Flamenco without frontiers

Much like his music, Paco Peña’s voice seems to transport you to a place of easy contentment. But while the flamenco virtuoso with the mellifluous Spanish accent wants to create lyrical, passionate music, he's also anxious to point out that his work comes from a serious emotional engagement with the world: “If you’re honest with yourself you can’t ignore certain things. It’s not that I have a political point to make, but I love people, wherever they come from. Flamenco is a legitimate form of music, which combines a lot of elements from different cultures; it is a music of people. If there is a problem right in front of me, my music is moved.”

There is a fluidity when you speak to Peña that verbally matches his technical elegance as one of Spain’s most brilliant guitarists. An innovator who has developed from solo performances on the hot coasts of Costa Brava to full-blown theatrical explosions, Peña has never been one to sit on his laurels. His new piece for the Edinburgh International Festival, Quimeras, continues his exploration into the possibilities of this traditional Spanish musical form.

“I never wanted to be a solo guitarist at all, I just wanted to participate in the whole flamenco scene – I’ve always loved the singing and the dance.” For a lauded soloist, Peña charmingly seems to bypass any egotism and is constantly hailing his fellow artists and collaborators within The Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company. Made up of his favourite flamenco artists and marked by international collaborations this company, which was formed in the 1970s, he has been pushing the boundaries of flamenco ever since. One such collaboration is with Royal Festival Hall Artistic Director and renowned theatre director Jude Kelly, who has directed both Quimeras for Edinburgh and Flamenco Sin Fronteras, which is currently playing to critical acclaim at Sadler’s Wells. A powerful and emotional mixture of music, dance and stage play, their work will be sweeping a strong, warm Spanish breeze onto the air-conditioned British stages this summer.

Herself an avid believer in the potential for dialogue between artforms, the collaboration is a fruitful one. “Jude Kelly can sense and feel my ideas in a way which she then makes her own, and she interprets [them] in her own medium, which is the staging of them.” Although the initial inspiration for a project undeniably comes from Peña, it is also a fully developed dialogue between the two: “We talk a lot. She suggests things like any director would do in order to highlight what I’m thinking. She doesn’t interfere but her contribution is very sensitive and very musical; she communes very strongly.”

At a point when immigration is at the top of the European political agenda, the timing of Quimeras could not be more perfect. Peña speaks passionately about the right that immigrants have to try to make a better world for themselves and their families, sadly noting that their hopes are often destroyed. “Quimeras will try to bring to life the journey of several of these people, creating situations along the way that reflect good and bad aspects of their dreams, the reality of their lives and the interconnection with the people on the other side of the frontiers they cross.”

Peña grew up in Andalucía, where the proximity of North Africa means that there has always been an intense flow of people crossing in one direction or the other. The subject of such transcultural ambition has been with him for a long time: “I grew up in a place where a lot of immigrants have passed by so I have been immersed in it for all my life.”

This interest in stories that are inherently both domestic and international is indicative of Peña’s cross-pollinating habit of taking inspiration from a variety of cultures. After a productive period working in Spain in the late 1960s, he moved to London. It was a decision that he counts as one of the most important of his career. “I have been out of Spain so much – I have been exposed to unexpected artistic propositions and activity in the arts.”

Many of these opportunities have allowed him to take flamenco music to an audience previously unaware of its existence outside of a Spanish context (he once played on the same bill as Jimi Hendrix). It is a process of enlightenment that has worked both ways. "You project your roots and culture in this music you are sharing. At the same time you have been enlightened by so much that you see around you – that gives you an edge over someone who hasn’t been out in the world in the same way.”

It seems clear that Peña’s cosmopolitanism has given his music this elusive edge over others on the world stage. Even in the face of his indisputable expertise, it is his passion for bridging flamenco with diverse musical genres (including classical, jazz, blues, country and Latin American) while maintaining a healthy respect for it’s traditions that he feels is the real reason for his success.

“It is because I am constantly moving forward, I never sit still. I’ve done many shows, so you push ahead with your ideas and then they inevitably become more ambitious and accomplished in style.” He chuckles, and there's the familiar humility again: “It is also probably because I am very old!”