Article on Javier Mas from El Pais 2011

[HelenOE]

I found this on the website for the Spanish newspaper El Pais It's from January, 2011.

At the Side of 'Father' Cohen

Javier Mas, with his bandurria, has transformed the music of the Canadian poet, star of one of the most successful tours of 2009

One man, a thousand styles

RICARDO GRANDE / JAVIER HERAS Madrid 11 JAN 2010 - 12:30 CET

Filed in:
Musicians
people
society

This report is part of the special 'Behind the scenes' digital final project the students of the 23RD class of the School of Journalism UAM / El Pais 2009


Javier Mas picked up the phone and knew at once that this was no joke. And not because this versatile musician has been listening to his records all his life. Not even because he had spoken once with the veteran singer-songwriter. Mas picked up the phone and knew it was Leonard Cohen because there’s no one else with that voice. That night, in late 2007, Cohen said that, finally, yes, they were going on tour. It was nearly one in the morning. One moment in the conversation has remained with Javier (Zaragoza, 57 years), the man before whom the living legend kneels, and in good form, at every concert: "He said he needed me to help him play guitar again, when in fact there was no need for it.” Modesty, like Javier’s, who also asked a favor: "If it doesn’t work, if there is no chemistry, don’t worry. I will go home happy to have participated." After 17 months of touring and hundreds of performances (nine of them in Spain last summer), the fellow-feeling with the troubador of the deep and seductive voice seems evident.

He is a spontaneous man: he welcomes you at the door of his apartment in Barcelona in slippers and a beret. He alternates cigars with toothpicks, and sometimes wears glasses tilted on a "very Jewish" nose, which makes him physically akin to Leonard Cohen. Close up, it does not clash with that dandified air lent by the perfectly groomed mustache and sideburns. His contribution to the music of the Canadian poet fits in also: Mediterranean airs on the bandurria and archilaúd to clothe songs that are part of the life of Javier. "I knew them all: ‘So long Marianne’, ‘Sisters of Mercy’ ... I learned English with his albums".

Performing with his idol is a return to his origins, when he performed covers of his tunes and Dylan’s in bars with acoustic guitar and harmonica. "I'm self taught. Over the years, more and more I have been playing in my own style." The goal was always clear. "It's been difficult for me to say no to certain projects, you never know if you'll need the money ... but I did. The goal was to make a living from music" he says firmly. He began playing the bandurria at age nine. Within a few months he was giving concerts. Between the unimaginable dream of calling Cohen by his first name* and the gift of his grandfather ("A bandurria, the guitar was too big") he has gone through the blues, rock and Spanish folk music. He has toured Spain with the singer-songwriter Maria del Mar Bonet. He has finger-picked with Raimundo Amador until their fingers hurt. He has been naturally incorporating everything into his music, and a smile reveals that he is still enjoying the game, the melding, the improvisation. The same smile of complicity he now returns to Cohen whenever the Canadian kneels before him.

"He did it for the first time in Canada, in the first concert. I wanted to die. He gave me that mischievous look ... I told him not to do it again. But he liked it and he does it. It’s not a pose, but his way of giving me energy, I help him and he thanks me for it. A deference he does not show to the other musicians, although some have been with him over 15 years. Only him. Because Cohen has had to fight to have this Zaragozan at the front of the stage. The American musicians' union demanded that he demonstrate that there was no American able to take the place of Mas, as is the case with any foreigner. They were not even acquainted with the archilaúd.

The shepherd of the golden voice

Cohen and Mas have had to travel a long road before they could play together. It all started when the singer heard Acordes con Leonard Cohen, the homage paid to him in 2007 by a group of Spanish devotees (Santiago Auserón, Christina Rosenvinge, Luz Casal and, of course, Mas). It also involved Cohen’s son and his partner at the time, Anjani Thomas. "They told me that he was going to love it. I didn’t pay much attention. So many homages have been done to him…" he shrugs, still smoking. But they weren’t just talking for the sake of talking. "No one had put bandurria into Cohen's music." His arrangements, the Mas style, permeated the compositions with a new atmosphere. The Zaragozan, despite the applause of the public and international critics, downplays his contribution: "I am only doing ornaments. I am inspired by the work of the virtuoso John Bilezikjian, who accompanied him with the Arab lute in the eighties; what he did was more innovative.”

Cohen must not agree. At the first rehearsal, in Los Angeles, they began with “Dance Me to the End of Love” and Javier played the same arrangements-Mediterranean, almost Sirtaki-- he had composed for Luz Casal on the record. "In the end I approached him. I asked if I was bothering him." Cohen responded with a Zen master phrase: "Play what comes from your heart." Mas returned to his hotel with confirmation that the man applied the same philosophy to his life that he sprinkled across his lyrics and music. The same one that led him to retreat to a monastery for years and now return triumphantly. And with another certainty: the Cohen he had seen onstage was the same man who is now beside him, at his side. "Some people do not sing seriously in rehearsal. But he did, he was there. And he really sang," he emphasizes excitedly.

