Paco Peña

Speaker 20:00

Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. For rights reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen ninety nine, and the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:30

Mike Costaway this week is a guitarist. He made his debut in London at the age of twenty two. That was in the sixties when the guitar was hugely popular and it launched a career that's been going strong ever since. But the music he plays comes from far away, from Spain, and an ambition and passion born of poverty and hope. It's Flamenco, and he's been called its Saviour because he's taken it back from the flashy and the shallow and restored it to its rightful place, where, as he says, it expresses deep feelings of happiness, love, sadness, hardship, and the struggle for life. He is Paco Peña. It's interesting, Paco, that even if you don't speak a word of Spanish and I don't, you can still tell somehow when you hear Flamenco sung that it's coming from deep in the bowels of emotion somewhere.

Paco Peña1:19

It's true. I almost feel that it it comes from the center of the earth. It's a people singing their history, their memory. Uh and there's been a lot of struggle in Andalusia, in southern Spain, um throughout many centuries of mismanagement, wars, discrimination against races, against uh you know, uh all kinds of things happening and that reflects uh in in the expression of the people that have been at the receiving end.

Presenter1:47

So you don't necessarily have to have a beautiful voice to sing it, because that that kind of suffering comes through sometimes. You hear it the voice is often very rasping and cracked, pretty rough, actually.

Paco Peña1:57

It is actually, yes. And a and as you suggest, the quality of flamenco is not necessarily the voice, it's it's really h what you what you do with it and how you can touch people with it. It's it's almost like exposing your your your inner self uh through through the voice, but but the the voice itself is only the vehicle, it's not it's really not that important.

Presenter2:18

And then there's the dancing, which again is is is very noble, actually, isn't it? It it's this you can see the dancers moving around each other rather sensuously, never touching. There's a kind of dignity to it.

Paco Peña2:29

Yes, uh yes, a absolutely. Um

Paco Peña2:32

It is sensual and people uh sometimes confuse that with being sexual in in the kind of overt kind of way.

Paco Peña2:41

There's cost sensuality.

Paco Peña2:44

You tell me any folk tradition that doesn't have sensuality because there's always the endless story of man and woman seeking one another and so on, and that is reflected in the uh expression of people's folk law, and flamenco comes from that. So it is there, but in indeed it never actually does touch. It comes from a kind of um

Paco Peña3:05

I don't know the word in English, but it's a kind of uh modesty in the family, you know, protection of of the virginity of of and and uh sort of the the purity of people in the family, particularly women. So the dance suggests all kinds of things, but actually never realizes them.

Presenter3:19

And this was the music, the voices, the dancing that surrounded you as a child?

Paco Peña3:25

Yes, very much so. I I come from poor stock, and in Andalusia, in Cordoba, where I I was growing up, where I was born,

Paco Peña3:34

A lot of houses were shared by many families there, many young people and so on. So

Paco Peña3:40

you you find that that uh they are expressing they are music. It's it's what is around uh you all the time. And that is that was my initiation, if you like, in the in the flamenco well, in the musical well. It was just the popular songs of the time.

Presenter3:56

Tell me about your first record.

Paco Peña3:58

Indeed, it's it's uh a very important flamenco record for me. It's it's by Camarón de la Isla. Uh he only died very young at forty one or forty-two, I think it was, a few years ago. But he revolutionized uh flamenco, which has been a very serious tradition for many years, but he kept the purity and yet put it forward a great deal. And uh this is called Potro de Rabbia Emiel, uh which is a colt, a horse of rage and honey.

Speaker 34:32

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

Speaker 34:38

Oh no.

Speaker 34:48

I'm not sure if I can do it.

Presenter4:59

Camaron de la Isla, singing Potro de Rabia y Miel. It's sort of rage and honey tearing out of the soul, bursting out of the soul.

Paco Peña5:07

That's right. He he was a a very, very emotional singer, a a genius in fact. Also, I should say he he is accompanied there by the greatest guitarist in Flamenco, also responsible for the development dramatic development of Flamenco, that is Paco de Lucia.

Presenter5:23

I thought that would

Paco Peña5:23

It was you who was responsible for that.

Presenter5:26

Tell me some more about your background, because you said that your father was a typical flamenco, and I think that's quite a pejorative thing to say.

Paco Peña5:32

Yeah.

Presenter5:32

Bit of a waster, huh?

Paco Peña5:34

Yes, he was actually. We were nine children, but he didn't seem to take much notice of o or or or care of us. It was really my mother that did all that. He w he started lots of businesses, but he never continued with them.

