Rocio Marquez and Bronquio, the bold and emotional alliance of flamenco and electronic music

Between tradition and modernity, Rocio Marquez and Bronquio present an unprecedented alliance. – SANDY KORZEKWA

On the eve of their concert in Paloma, as part of the Nîmes Flamenco Festival, Rocio Marquez and Bronquio welcome us in all simplicity to discuss their common project, Tercer cielo, the fruit of a collaboration where the tradition of flamenco comes ignite the modernity of electronic music. 

What do Nîmes and the festival mean to you as an artist ?

Rocio Marquez: Nîmes is an event. Over the years, the festival has helped me develop and evolve as an artist within flamenco. You are lucky to have a festival with a director like Chema Blanco, who has chosen to welcome traditional forms, but also more experimental forms of flamenco like Tercer&nbsp ;cielo.

Santiago Gonzalo, known as Bronquio: It's the first time I've come to Nîmes, but for me, it's the European gateway to the world of flamenco. All the greats of flamenco have passed through here. 

What does flamenco mean to you ?

It's a tool with which I show what I am. Very connected with my memories, my family, my roots. The first memories I have of myself are of singing. Everything is natural. Just like the evolution in projects, because it meets my own needs for new things.

"Our meeting allowed two worlds to coexist simply, through play"

So you arrive with a new project in Nîmes, Tercer cielo. How do you define it ?

Rocio Marquez: Bronquio is an electronic music producer, artist. The meeting we had allowed two universes to coexist, in a very simple way, through play. It was essential to play, outside of time, not to rush into creation to avoid copy and paste them and create something new. When electronic music forced my voice to go somewhere I didn't feel comfortable, it was a good thing because it forced me to look for new directions to create music. new artistic expression. For Tercer cielo, I also collaborated with Roberto Martinez, for the costumes and scenography, and Antonio Ruz, for the choreography. It was very important because there is a new stage design for me, with a very corporeal form where I dance and I inhabit the space, a white triangle.

Santiago Gonzalo, known as Bronquio: it's a way of revisiting the "palos" (musical forms)  flamenco, with the sensitivity that Rocio and I carry, and with the modern tools that are computers. It's a minimalist show, which opens up the space, on this blank page, for a lot of things to happen. 

"Electronic music corrupts the traditional logic of flamenco"

Is this encounter between flamenco and electronic music also a way of showing that ancestral flamenco can cross the ages and anchor itself in the modern world ?

Rocio Marquez: Yes, I believe it. There is a very strong corporality in electronic music or flamenco, which can give moments of trance. We can find points of comparison between dancers at a rave or the verdiales of Malaga, a popular festival where all day long, there is very fast music playing and sharing with the family. It was the starting point between these two worlds to compose the album.

Santiago Gonzalo, known as Bronquio: Electronic music is not a style, but a tool. Flamenco has its codes, a very particular, very concrete rhythm. The connection for me was translating this rhythm with the computer. Electronic music allows you to expand the rhythmic possibilities of flamenco. To corrupt the traditional logic of flamenco, in a good and a bad way. This is interference.

Bronquio, how would you describe your meeting with Rocio ?

It happened during the pandemic, in 2020. We had a lot of free time, no concerts. This really allowed us to bring our two worlds closer together. This allowed me to understand flamenco which, until then, neither attracted me nor interested me much. 

"This shows that the universal language of music"

After all this, do you think that flamenco will enrich your artistic sensitivity ?

Yes! For me, flamenco gave a new direction in my creativity. It was a very powerful, very touching meeting. I realize today in my work that I use rhythms, structures that come from flamenco and that I allow myself to use for others projects. It was a real chance for a new rhythm, a new energy, spiritual too. It also shows that music has a universal language which does not have a red line that must not be crossed. &nbsp ;

Flamenco dancers, musicians and singers often seem inhabited by their art. You, what is inside you Rocio ?

Rocio Marquez: I feel like a channel. Art flows through me and comes out through song. Flamenco, for me, comes from within, it’s very introspective. I put what I am into it.

Singing for you is therefore a need, almost selfish therefore ?

Rocio Marquez: Yes. Singing comes from within. If I don't believe in it, it doesn't work. You sing first for yourself because if you are too attentive to what is going on around you, you get lost.

"Flamenco is about celebrating, sharing. But also sadness, mourning" 

What do you think about before you go on stage ?

Rocio Marquez: I remember the importance of having fun, of enjoying the present moment. In dancing, in singing, it is essential to be in the present moment. It's very curious, because when I'm really in this presence, the performance passes extremely quickly. 

What would you say to those who think flamenco is not for them ?

Rocio Marquez: To listen to him without pretension of wanting to understand, but just to let himself be carried away by the emotions.

 What emotions does flamenco provoke for you ?

Rocio Marquez: All! Flamenco is celebration, joy, sharing. But it is also tearing oneself apart from the inside, sadness, mourning for absent beings. There is a whole range of emotions. It seems honest to me to show all these facets, which go from shadow to light.  

Saturday January 13, at 8 p.m. in Paloma (250, chemin de l'Aérodrome), as part of the Nîmes Flamenco festival. From 9 to 21 €. 04 66 36 65 00. Thanks to Roberto Martinez for the translation.

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