Ojos de Brujo 'Techari' album

Ojos de Brujo is one of the most strikingly original bands of the new millennia. There is no one quite like them, not only because of their vibrant flamenco-inspired musicality, but also because of their radical contemporary edge, and strong collective spirit. They reflect their Spanish and gypsy roots, but are as far from traditional flamenco as it's possible to get. Their live shows have become stuff of legend, and their albums have garnered numerous critical and commercial plaudits. In short they are a revelation, a breath of fresh air in a congested and often uninspired contemporary roots scene.

Barcelona has been a natural melting pot of musical endeavour since the explosion of Rumba Catalana in the late 1950's, when Andalucian immigrants started to incorporate Cuban rhythms from the golden age of big orchestras. It’s therefore fitting that Ojos de Brujo's roots lie in one of Europe's most culturally diverse and exciting Mediterranean cities.

The band started as a series of regular jam sessions for some of the city's more open-minded young musicians. When percussionist Xavi Turull first came across the other band members they were still a loose anarchist musical collective. The elder statesman of the band Turull had been in respected flamenco fusion band Amalgama (means 'mixture of rhythms') but after the band split he moved back to Barcelona. His arrival didn't go unnoticed, and he was soon asked to join the jam sessions and help get a band started.

The pivotal figure of the band was/and always has been flamenco guitarist Ramón Giménez. A gypsy by birth, he had flirted with several bands and genres including hip hop and heavy metal, before joining forces with Xavi, striking dreadlocked singer Marina "la Canillas", keyboardist and scratch DJ Panko, drummer Sergio Ramos, percussionist/vocalist Maxwell Wright, flamenco guitarist Paco Lomeña, and bassist Javi Martin. Many musicians came and went in the early days, but this core team of eight stuck it out, their collective spirit cemented by cyclonic live shows and a willingness to stretch the boundaries.

Previously Marina had been experimenting with punk rock and flamenco, and performing in theatre. "Marina was experimenting on stage with a women-only group in Valencia, called Agüita Troup, (altered troop)" explains Xavi. "She was living in squats with a lot of very alternative people who were trying to do socially conscious things. She was probably the most political, socially concerned member of the band, and you can see that in her lyrics."

Each member has a story to tell, such as Sergio Ramos who was in an experimental group called De Cajon, and Panko, who had previously been in another flamenco fusion band. "When we started we'd play in small clubs around Catalonia, and on the streets if we had to," says Xavi. "We were doing it for virtually nothing. They were really tough times. Everybody was doing other things; playing in other bands, working in other jobs. At the beginning it wasn't possible to live from just playing in the band. You are either rich, or like us you do other jobs. Ramon was working in electronics, Marina was doing theatre, and Sergio was teaching music …"

Fusing flamenco with modern styles is a relatively modern concept. When Xavi started out in 1986-87 there were very few bands attempting the same feat. There were cross-fertilisations of Manu Chao style Latino with pop and rumba, but the flamenco movement began to really take shape in the nineties. "For us in Spain flamenco is one of the richest musical forms we have. Flamenco and Celtic music are our strongest folkloric roots in Spain. We have a lot of Celtic influenced musicians in the North West area, and there is a strong connection with Ireland and England because of that. But, as a band we look towards the South where flamenco was born."

The name Ojos de Brujo translates as Eyes of the Wizard. "We used this because we think that wizards, witches, and sorcerers are the people who have more of a conscience than the rest of the population. They are more aware of what is going on in this fucked up world. So we think that music and every other art form should be trying to help make the world become more conscious and aware. Also, Brujo is a word strongly connected to flamenco. Gypsies have always had their witches and wizards taking care of them."

The gypsy spirit runs though the core of the band, and Ramon is the spiritual guru in that department. "We don't like globalisation because it's trying to fuck up minority cultures," says Xavi. "We think every minority culture has something special to offer, and we shouldn't lose all this wisdom from different cultures all around the world. Gypsies are losing their languages because no one is doing anything to help preserve it. They've always been repressed. By using gypsy words which have been nearly erased from the current vocabulary, we intend to support Ramon in his project of not letting his culture fall apart."

An independent spirit has always been prevalent within the band. Even before the group had finalised its direction, Xavi and Marina wanted Ojos de Brujo to be a self-managed, self-financed affair. However they were outvoted and the first album Vengue was released on Spanish label Edel. "We did it with a very cheap budget, and it took a long time to be released," Xavi explains. "It was really through word-of-mouth that we got noticed, because one of our old band members was able to get us lots of concerts. So by the time the album was released we were able to fill a 1400 seat venue in Barcelona. It was completely packed with 500 people outside trying to get in. It was crazy. That's when we discovered that people really cared about what we did."