Paco Peña5:47

Actually he succeeded in a lot of them, but never continued with i with the success, so we were we continued to be poor all the time.

Presenter5:54

And how did your mother fend for you then?

Paco Peña5:56

She had a a a vegetable stall in the market and poor thing she she used to get up at four or five in the morning every day to, you know, to bring the the food.

Presenter6:03

Are you not

Presenter6:05

But sometimes you went to bed hungry, I take it.

Paco Peña6:08

Uh yes, sometimes it w times were difficult, uh sometimes. Uh but anyway

Paco Peña6:14

It it w it was a lovely it was a very happy situation. You can imagine. We were two boys and and seven girls. I mean the the the house was uh it was always happy, you know, young people.

Presenter6:24

Where were you in the nine and

Paco Peña6:26

The second last.

Presenter6:27

Ah. But then you had this huge other family, as you say, you shared the house with with, I think, nine or ten other families in you.

Paco Peña6:32

Yeah, we were ten families in the house.

Presenter6:34

So all human life took place on the on the communal patio.

Paco Peña6:38

That's right. If you if if somebody had a baptism or a wedding or whatever, there was a fiesta, there was a party there, and and uh it wasn't only for the family that was having the celebration, it was for everybody. Everybody contributed bits of food or music or whatever.

Presenter6:55

The music, therefore, was central on these high days, holidays, feast days. At what point did you think?

Presenter7:01

I really care about this.

Paco Peña7:04

I I was not very forward going. I was never an extrovert sort of child. I was more in into myself and uh my brother had a guitar, he was older than me and and he played with friends and that. There was a guitar in the house, so I tinkled the guitar and and uh I immediately felt that it it

Paco Peña7:24

it it was a kind of help for me to express, to to say things. I remember one specific uh occasion when I was only a kid and and I saw another boy, an older boy than me, walking along my street, passing my door in Cordoba, and he was playing a particular falcette, a particular um melody of of soleares in Flabenco, which I still remember and is the most beautiful thing I had heard

Paco Peña7:49

in my life then. And that actually turned me and and I I decided at that point I must learn that. And I still remember to this day. And it's the first thing I teach my students.

Presenter8:01

Tell me about record number two.

Paco Peña8:03

Number two is is a complete change. When I was at school

Paco Peña8:08

It was a a Catholic school with priests and and we used to assist mass and church almost every day, every other day actually. And I remember the the musical atmosphere there.

Paco Peña8:20

particularly in in spring when you could see the patio outside and the smells and the music there was very inspiring. I used to dream a lot with that. So early Spanish church music is what I would choose.

Presenter9:16

Part of the Kyrie from Thomas Louis de Vittoria's Missa U Magnum Mysterium, performed by the choir of Westminster Cathedral, directed by David Hill. So, Pecco Pena, you were earning money as a young boy, travelling around Spain, doing what you wanted to do. Did you send the money home to mum to help?

Paco Peña9:31

Well, I didn't earn much money, it was just bids. Of course, any any little money was really very welcome.

Presenter9:40

And she was very proud of you, I'm sure.

Paco Peña9:41

Oh, yes, but

Paco Peña9:43

She didn't really like that I was, you know, sort of going out and and she w she took good care who I went with and that sort of thing. She was very concerned that that I would be all right. So the you know, the the cr criterion wasn't that I earned money, but that I was o all right. So but I mean if eventually if I came back with twenty five pesettas

Speaker 29:54

Yeah.

Paco Peña10:05

That w that would be welcome because he might buy, you know, a a loaf of bread.

Presenter10:11

So spool on a few years and you were really becoming quite professional and you came to this country, you'd have been about twenty-two years old, early sixties.

Presenter10:20

Uh you were playing in an ensemble in a company, but something, it seems, happened in the audience when you played. I mean, sparing your blushes, it did, didn't it?

Paco Peña10:28

I mean it's

Paco Peña10:30

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. The thing is that mm mm the the first love of any flamenco guitar is is not to play solo, but but to to fit in with those who sing and dance and to accompany and it it's not to be solo. So what happened there was that I was doing just that, I was accompanying, but they gave me a solo spot.

Paco Peña10:51

and the response of the audience was tremendous.

Paco Peña10:54

So I was amazed uh that that that could exist, because in Spain that that wasn't done, you know, there weren't any concerts of of flamenco guitarists ever.

Presenter11:05

It's not such a flashy business as we've been led to believe.

