-Grandpa, are we witnessing the end of an era? I’m asking you this because it’s something that has been talked about for years: people say that flamenco has reached the end of an era, and that it will be hard for new artists to match those of the last four or five decades.

-Let’s see Manolito. I’ve lived through golden ages in flamenco that I thought would never be surpassed, and then they were. The problem is to compare today’s artists with all the big stars through the whole history of flamenco, because the present will always be at a disadvantage. Yet, that’s something we do often. We would say “There are no longer big stars of cante such as Silverio, Chacón, Marchena, Fosforito, Morente, Camarón…” and we make a list of all the greatest artists in a century and a half of cante’s history.

-Don’t get sidetracked, grandpa, are we at the end of an era or not?

-We’re always at the end of an era. I remember when Caracol, Marchena, Mairena, Valderrama, Canalejas, Niña de la Puebla, Niño Ricardo, Sabicas, Matilde Coral and Farruco all started to get old, people would say “when these are gone, that would be the end of it”. Then came Fosforito, Lebrijano, María Vargas, Morente, Camarón, Paco de Lucía, Manolo Sanlúcar, Manuela Carrasco, Mario Maya…

-Yes grandpa, but some of these are now gone, and the few left will eventually be gone, too. There’s no one to take over.

-Other artists will take over, although they may not be of your liking. José Mercé, El Pele, Mayte Martín, Cañizares, Vicente Amigo, Riqueni, La Yerbabuena and Farruquito are all great artists. Although it’s true that in those years there were about forty great stars, and nowadays just about twelve.

-You forgot to mention Rosalía…

-Stop trying to be funny, kid, because I take this very seriously. That girl belongs to the next generation, those who sing without singing.

-What do you mean, Grandpa, to sing without singing?

-To fake out, to play a trick.

-Ah, OK, got it

-Note how cante has evolved since recording technology has existed. Listen to how it was at the end of the 19th century, in the first decades of the following century, in the 1950s and 1960s, and now. It has become more simplified, through a technical evolution that favours the easy way. In my opinion, cante has been weakened. I mean cante jondo, because there are other ways to sing Andalusian music. When people say that nowadays cante, toque and baile is better than ever, that’s not true. Technique may have improved (among other things because we now have better resources), but cante itself hasn’t become any better. Note how well Chacón, Manuel Torres, Niña de los Peines and Vallejo sang, at a time when they basically had to stick their heads inside a trumpet to do a recording. Also note how well Trini España and Farruco danced.

-Maybe you’re just stuck in the past, and only like the things from your own time?

-This time is also my time, because I’m still alive and I still listen to cante. It’s true that I have a tendency to idealize my golden age, but I lived those years as much as I’m living the present, and the difference is like black and white.

-Grandpa, is bad flamenco being promoted, while authentic flamenco is being discarded?

-I wouldn’t go that far, but you have a point. Why do you think that some national newspapers promote so heavily the marvelous Rosalía? On top of the financial interests (as sometimes the reviews are paid for, openly or not), they think that thousands of young people have an interest in her, while this is not true. How can possibly a woman without a good voice, who doesn’t know how to sing, “revolutionize” an art such as flamenco? Yet, since the masses have no clue, they believe it. And there she is, filling up venues and selling albums.

-You seem burned out, grandpa.

-As burned out as a stick in a bonfire.

-Yet, artists like her not only have the support of national newspapers and magazines, but also of prestigious critics and writers. Maybe you are the one who gets it wrong, grandpa.

-Maybe, but I can tell you that I definitely feel flabbergasted whenever when I read positive reviews about Rosalía, because she’s weak, really weak. Maybe I’m unable to see what others see or hear what they hear. Maybe that’s it.

-What will we have for lunch today?

-Rice with shrimp.

-I’m getting tired of the rice.

Translated by P. Young