Ojos were creating a new style of music, and people reacted to it. They would work with DJ's scratching in flamenco rhythms, and on the flip side take flamenco into an urban arena. During their concerts they'd go from hip hop to jazz, to rock, ragga, funk, and all kinds of Latin, Oriental, and Hindi directions. "The parameters were so wide, and I think that was one of the secrets that made people really crazy about what we did," says Xavi.

"I remember at the beginning that Ramon and I were at the epicentre of the band," he explains. "When he played flamenco guitar we called him El Metralleta (machine gun). I was called the captain, because when no one else had anything left to give I'd raise the tempo again. Ramon and I would drive crazy rhythms all the time. We took everyone with us on stage."
The next album Bari only took five months to make, and was mixed in less than a month, but Xavi believes this was when the real sound of Ojos de Brujo came into fruition. "That is when the real trip started because we decided to stop being with a record company, and tried to be self-managed and self-financed as one big collective." It also became their most successful album to date, and won them legions of fans all over the world with infectious anthems such as Ventilator R-80, Tiempo de Soleá, and Ley de Gravedad.

The gypsy word Bari is difficult to translate but its meaning is easy to understand. "When everything feels perfect in life you have Bari." Soon after the Bari period (2002-2005) the band gave a new name to their record label, Diquela, which means: "to look" in Spanish romani. "It's a new period," says Xavi. "Diquela is where we are really trying to find a way to be free. That's why the new album's called Techari, because it means 'free' in the gypsy language."

Work on Techari started at the end of March 2005 and was completed at the end of October. In between the band did two international tours, which stop-started the recording process. "The tours took away a lot of concentration in-between, so it was a little crazy, but the result is amazing," says Xavi. "For me it's the first time that I've been really happy with an album I've made. I feel that we're getting there, to a point where the sound is the way that we want."

However, the creative process remained a little haphazard, as is the nature of a collective. "We don't ever really know what we're going to do," Xavi laughs. "Because we just want to play music we all come with fresh ideas, and it's down to all of us if we decide to use them or not. It makes the process really slow, but the end result so rich. It's the result of eight people putting all their feelings, knowledge, and wisdom together. The only downside is that being slow is also time consuming, and therefore expensive. When you're only creating you're not making a living out of it."

Special guests include Faada Freddy from Senegalese hip hop collective Daara J, Asian Dub Foundation's Prithpal Rajput, and Nitin Sawhney (who returned the favour after ODB collaborated on two tracks for his album 'Philtre'). Cuban pianist Roberto Carcassés also makes an appearance alongside respected flamenco guitarist Pepe Habichuela, and tres/flamenco guitarist Raúl Rodríguez (Son de la Frontera). Cuban drums are used in Bulerias, funk is layered onto Catalan Rumba, and Dhol drums add an Eastern flavour to the mix. However the band are at pains to point out that any collaborations are the result of new friendships, and not any cynical label or marketing strategy. For Ojos de Brujo the process is always organic and from the heart.

As with Bari, the new album is adorned with fantastical and striking images from numerous young artists. The art side of things seems to be equally as important to the band as the music, and this has always been the case. "We always like to have a good relationship with different kinds of art, especially graphics," Xavi points out. "When we do live shows we try to bring our graffiti friends on stage when we are playing. Having them do graffiti whilst we play is something that we did from the beginning, the same as the dancing. I hope this year that we can have dancers and graffiti artists wherever we go."

The Techari artwork features fourteen illustrators from around the world to represent the individual nature of the fourteen tracks. There will also be a special digibook edition of 60 pages, including three illustrations from each artist. "It's one of our biggest problems that we're always throwing money around. It's a sacrifice for art, because we want things to happen in the way that we imagine it. In the band no one is planning to get rich, sometimes ten people should travel, but we always go out with the whole troop."We're always bringing new people in, the latest being Carlos Sardy, a trumpet and fiscornio player from Cuba. We met him last year when we were recording in La Havana, and now he's moved to Spain and is playing regularly with us. It's always been like this. If you see only a few of us on stage it's because someone held us at gunpoint and told us that we had to do it!"

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Ojos de Brujo - Techari