Paco Peña11:07

Well it was certainly at that time it wasn't. So to me it was a tremendous surprise to find that that interest.

Presenter11:08

Let me what is it?

Presenter11:14

But it said you know that that audience was almost silent as you finished, and then there was a kind of audible sigh as if you it sounds as if you you know, you touched them where they hadn't been touched before.

Paco Peña11:26

Well i th th the thing is I felt really I f I I was uh my perception of of my whole life in a sense was transformed, you know. It was a great response and and I take my hat off to to the audience i i in that respect because they taught me a great big lesson.

Presenter11:42

But how how do you explain the fact that you touch these sort of cold Northern Europeans wrapped up in their coats, you know, they didn't then know about the sort of sunshine in Malaga and Torremolina, Santa Cia. How come you touch them, I wonder?

Paco Peña11:56

Well, I don't think they're cold actually. Um I think they're actually quite sensitive. And also it would be people who

Paco Peña12:04

who were used to going to concerts and experiencing um music of all kinds. Uh perhaps not so much the case in my surroundings in Spain.

Presenter12:15

And do we remain your your best audience, or are there audiences in the rest of Europe now that that that compare or or?

Paco Peña12:22

No, I I think the th the response of Flamenco is is um almost universally is is good around Europe, certainly, and and m and other parts of the world, you know.

Presenter12:33

But ironically I think you're least well known in Spain.

Paco Peña12:36

Absolutely, be because I've been really you see, th that point that you mentioned about um discovering the audience and the audience the audience's response in London was very significant for me because eventually I decided to become a soloist.

Paco Peña12:52

And for that I came to London, you see. So I focused my launching my career really was focused w w was centered in London. And from London I've gone all over the place, uh but not so much to Spain. It was never that way in Spain, so I started outside, you see.

Presenter13:10

Next record, number three.

Paco Peña13:13

I'm I'm sort of being very sentimental w with all my choosings, but uh the thing is that when I was a teenager I started to get f seriously interested in music and uh I enrolled a magazine which um provided uh a record, a small record, every week or every month, whatever it was. The the funny thing is that it came when it came to Beethoven, it said and you're going to experience the anguish and the loneliness of of Beethoven's heart. And the Moonlight Sonata was playing at that point when they spoke, and it really hit me.

Presenter14:50

Alfred Brendel playing part of Beethoven's Sonata No. 14, The Moonlight Sonata.

Presenter14:55

So Flamenco is the voice of oppressed peoples, the people of the southern tip of Spain, Pacapena, Arabs, Greeks, Jews, French, and the crucial element, the gypsies.

Paco Peña15:07

Yes.

Presenter15:08

And the guitar was a late addition, I understand. It was the voice first, wasn't it?

Paco Peña15:12

Yes, but uh I I take that a little bit um lightly. I I don't say that very strongly because the guitar has always been the the national instrument I mean, always meaning i it is the national instrument of Spain and has been around the people for centuries. So when when a musical manifestation like flamenco would appear it

Paco Peña15:32

it it it is not a million miles from the guitar. You know, it would be there with it. What is important is that flamenco is fundamentally, essentially, a form of singing.

Paco Peña15:44

And in a working situation or in a lonely situation, in in the country or whatever, it comes out of the soul, out of the people, so it is unaccompanied in that sense.

Presenter15:55

But it's very local, therefore, isn't it? I mean, you know, you can compare it to jazz and the blues and say it's improvised in exactly the same way. But then, you know, that was across whole vast areas. This this is very local to Andalusia.

Paco Peña16:08

Yes, it is, uh localized. It's only actually a small portion of Andalusia. Andalusia is quite big. But really Andalusia, La Baja, the low Andalusia, which is by by the Atlantic Ocean and is mainly

Presenter16:13

Yeah.

Paco Peña16:20

Cadiz and Sevilla, two provinces. Uh that really is the core of the creation of of the eruption of of this form of music.

Presenter16:28

Not the Costa del Sol round the corner.

Presenter16:32

We say it's improvised, but it also has very strict rules, doesn't it? There's a very strict rhythm.

Paco Peña16:37

Yes, yeah, absolutely. It rules. It rules the the whole thing.

Presenter16:42

Can you describe it, Hammy?

Paco Peña16:43

This is complete.

Paco Peña16:45

Um it can be. I mean fl flamenco rhythms are not l like ordinary like other rhythms in in Western music. Uh for example the twelve beat, which um is like four bars or three, four uh rhythm, but they ha they have accidentals uh accidental accents in in beats number three, six, eight, ten and twelve within the twelve beats. So if you have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, and three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine

Paco Peña17:25

And you you improvise, you know, from that pattern, and all kinds of things can happen with that pattern.

