Camarón de la Isla: "If I rest on my laurels, I'll be swept away by the current."

Is the memory still okay?

I often forget the lyrics, but I ask someone. The lyrics aren't what they used to be; we don't say 'ay ay ay' as much; we say more beautiful phrases.

With more than 40 albums, how do you choose the repertoire you're going to play?

When La leyenda del tiempo (1979) came out, we weren't selling anything. I told my producer, Ricardo Pachón, 'Well, on the next one, we'll do guitar and palmas.' It took us 15 years to sell that album well; this is slower than the bad guy's horse. But in the end, the good stuff prevails. Now I'm going to play some of my latest, new albums, the one I made with Estrella Morente and, of course, the one I recorded with my son Luis on guitar and my daughters Gema and Rocío singing. Depending on how people see it, I'll go more this way or that way.

There won't be any rap or trap?

That's from the album with my other son, Cheíto (Mancloy), who's playing at the Sant Jordi Club in a few days, and maybe I'll get a boost. At the Palau, it'll be all flamenco.

The worldwide hype came after his performance at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, which almost failed to take place.

Yeah.

The organization had prepared an alternative with a group from Barcelona, Los Manolos, in case you didn't recover in time... but you managed to leave the hospital.

Constantino Romero said, when introducing me, that 'I wasn't dead, I was partying.' It was funny, but sometimes I find it tiresome that I'm still introduced that way in many places.

When I was young I did dangerous things, but I saw the wolf's ears and I was able to get out."

How did you start singing?

When I was a child, my mother sang so often that I even lost sleep. I etched those songs into my memory and sang them everywhere. I still do.

Your father also sang, didn't he?

Yes, yes, singing is something you carry inside, it's like bullfighting. As a child, I sang in the forge with my father. And on the street and at Venta de Vargas, a restaurant with a show, where Rocío Jurado saw me when I was 17 and, after listening to me, exclaimed: "There's an old man here, here, and here," pointing to his stomach, chest, and head.

Have you always been old?

But now officially.

Which suit do you prefer?

It depends. Bulería is a more upbeat style of singing, more popular, and also one of the most difficult. There's a style from every place. I invented the canastera with Paco de Lucía, based on the fandango. And, from all those years I've lived in Mexico, we've created the Oaxacan and the Tapatía.

Regarding the rise of the genre in Latin America in the 21st century, what do you think when you hear people talk about narcoflamenco?

They talk a lot and know nothing. These are things that have nothing to do with each other.

You lived through a dark period...

Those who don't know me speak up. When I was young, I did dangerous things, but I saw the wolf's ears and managed to get out. It happens to even the most capable. I don't hide it; I even sing it, in "Potro de rabia y miel." With the help of God and my family, little by little, my bad reputation began to fade. I created the Island Foundation to help people trapped in drug use.

What about your hug with a drug lord from Raval?

I didn't even realize it. Luis Cabrera, when he set up Taller de Músics, didn't want any drug dealing in the area. He spoke to a drug dealer, who told him that the leader of the clan, who was a Roma, would give his life to hug me. They arranged a meeting with him in a tavern in Badalona. I didn't really know what it was about, and I never refuse a Roma person a hug. But the truth is that, ten days later, the drug dealers disappeared and moved to another area.

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You've made films with Carlos Saura and are now filming with Albert Serra...

Yes, it's that very well-groomed Catalan guy who never takes off his sunglasses, not even in the bathroom. Look at him, he's around, accompanying us all the time with his cameras. He's a phenomenon. He says that when he has 800 hours, he'll edit a two-hour film, and that he already did it for a bullfighter. Can you believe it's true? Will he throw away 798 hours? The man is funny...

In dance, Marcos Morau has staged the multi-award-winning show Cantaor , based on his life.

It's all very well, they move too fast for me, but the compositions are beautiful and there is a lot of truth.

Is the famous anecdote with Miguel Boyer true?

Who told him that? My sisters? I was with them, Isabel and Remedios, in a restaurant, with Minister Boyer at my side. At dessert time, they asked him what he wanted, and he said, "Do you have Swiss roll?" Soon after, they asked me, and I replied, "Do you have roasted guinea pig heads?" They were both dying of laughter.

You've reached the top. Aren't you afraid of resting on your laurels?

Fall asleep? No, no, I'm Shrimp, and if I fall asleep, I'll be swept away.