It would be wrong to say that Ojos de Brujo has a history of subversion. Simply because there is no such thing as a ‘history of subversion’ – by subverting a genre that is historically subversive, you only overthrow what has previously overthrown, something that has been constantly in flux. So argue the group when seeking to slay nay-saying purists who accuse them of polluting flamenco.
Marina Abad, her hair oblique and iridescent as coal, flowing over a gypsy diadem, justifies – “I would say that flamenco is the least pure type of music in existence. It is the rich genre it is today because it has assimilated, with no prejudice, every influence it could.”
Disciples of flamenco jondo had better take heed; for Ojos de Brujo are the genre’s most global export – they’ve spliced together parts of rap, rumba, buleria and the f-word to create music that has won them Grammys, BBC World Music awards, and the attention and collaboration of fellow border communities like Asian Dub Foundation and Nitin Sawhney.
There is something about this kind of contraryness in music that lends itself to keen social critique; Asian Dub Foundation is full of it, and so, in its four album history is Ojos de Brujo. Rhymes about famine and poverty have given way to fresh laments in their latest album, Aocana, at the polarities existing between ‘people killing themselves in favellas’ and those who prefer ‘implants and yoga’.
This stance is particularly pertinent when looking at the present crisis, says Marina: “In every song there’s a reference to the crisis that we’re suffering – not the economic crisis, but the crisis of values.
“I think the crisis in values involves how people treat each other, what our aspirations are. We live in highly consumerist society, and everyone complains about the economic crisis while ignoring the real crisis.”
Barcelona, always indomitable, has bred these counter-culturalists, but look a bit deeper and cultural explanations reveal themselves: “Ramon Gimenez, our guitarist, has gypsy blood. He was taught Calo, gypsy dialect, by his grandmother. He comes from La Trini [Trinitat Vella, a notoriously deprived quarter of Barcelona, and exponent of flamenco].
All four Ojos de Brujo albums are named in Calo, – Aocana means ‘Now’.
The album was written in its own time, taking advantage of Marina’s pregnancy to slow down from on-the-road rush jobs and produce what Marina describes as “Our freshest, most subtle album – even fresher than our first. The compositions grew up naturally, not in a forced or excessively thought-out way – it’s more emotional and less intellectual.”
It seems that snipes from the flamenco snobs have festered; Marina is particularly vocal on this point; adding: “I think it’s great that there are people looking after flamenco’s traditional form and protecting it from change. I love listening to flamenco jondo [the serious form of flamenco, often representing the people’s oppression] at home.
“However it’s not the type of music that I use to express myself – my expression comes from a different place. Flamenco has to avoid becoming stagnated. And people who interpret it have to evolve with time, and express current themes, which are radically different from three centuries ago. Flamenco’s main period of evolution has been in the last century.
“When I go to a traditional flamenco concert and I hear a granddad singing about his loneliness, its very moving. That doesn’t mean it can’t evolve in a different way. We live in cities; we interact with people from all kinds of countries so logically the music will change.
“In Seville, where people are much closer to flamenco, we get a really good reception. People there have had flamenco since they were born. Early forms of flamenco were the cante, [the other form of flamenco other that jondo] which involved largely trivial, simplified forms of expression – so they shouldn’t take themselves so seriously.”
Ojos de Brujo’s detractors would do well to mug up on their music history: jazz, the root of modern music, has enough mixed blood to make the most ill-begotten bastard look like blue-blooded. Flamenco, Hip Hop, Rumba Catalan, Solea, the more the merrier. Thoroughbreds have brittle bones.
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