Presenter17:32

And is that what duende is? Is that is

Paco Peña17:35

You could say that, but Dwende is is um

Paco Peña17:38

Yes, I mean wh wh when you dwend it really is is the the ultimate communication between the artist who is producing something very beautiful and an audience, somebody who receives that and perceives the beauty and the strength of that. So that is when something magical happens.

Presenter17:57

Next piece of music.

Paco Peña17:58

Well, perhaps Dwende can be can be found in in this piece, because Monero de Falla is a wonderful composer who is a classical composer, of course, but actually was inspired very strongly by the flamenco elements that that are unique and and very emotional. Uh so he in a way he enlarged the spectrum, the the panoramic view of flamenco with his orchestrations. So I'm going to choose um Fallia La Vida Brebe, sung by a wonderful lady who I once happened to work with, Victoria de Los Angeles.

Presenter19:34

Victoria de Los Angeles singing Ayesta Riendo from Manuel Da Fala's opera La Vida Breva. I said in the beginning, Paccopena, that you'd been called the saviour of Flamenco.

Presenter19:47

Can we just flesh that out? What does it really mean? You've you you formed your own company and and I think you put on your version of Flamenco, which, as I understand it, is a rather quieter business than that cliched, heel clicking, climactic test of stamina, really. That's the difference, isn't it?

Paco Peña20:02

Well, yes, I mean, I love flamenco. I'm very deeply committed to my music, to my culture, my tradition. The point is that a long time ago actually, I saw companies that were

Paco Peña20:16

sort of being popular and and trying their best to to bring flamenco out, but actually making it more superficial, m making it easier and sort of finding gimmicks and things. And and after I had a little bit of recognition as a soloist, then I decided that I was going to establish a company, or at least I decided to try and establish a company that would have the proper ingredients of my music and and and take it seriously.

Presenter20:45

So you started, I think, one show with a just a lone voice or a slow

Paco Peña20:48

That's right, exactly.

Presenter20:49

Exactly.

Paco Peña20:50

That's right. I started with the with this voice that you commented on before, you know, this rough flamenco voice alone on the stage. And, you know, it was actually brave, I thought, because at that time it wasn't done, you know, it wa and just with the hand clapping and the lone flamenco voice, it was uh uh a a strange situation, but it was really very, very well received.

Presenter21:15

But what happens in a company when as we say, every show is different because it is an improvised business. Surely sometimes the soloists go on for too long. You know, the dancer begins to click his heels and never stops. What do you do with them when they do that?

Paco Peña21:26

It never stops.

Paco Peña21:30

You can only do it the next day. I mean, uh y y you can't do anything at that time because you you have to give them freedom to express. Sometimes if they feel good, they they go on a little too long. The the point is that that is excellent if only that is what is happening that evening. But you know, th they've got to realize that they are part of a show and something else will be upset by i if they go on too long. So there is some discipline they have to follow.

Presenter21:56

But it is all true ensemble playing because you you yourself take a back seat in all of this, don't you? You come forward sometimes, but you're just there. There's no great climax when you, Paccopena, walk on the stage to tumultuous applause.

Paco Peña22:03

You can't pull it.

Paco Peña22:11

No, no, I I hate it. Uh you know, I don't hate it, but I'm I'm a bit um overwhelmed by that. You know, I'm not a star in that sense. I I

Paco Peña22:21

I love my music. You know, I I if I sit and play a concert on my own, then then I'm there s you know, saying everything I have to say musically. If I am part of a company, then, you know, I don't need to go forward. I don't know, it's probably my problem.

Presenter22:37

Record number

Paco Peña22:37

Uh Five.

Paco Peña22:39

Right, so I have a great friend um who's happens to be the best guitarist around, John Williams. Um uh he's we've been friends for many, many years and he plays Bach beautifully. He plays all kinds, everything b beautifully. Um he produced this wonderful production of Bach Lute Suites, which is a masterpiece I think, uh, which is something I couldn't do without.

Presenter24:01

John Williams, playing um part of the Gavot from Bach's Lute Suite, number four. John Williams, who's a very good friend of yours. You've said before now that you've learned a lot from him.

Paco Peña24:10

Absolutely, yes.

Presenter24:11

How? What?

