Manuel Agujetas

I do not feel that I would be exaggerating in the least to say that Manuel Agujetas is one of the most fascinating people currently alive on the face of the earth.
You may not like him, but I believe those that cannot appreciate him at all do not like what flamenco really is; or maybe do not understand where flamenco came from. I did not like him when I started flamenco. It took many years to understand. Some of the best tastes are acquired ones, though.
My friend Gary, a guitarist who now lives in Vancouver, lived with him and his family in the 80s, and has been a close friend. Gary comes from the Deep South, and has a background in blues. That is probably part of the reason that he understands and appreciates the Agujetas family.
Tonight I have been listening to an old documentary on Agujetas.
Manuel comes from a family of blacksmiths, and worked as one until he was about 30, I believe. This was a very typical profession for gitanos. In his father's generation, the gitanos were often very poor, and the ones who did flamenco would be asked or demanded to sing or play for the wealthy or powerful in the town, and given very little money. His father was hit by the "señoritos" if he didn't want to sing.
He says that he went to school once, but pretty much hated the place and went running out, never to return. He thinks that if a person knows how to read and write, they can't sing flamenco, because they lose their good pronunciation. He does not know where or when he was born: it could be one of two cities, and within a 2 year time period. "No soy de ningun lao," he says in the documentary. (I am not from anywhere). This is not normal with gitanos in Spain. They have all been settled for a long time, and are not like other "gypsies" in Europe at all.

The very first word that comes to mind to describe his singing is "raw". In Spanish, the word is "rancio". It is the same as it's twin in English, though the meaning is not always so bad. It means mellow, for wine, rancid, for butter, ancient, for other things, unpleasant, for people. I don't care to have anyone explain the exact meaning as applied to cante, because I think it's obvious from these cues and from hearing this kind of singing. A combination of all those English words probably describes it well.

Agujetas is quoted in my Historia Social de Flamenco as saying that Carmen Amaya (one of the most famous dancers in the entire history of flamenco) was an "india que daba saltos" (an indio is what gitanos call each other at times - referring to the old mistaken Spanish word for Latin Americans, like its English translation. Except that the gitanos are believed to have really come from India). She was an "indian jumping around", and that is why the Americans liked her. He has been known to say "solo me gusta yo" (I only like myself - as a flamenco singer).
When questioned about the Franco government, which many flamenco people had trouble with, being poor, exploited, and left-leaning, he says, "Yo soy Espanol, pero me da igual Espana. Yo no vivo de gobiernos ni de nadie. Yo soy libre, ahora y con Franco" (I am Spanish but I don't care about Spain. I don't live by governments or by anybody. I am free, now and under Franco.)
And about his life in the countryside with his Japanese wife: "I am the freest man in the world."

Critics and flamencologists describe him as being an anachronism; belonging to another time.

His face is wild: there are gold teeth and a knife wound scar across his cheek. His eyes seem to be looking through everything a lot of the time, and him and his sister have a common way of singing, almost as if they are possessed. I don't think there are many others who even have a jaleo (shout between verses, to the guitarist) to match his.

The essence of flamenco is to find an expression for the most intense things you have inside, particularly pain. It can be many other things, or rather, has become a lot of other things, but this is the core. I think it is one of the few styles of singing (or art) where people look for and judge the best performers by how well they bring out the strongest feelings in the most genuine and spontaneous way. At least those that know the core of the art appear to do this. Those same people (like Concha, for example) will tell you that it is better to sing out of tune and with conviction and strength, or to have shaky ankles when you strike a position, as long as you're doing it with "fuerza" (something like being completely present, and expressing what you have inside). In fact, it is very, very common for flamenco guitarists to have a string obviously out of tune. Some truly great singers (like Agujetas) slip out of tune. And some of the best ones seem to me to be very slightly out of tune on purpose, or manage to do a very subtle out of tune-ness that is pure genius.

Flamenco is not meant to be pretty; it is more beautiful in its ugliness; in its raw truth. That is why I love it, and that is why I respect Agujetas so much.

But I can't help shaking my head and laughing a little at how utterly weird he is. In part 5 or 6 of the documentary on youtube, he shows a crucifix that he made himself, out of wood. Jesus is totally hilarious, with his arms raised in the air. I think he said that was how the shape of the wood was, so he used it like that. He gave Jesus some of his wife's hair (not uncommon to use human hair to decorate a Jesus statue). But says that Christ "castigated" him because he did something wrong in the way he made it.

At one point in the video he goes outside and says how much he loves the campo. He points to his fields and says he doesn't really use them, but he lets good people have them. Not bad people though. And if someone poor is going by and needs food they can just take it. He goes over by some grapes and says, "these are called uvas robaos" (robbed grapes), "because the plants were taken from that field over there when they were small." And explains something about this; how the person didn't mind or it really was alright.

He appears to be the person most totally unaffected by what other people think, that I can imagine. I suppose this is probably not true, as I believe he does have an ego, and is proud of things he does, stating that in plain terms, like some people from this culture or from flamenco seem in general more apt to do.

bulerias - easier to get into

"cristo es libre como yo" note jesus with his arms happily in the air
skip over the talking parts if you want


more difficult; "uglier"
Here note the guitarist: Moraito Chico who died last month - a very great guitarist and terrible loss.