What came first for you, Spanish song or flamenco cante?
First, it was Spanish song, “copla”, the kind done by flamenco singers like Paquera, Manolo Caracol, Rafael Farina, Juanito Valderrama… I knew all those singers via the copla, and later on I got involved in their world and saw they were flamenco singers. Then there was also Marifé de Triana, Juanita Reina, Concha Piquer, Miguel de Molina…I also entered that world, but they didn’t sing flamenco, only copla. Bambino was another one who brought me into the world of flamenco. Those are the flamenco singers I listened to, and who brought me into flamenco, although I ended up putting copla on the back burner and devoted myself to flamenco. You were already interested in making a record of copla… Lots of people said to go and do it, I’d already recorded a zambra in Suena Flamenco, and I’ve sung it many times in performance. In “Tierra de Calma” there’s a potpourri of copla called “La Radio de mi Madre”, with Joan Albert Amargós in Peralada I sang “Te lo Juro Yo”, and with Martirio in the show