"Leonard is a man of well-rounded phrases" he explains. "Conversations with him are always interesting." He has never dared to correct him. Not even when he says "From Barselouna, Havier Mas". He already tried, without much success, to learn to pronounce "bandurria" and "archilaúd" with their “r’s”, their “ch’s” and their accents. He has never asked him either why he has on many occasions introduced him as "The sweet shepherd of the strings." The words are for the poet: "I do not want to put conditions on him. If I say 'ah, what you said tonight, that reached me,' it’s like forcing him to repeat it." The Canadian gives him the same freedom. He explained in a few words what his role was: "You have to make art while I sing." Mas responded by quickly beating the strings of his instruments, which support the singer's voice with their vibrant tremolo. The result is a “Lover, Lover, Lover” that sounds more flamenco than ever or an introduction of almost two minutes to “The Gypsy's Wife,” in which the star is the Spaniard with his hat pulled down. "I always improvise that introduction, even in the sound checks. I must have played a thousand different ones." One of his favorites live is “Bird On The Wire,” in which his participation is minimal: "I play less, more precisely. And I prepare things, write them in the hotel."

Always in first-class rooms. "This is like signing with Madrid or Barca [soccer teams]: private jet, posh hotels," he explains. He is more excited when talking about his projects. He has recorded with The Swell Season, the Oscar winner for Best Original Song for the film Once. He can’t conceal his excitement when he comments on what lies ahead in 2010 with Cohen. He hopes that the troubadour will risk playing more songs solo with his guitar. "Honestly, I think some songs sound better solo." And he says, as if in passing: "We are preparing new songs." He cannot give more details. As if he could not believe it, as when the man "with the gift of a golden voice" (as he boasts in “Tower of Song”) asked him to play with him, to help him with the guitar. There are concerts scheduled already. The tour starts this year in France. Javier Mas will shepherd his Mediterranean strings among the old themes of Cohen. Also among the new ones. Always what comes from the heart and not because he has all his albums, but because it is impossible to refuse a favor to that voice.

*From the Department of Things that Make Translators Laugh: I decided not to translate "nombre de pila" literally because I don't think Leonard Cohen has a "baptismal name." I'm a little surprised the editors of El Pais didn't catch that one.

[HelenOE]

This is the related article below the one I just posted:

One man, a thousand styles

Raimundo Amador made Javier Mas see the guitar with new eyes. "He was 16, I was 21. I was impressed by that rhythm… he’s the Spanish Jimi Hendrix." They lived together for years. "He's a brother; whenever he comes through Barcelona I invite him to come up on stage." Raimundo believes Cohen noticed Javier for his versatility: "He even plays blues with the bandurria! It’s in the music more by art than by technique." Joaquin Carbonell, who also played with Javier, goes further. "I see him as more comfortable with the blues, rock and roll... it’s his musical homeland." Tell that to the musicians’ union. Or to the great Albert Collins, who brought a young Javier onstage when he saw him play with his band Big Chief. Folk also had its importance for Mas. "Bob Dylan changed my life." The arrangements he prepared for the songs of Carbonell, who shared his tastes, were on those lines. The Aragonese composer advises: "I have predicted that he will perform with Dylan. And it's funny, because in the end it’s that Mediterranean touch he learned with Maria del Mar Bonet that is going to make him world famous, that's because Javier does not have prejudices. He doesn’t look down on any style. "

[Hartmut]

Awesome. Thanks, Helen!

[mnkyface]

Because Cohen has had to fight to have this Zaragozan at the front of the stage. The American musicians' union demanded that he demonstrate that there was no American able to take the place of Mas, as is the case with any foreigner.

Really??

He has never dared to correct him. Not even when he says "From Barselouna, Havier Mas".

What needs to be corrected? Is he mispronouncing one of those things?

Or does he mean the fact that he is actually from Zaragosa?

[HelenOE]

He has never dared to correct him. Not even when he says "From Barselouna, Havier Mas".

What needs to be corrected? Is he mispronouncing one of those things?

Or does he mean the fact that he is actually from Zaragosa?

I don't suppose it's incorrect to say that Javier Mas is from Barcelona when that's where he's actually living now; he's been to a lot of places since he was born in Zaragoza.

As to the pronunciation, yes, he's mispronouncing it a little, Anglicizing. According to the pronunciation used in Madrid and, well, Barcelona, the "c" in "Barcelona" would sound more like an unvoiced "th" (the "s" pronunciation is OK in Latin America) and the vowel should be a pure "o" and not slide into the "ou" diphthong. And the "J" in "Javier" should be a fricative, sounding a little bit like the "ch" in "Bach."

I'm a little surprised actually by the pronunciation of "Barcelona" since Leonard takes such pains to pronounce the "c" in Garcia Lorca´s name correctly.

Here endeth the linguistics lesson of the day.

[HelenOE]

Really??

It makes you wonder how he got away with a Moldovan violinist and two English vocalists, doesn't it? Or maybe they were able to join the union.

[mnkyface]

slide into the "ou" diphthong.

Maybe that's what was thrown onstage recently at the O2.

[HelenOE]

slide into the "ou" diphthong.

Maybe that's what was thrown onstage recently at the O2.

Big Blue Diphthong. Where's Joni Mitchell when you need her?