You’re about to play alongside Banda Municipal in the Comunitat Valenciana commemorative consert at the Palau de la Música de Valencia. Excited?
Very much! For me this is an important recital, and is a great pleasure to be bart of this great celebration of this land. Especially important to me is that I was invited by Fernando Bonete, director of the Banda Municipal, with whom I have worked before. I also like to remember that the first time I performed with a band, they came from Alaquàs.
Your castanets have travelled the world.
I have been in 64 countries, but in my heart I carry the fact my little instruments, my castanets, are made in Valencia. They are made by the master craftsman José Tárrega Peiró. He is the only one who has made them for me throughout the years and I consider us family. We have spent many hours together and he has always made the castanets like I wanted. My castanets are only made here.
The maestro Joaquín Rodrigo, also from Valencia, has composed two pieces exclusively for you and your castanets.
It’s true. He came to see me and told me that the had composed to pieces. It was nice.
How many pars of castanets do you own?
Today I use about 10 pairs, but I have around 60. But, they demand much care. Even a minimal fissure requires their retirement. Therefore no one can touch them, including aiport security personel, who are surprised at my case with castanets and that they can’t touch them.
Are you thinking about one day hanging up your castanets?
As long as my fingers can play, I won’t give them up. At the moment I gave up dancing, the only thing that remained was my playing.
Is there anobody carrying on this legacy?
There is no school that teaches the castanets as a solo instrument, and that is a real shame.
How did you passion for the castanets start?
I started dancing and playing when I was four. It all started with a disease. When I was a child I accidentally ate some bad cheese, and contracted the Maltese Fever, and to cure me the doctor recommended much exercise. In my time gyms like today didn’t exist, and therefore I dedicated my self to dancing where it all began. My teacher, with whom I started was Emilia Díez, and later on I was lucky enough to work with Carmen Amaya, in my opinion the best dancer of all times.
How did you come in contact with Amaya?
With ‘my Carmen’, as I call her, I spent more than three years. I came to work with her by accident. I went to ask her if she would give me classes but she told me no, but I could help her out at her rehearsals and I learned a lot by that. When her sister and prima ballerina in a show became ill, she asked me if I would replace her, and naturally I said yes."
