Which Antonio Mairena He was a great singer and fan, there is no doubt about it, although in the end this is a matter of taste: either you like a singer or you don't. I always liked the maestro from Mairena, although I can't say that I am a member of the Mairena brotherhood. And if I was one at some point, I knew how to get out of it before it was too late. From the first time I spoke to him in his house on Calle Pedro Padre Ayala, 12, Seville, I knew that he had a double personality, which made him say some things in the media and others in private.
It is true that it is usually something very common among artists. flamencoYes, but in the teacher it was something outrageously striking. I have a good collection of interviews made in Seville newspapers, specialized magazines or radio stations, and also private tapes in which they asked him questions and he answered without hesitation on different issues: the cante Gypsy, the cante gaché or Andalusian, politics or certain artists who were never to his liking, such as Marchena o El Caracol.
In one of these recordings, from the sixties and seventies, Mairena gives his opinion on Joaquin from Paula and his nephews singers, Juan Talega y Manolito from Maria, whom he calls representatives of the “cante “homemade”, clearly downplaying its artistic importance. He calls Juan Talega, one of his teachers and the gypsy friend who most praised his work, “sweet hoarse”. cante. In any case, it is not the one that comes out worst: it is even clearer with Pinini, Fernanda o the bitchIt is clear that this is just an opinion and everyone is free to have their own opinion, but it says a lot about his complex personality.
On one occasion he was asked in Radio Malaga about whether or not it was necessary to be a gypsy to sing well, and he answered with talent: “Not at all. You can sing well without being a gypsy.” Of course you can. However, in 1961, at the home of a well-known American flamencologist, Don Pohren, this age-old debate arises and in the presence of Maria the Swindler and other fans, he says, with much humor, that the great gypsy singers are leaving; that only Pastora and he, although he only implies it:
All the great figures have left. And now that will remain, that… When this is over, then let the Andalusians take over; let them take it forward. When we are finished, and there are very few of us left, let them take it forward…
When the maestro says this, those who are with him at the meeting burst out laughing, as if there had never been non-gypsy artists who contributed as much or more than the Andalusian gypsies. Mairena got angry and ended up criticizing even his brother. Manuel, who, according to him, was more in the way than the mule from Cadiz:
And he's my brother. And no one loves him more than I do..
Antonio was always very critical of his brother Manolo, surely because one day he saw him as his legitimate heir and wanted him to improve.
In the same recording he heaps praise on the Girl of the Combs, its greatest reference in the cante, perhaps with Manuel Torres and Joaquín, the one from Paula. I have said that he was the one who supported her the most, promoting tributes and recognitions of all kinds. Give Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Without Mairena, Pastora would have been completely forgotten and a tremendous injustice would have been committed. And as I love Pastora without cracks, I will always be grateful to Antonio for his passion for her and for not abandoning her.