Paco Peña24:12

Well, you know, I I never had any proper music schooling, you know, uh um nobody taught me really. I I you know, I j just struggled along like most flamenco guitarists. Uh but then when you begin to see the the the world that is in front of you, you know, just on the guitar, then of course you you start taking a proper interest. And knowing John, who who is really such a master on the instrument, taught me, you know, ha a lot about rounding up ideas, uh about tone production. There's a lot of discipline in the classical tradition which is lacking in in the in the flamenco tradition, and I think

Speaker 224:50

That

Paco Peña24:51

The more you learn about that, obviously the the the wiser you become about what you do yourself. And I anyway, I learnt a lot from it.

Presenter25:00

And you've performed emergency surgery on his nails.

Paco Peña25:04

Once or twice.

Presenter25:05

And your own with glue. Can you explain this to me?

Paco Peña25:09

Well the thing is that

Paco Peña25:10

Classical guitarists don't really use glue, but flamenco guitarist all g flamenco practically use glue on their nails because you h you hammer the guitar really very strongly and and the nails would break if

Presenter25:22

Super glue this is then, this is strong stuff.

Paco Peña25:24

Strong stuff. Strong stuff. I use even stronger than that.

Paco Peña25:28

I I use aldite, which is an epoxy thing to f to to stick uh, you know, methyls and things. Even if it breaks, y y you can actually repair it with this these.

Presenter25:33

Beth falls in.

Presenter25:38

Because that that nail on your right thumb is huge, isn't it? Very thick.

Paco Peña25:43

Very sick.

Presenter25:45

Is that gum, or is that you?

Paco Peña25:48

Well no, it it's it's it's glue on top.

Presenter25:50

And you filed it to a point.

Paco Peña25:52

That how

Presenter25:52

Uh

Paco Peña25:53

The

Presenter25:53

Uh It's like a plectrum.

Paco Peña25:53

Like a spectrum.

Presenter25:54

Yeah, I see. Oh, I see you've worn the other bit away.

Paco Peña25:55

This you don't need really. It's it's just th this wears.

Presenter25:59

But if that breaks off, what do you do? I mean, it happens to all of us.

Paco Peña26:02

I've considered suicide, but I you know, I rejected it as a matter of fact.

Presenter26:06

But you pick up the piece and glue it back on. I mean

Paco Peña26:08

Absolutely, yes, yes. Sometimes it happens in a concert and it's it's really a serious matter.

Presenter26:13

More music.

Paco Peña26:14

My next record is Rag Two, Ragman Inoff, Piano Concerto Number Two, and it is by

Paco Peña26:21

compatriot of mine, Rafaelo Roscoe, who sadly died a few years ago. But he he died young. He was a brilliant pianist from Cordoba and he really was good at playing Ramaninov.

Presenter27:32

Rafael Orosco with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Edo DeWard playing part of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto, Number two.

Presenter27:40

Paccopenia, as you know only too well, Tony Blair took your guitar to his desert island as a luxury. Until that moment nobody knew you were friends. Um but you've known each other for years, haven't you?

Paco Peña27:51

Yeah.

Presenter27:51

How did you meet, can I ask?

Paco Peña27:54

Through the Lord Chancellor, in fact. I mean, you you know they are very close and uh I also, you know, w was friends with the Lord Chancellor wi with Derry Irving and and his wife, Alison, through incidentally through another pupil, uh an another barrister in the chambers, Adrian Lynch, a friend of mine.

Presenter28:12

And then you discovered that that Tony Blair was interested in the guitar.

Presenter28:16

Are you giving him lessons, formally or informally?

Paco Peña28:18

No, no, not not at all, no. No, it's just mixing uh people who do one thing or another, you you d end up sort of talking about those things. And of course Tony is is interested in music and I play the guitar, he plays the guitar, so sometimes we we play the guitar. But there is no formality about lessons or anything.

Presenter28:37

He told me that he was a very poor player, I quote. What do you think?

Paco Peña28:40

Bye.

Paco Peña28:43

No, I think he's

Paco Peña28:45

And

Paco Peña28:46

Well, he uh s I I suppose he hasn't got sufficient time to work at it and and to be a sparkling player. But what he has actually is uh an uncanny determination to get to to learn something and he w and he does, he does. Whether he has sufficient time to practise or not, th then uh not, but presumably not. So the answer, to be a guitarist really, you have to practice. So

Paco Peña29:11

He should go to the island and and

Paco Peña29:14

If he does, then he I'm sure he would get to be a good one.

Presenter29:14

Let's say you wanted to do it.

Presenter29:18

Number 7.

Paco Peña29:19

Uh

Presenter29:19

Yeah.

