4th April- Tickets here.
As you return to Sadler’s Wells Theatre with Solera, how has your relationship with this stage evolved over the four decades you’ve performed there, and what continues to inspire you at 83?
It is a big stage, a great space: imposing and inspiring! I recently stumbled upon a recording of my group “Live at Sadler’s Wells”, made in 1980 and I did feel the buzz of those times. It was a wonderful space then and it remains a wonderful Institution that inspires me now as it has consistently done over the years!
In Solera, inspired by the Andalusian wine-aging system, how do you balance preserving the purity of flamenco tradition with embracing the fearless experimentation of younger artists like Dani de Morón?
Dani is a very special case. He is not only perfect for his role in the show, and I am delighted he is part of the group. I’m sure experimentation has been very much present in his working out ideas and compositions. But when it comes to him delivering them, there is already a rich, special solera taste in his playing! I’m sure he’s always loved his tradition, and his rare talent has allowed him to carry and display it naturally, ahead of the pack.
Having moved to London in the 1960s, how did presenting flamenco to international audiences reshape your own understanding of this deeply Andalusian art form?
My aim was to always project flamenco in what I understood to be its pure, true form so, it wasn’t really ‘reshaping’ but learning, by direct contact with audiences and their reactions, whether or not I was getting there! I also had never left my family or my culture behind; I was very connected with Córdoba and its people, my people; and obviously flamenco is very much part of that!
Your long creative partnership with Jude Kelly spans two decades—how has that collaboration influenced the theatrical dimension of your flamenco productions?
Enormously and in many ways. The first show we did was a trip, as it were, through flamenco’s history. I more or less knew how I wanted to start but, quite apart from the musical ideas Jude placed me at a desk working with a computer! She noticed I might have been somewhat alarmed at the idea and with total confidence she said; “Don’t worry, trust me, it will really work!” And from then on the scene revealed the rest of the company among old furniture, dry autumn leaves and more… and it placed us truly in another era. It was great! That was only the beginning of a wonderful journey with Jude and her incredible imagination!
As the founder of the Córdoba International Guitar Festival and the world’s first Professor of Flamenco Guitar, what responsibility do you feel in shaping the next generation of flamenco artists?
I think Solera tries to address that very question, and I would also add that new generations must remain absolutely in contact with – indeed, they must own – the universal range of emotions that flamenco contains and be fully prepared to express them in their projects, uncompromisingly!
Looking back on a career that has taken you from Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club to Carnegie Hall, what has remained constant in your artistic mission, and what continues to evolve?
A constant for me has been the nerves and cold hands I suffer before I walk onto the stage! When I am on it, though, I just want to tell the truth and honour it, while remaining open to new ways of interpretation.