India Martínez: “Today’s artists are healthier”

The ‘Palmeras’ tour began in October 2019 with a wide band format that when the pandemic arrived was reduced to a quintet. How is it presented at the Auditori del Fòrum?

When the pandemic started we reduced the format to piano, bass, percussion and two choristers. It was a way of adapting to the circumstances, but later on when we could recover the original format, the new one seemed so essential, with so much truth, that I already left it like that and it is the one that I will show in Barcelona. But the musical genre is the same, a flamenco pop, with a flamenco essence, which in contact with the public becomes something very powerful.

After ‘Palmeras’ he has published several ‘singles’, starting with the version of ‘La saeta’, by Serrat, which came out in full confinement. How did your stage retreat ad sit with you?

He is an eminence, someone eternal for us, like Sabina. Then that decision depends on how he feels. We will continue to enjoy him, whether he is up on stage or out. It is a very great reference. I hope to see him at a concert, and if he invited me to the stage it would be incredible. Recording ‘La saeta’ is something that was not prepared. It was born from the need of that moment to do it from home.

Then he released ‘Convénceme’, with Marc Anthony, and ‘Not enough’, with the group Dvicio. Is setting foot in urban Latinidad today mandatory?

I do not know if forced, that each one does what he feels. But you hear so much about it, that in the end it influences you. For me, it is one more investigation. Try things out, because I don’t want to get pigeonholed into a sound. I am my voice, and having that clear, it is good to open up to different sounds, but not because that is taken now, but because of research and enjoyment.

Is your center of gravity still around flamenco?

That always, of course. My references when I started were Camarón and Paco de Lucía, and later the more modern voices: Niña Pastori, Arcángel, Miguel Poveda … And Enrique Morente. There was a time when I deepened and looked back and began to listen to Niña de los Peines, Tomás Pavón, Manolo Caracol, Pepe Marchena … But from flamenco I can become more popera, or Latin, or even world music, or surprise singing in another language, such as Arabic. Ultimately, it’s about enjoying yourself.

A few years ago a duet was marked with the lamented Rachid Taha (‘Child without fear’, 2014).

We recorded a video and everything, in Algeciras. He was very enjoyable to work with, although he was a difficult, old-school man.

What do you mean?

Those artists who are bohemian, there is no one to move their ideas. There is also the smoking, drinking … I’m not there at all. I don’t think he takes that that long anymore, right? Today’s artists are healthier.

“I am my voice,” it said. Literally, as a singer, or as a creator and songwriter?

My voice when it comes to understanding music in general; my sound, my way of singing, feeling, saying things … Because most of the songs I sing are composed by me.

Another of the latest is ‘We stop breathing’, associated with the project ‘Songs for those who do not want to listen’, against environmental degradation.

A proposal from DKV. I had to make a song about air, oxygen, which was what I wanted the most. At that time we were looking at data on pollution in cities and what that caused in us. Something amazing, related to saving energy, renewable energy … In the song I tried to compare a toxic love and our relationship with nature and the air we breathe, which we sometimes treat badly. We do not realize that we are killing ourselves.

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After the tour, is it time to prepare the ‘Palmeras’ relay? Where are you heading in artistic terms?

It has been a very intense tour and I need to rest a little bit, but as I go along I have been preparing a new repertoire and I have it there, practically armed. It is possible that some more ‘single’ will come out before and, if they let us, we will do some concerts outside of Spain that we had planned, in Argentina, Chile or the United States. The album still doesn’t know what it will sound like, because I am an evolutionary wheel, but I go to what gives me the most emotions, especially what happens around it. As in other times, in the lyrics of popular songs, there were sayings about war and when people went hungry, I think that what we are experiencing now with the pandemic on a social level ends up influencing my songs. Because if not, he would not be telling the truth. In the face of the pandemic, my attitude is one of respect, but without fear, wanting to live and give myself to everything I do.