Paco Peña29:20

This is a wonderful singer called Mercedes Sosa from Argentina singing a song by a great composer Ariel Ramirez. They're both people whom I know. And this particular samba that Mercedes Sosa sings is really beautiful. It refers to a a poet, Lady Alfonsina, who sadly I mean it's a sad story. She committed suicide by walking into the sea. And these the the words actually are uh to do with her life in the sea. It's a lovely poem and a lovely music.

Speaker 329:55

Por la blanda na que la melma.

Speaker 330:01

Supe queña vien no vove mar.

Speaker 330:08

Uncendero solo le silencio vego hastailagua profuna Uncendero solo de pe nas muda vell.

Presenter30:26

Mercedes Sosa, singing Alphonsina Ilmar, the Woman and the Sea, by Ariel Ramirez, who was also accompanying her, I think, on the piano there. Um how much time, Paco, do you spend now in your native Goldoba?

Paco Peña30:40

Well, um, perhaps not as much as I would like, but but sufficient really. I I th I I never have you know, the the the feeling that I'm missing Cordoba. I I go maybe five or six times a year. Um But can you conjure up

Presenter30:53

But can you conjure up for yourself a kind of smell and a sense of it even as you sit here?

Paco Peña30:58

Yes. I live by by a street called Calle de la Feria, which which has got, you know, these sour oranges. They they plant a lot of these in in the streets and they have azar, you know, the the the flower from the oranges. It's it's really inundates the the streets. And in summer there is um jasmine and dama de noche, which is um the the name of night. It's it's a flower that only opens at night and it gives it beautiful smell. Those things are you know, I'm I I suppose I'm a romantic, but um they're very present in in my memory and I love it.

Presenter31:33

And now you're a professor of flamenco in Holland, in Rotterdam. How often do you go and lecture on it?

Paco Peña31:38

Um, every month, uh I'm I'm supposed to go every month, if so if I can, I go uh one day every month.

Presenter31:45

Did your mother live to know you became a professor of flamencia?

Paco Peña31:49

No, certainly certainly not. Uh but she saw she saw some things and

Paco Peña31:54

She was very proud of the way things were going.

Presenter31:57

And I get the impression that a desert island might even quite suit you anyway. You don't strike me as being someone who's necessarily phased by what life throws at you.

Paco Peña32:06

No.

Presenter32:07

Uh

Paco Peña32:08

No, I I've I've I suppose uh I've been through a number of things.

Paco Peña32:13

But I'm quite self-sufficient in a way, you know. I d I don't um I don't crave for for many things, you know, I I'm quite

Paco Peña32:22

uh happy working and uh and doing things on my own. Of course I like company, I like people, but I'm not forward going to others, so I I wouldn't

Paco Peña32:33

need um a lot if I went to an island.

Presenter32:36

Last record.

Paco Peña32:38

The last record is is uh again is something that probably everybody loves. It's Mozart. I I'm going to choose his Requiem because it's such a monumental piece. Uh it's a little bit tragic as well, but I I suppose um

Paco Peña32:53

I'm not unhappy about that. I I think

Paco Peña32:56

Even music which is dark and and has got um that kind of feeling is happy as well, you know, because the making of music is the realization of those ideas uh to me is is is a happy event.

Presenter34:09

Part of the Kyrie from Mozart's Requiem performed by the Vienna State Opera Chorus and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra conducted by Karl Berm. Now, Paccopenho, if you could only take one of those records, which one would you take?

Paco Peña34:21

Hmm.

Paco Peña34:22

Well, I think I would have to take the flamenco by Camarón de la Isla and Pago de Lucia. I think it's uh

Paco Peña34:29

is central to my life and and I would be very happy with that.

Presenter34:33

And your book?

Paco Peña34:35

Ooh, wow. Uh I think I'm I'm going to take I will take uh an anthology of poetry which I have uh the thousand best uh poems of of the Spanish language. Um so I'll have plenty to to read there.

Presenter34:51

And your luxury.

Paco Peña34:53

Hm. What do you think about uh the possibility of taking one of these um virtual reality modules or something? I've heard about these things that you jump in and and you experience all kinds of

Paco Peña35:06

of things.

Presenter35:07

But you don't really go anywhere. No, exactly. And you can step into somewhere else but remain sitting seated on the beach. Pacopena, thank you very much indeed for letting us hear your desert island discs.

Paco Peña35:09

Oh, exactly.

Paco Peña35:18

Well, thank you for having me.

Speaker 235:28

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.