Amparo Sánchez: after the paranoia

Following her collaboration with Calexico on her solo debut, Tucson-Habana, the Spanish singer Amparo Sánchez is back with Alma de cantaora. Sánchez, once at the heart of Amparanoia, sounds more cheerful than on her debut. “I want to support women in their struggle for liberation via music,” she told us.

Amparanoia was one of the mainstays of Spain’s mestizo scene, along with the likes of Manu Chao, Ojos de Brujo, and Macaco. After her successful career with the Latino party group, Amparo Sánchez felt it was time for something different. “After twelve wonderful years I wanted to take an acoustic direction,” she says of her decision to go solo. “It is still fusion music, music without frontiers, with the Caribbean at its heart, especially Cuba. It is not as festive as Amparanoia: it is more intimate, more personal, and richer. I wanted to keep growing as a singer.”

Does the title refer to an opening of your soul?
Amparo Sánchez: It is a declaration of intent, an acknowledgement of how I feel. I sing with complete commitment; I put my whole soul at the service of the music. I feel myself to be a cantaora [flamenco singer - BT], because I feel the need to communicate through the song.

This album is more rhythmic and more cheerful than your debut.
Sánchez: I am in a different phase of my life and that is reflected in the music. At the instrumental level, the album is quite “naked” in order to give more force to the singing and the messages. After the collaboration with Calexico the plan was to do things on my own, but in the end it became an album full of collaborations.

But there is still one track with Joey Burns of Calexico.
Sánchez: Originally the plan was to work with Calexico again, but finally I decided to do something more acoustic. The song “Muchacho” dates from the recording sessions back in 2007. The same goes for “Free Day” with Howe Gelb [a singer-songwriter from Tucson - BT]. For the rest, all the songs are new.

Is the album about the awakening of women?
Sánchez: All my albums are about women’s consciousness. I feel the need to support women in their liberation. The collaboration with “Abuela Margarita” [a Mexican shaman - BT] gives that aim extra power, as does the collaboration with other women such as Ari Puello [a hip-hop singer - BT] and Bebe [a Spanish pop diva - BT]. If there is going to be a revolution, it will come from women. Women have been silenced for centuries, but man and woman were equals once: they went along life’s paths together. We have to get back to that. Feminism doesn’t mean trying to put the woman above the man, but returning to that equality. Woman is intellectually ready to take on her obligations, that is, to ensure that the things that are going wrong in the world are set to rights. We have that power, because the Earth and nature are feminine.

I read that you recorded the album at home.
Sánchez: Yes. I have a home studio there, where we rehearse and record demos. It is entirely made of wood and I wanted to use that acoustic for the record. And it feels completely different from a professional studio: I was at home, surrounded by my own things. It is a real home-made album, very personal.

Amparo Sánchez • 10/2, 19.30, €14/17, Botanique, Koningsstraat 236 rue Royale, Sint-Joost-ten-Node/Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, 02-218.37.32, info@botanique.be, www.botanique.be