And about this tour -which has sold out tickets in Spain and Mexico- Nia Pastori is preparing to bring her successes to the United States with four shows in New York, Washington, Miami and Orlando, between April and May. DIARIO LAS AMRICAS spoke with the performer via video call, hours before she arrived at her house, in Cádiz, her new Latin Grammy.
How do you prepare to meet your audience in Miami and Orlando again?
Looking forward to meeting again (with Florida) because I haven’t been there in a long time and I really want, to be honest, to return and take up a little bit of everything I left behind a few years ago… everyone looking forward to (being there).
We have a very good taste in our mouths now that we were in Mexico and we did a couple of shows and the truth is that they were super pretty. We have enjoyed a lot with the Mexican public because they have given us a lot of love and a lot of desire to continue.
What can you tell us about the repertoire you will offer?
It will be a very nice repertoire, a repertoire with the record of Camino which has given us a lot of satisfaction and we are very happy with how everything has gone. On the other hand, we will review my entire career as the greatest successes.
I think there will be a very nice repertoire, put together with a wonderful band of wonderful musicians, completely live music, which I think people are very grateful for in these times of live, organic music.
Will there be guest artists?
Well, you never know what might come up suddenly. In the end, collaborations and doing something (like this) can sometimes happen from one moment to the next.
There will probably be some surprises. As I tell you, you never know what we might find out there and agree with.
I hope something nice happens because many times beautiful things emerge in collaborations and they are moments that are created special in music when it comes to sharing.
What has this added? Camino in the artistic life of Nia Pastori?
It has been an album that began with many obstacles, because it (pre-production) began right in the pandemic when we began to prepare the repertoire, to compose and create a little bit of everything; Suddenly the COVID thing arose… we were out of focus for a few months because it was impossible to concentrate.
It is an album with which I also wanted to convey a lot of joy, which is something that I think characterizes me within the flamenco where we have always tried to provide rhythmic, happy songs; So, it was very difficult to express all that we were living with. We spent some time looking for ways. But then we resumed and in the end other things began to emerge, obviously, because of what we were experiencing. It has been an album that has given me a lot of satisfaction.
Here in Spain we have done many concerts and they have all worked very well. Today, precisely, I received the Latin Grammy physically at home and very happy because (the gala) was in Seville; It was something super nice and gratifying. It was a great honor to be able to have so many Latinos here, to be able to have so many people from the United States here in our house, so to speak, in Andaluca. The weather was super nice, honestly, because we have always experienced it in Las Vegas; At least for me, the times I have been nominated I have experienced it from that city and obviously it is a very great spectacle… so experiencing it here in Spain has been like another story. I, in addition, have Seville an hour from the port of my house. Knowing that I had all my people watching like my parents, my brothers, my friends, the people who love me, was very nice.
You comment that Camino I was born in a pandemic, how do you describe the experience of returning to the stage with this tour?
It was a total oxygenation because in the end it is our escape route on a psychological, personal level (due to the fact) of how you let off steam, express yourself. In the end it is the art that one makes and in my case through my voice, which is what I have.
It was nice to come back and sing. At first when I saw the people with the masks it was surreal, like a nightmare, but at the same time it was nice to come back… and well, I think that this issue is already forgotten because as Spaniards and Latinos we are people – I think, that for general – with a happy spirit, that we put things behind us and wipe the slate clean, what happened happened and what is past is past, as my grandmother used to say (laughs). Now we are in another situation: to live in the present and enjoy all the good things that await us, God willing.
The album received the Latin Grammy for Best Flamenco Music Album. What does this fifth gramophone represent in your career?
That I already want the sixth, that I already want more (laughs)… just kidding.
It is something very beautiful that in the end is the highest award we can aspire to in music. I feel super proud because of a type of music that is not for the masses, because flamenco is for minorities, and being recognized within this genre, which is so complicated and difficult, makes me doubly happy. So of course I want more, I want to fill the display case.
It’s already been 25 years of experience, five Latin Grammys, sold-out tours, what’s left to accomplish?
I think many things because the type of music that I make I think allows me to investigate and continue testing, making, mixing. Flamenco is a very broad music, although it is minority music, on a musical level it is very rich and can be fused with other styles, do many things. I think I have a lot left to investigate, to do, to test and to merge, God willing.
Behind the tourWhat is the next project?
We already have several things in mind, which – my team and I – are very excited and excited. I can’t comment on them yet, until they are done, but there are always new projects in mind. Above all, leaving Spain is on my mind.
Now that my daughters are older: my Pastora is 15 years old, my Mariquilla is 11, I already have practically two little girls, and I already feel more free in that sense (of motherhood) because the girls are older; so I feel like I can spend more time away from home… and I don’t know, I feel like I have that energy to open the field a little more.
The Florida public is…?
It is an audience that I am looking forward to and I hope it is a wonderful audience because I know that many people write to me privately who are looking forward to us going. They tell me: ‘Nia, I have the tickets to see you.’ The truth is that I am very excited to present myself.
I was in Miami a long time ago like in 2007, 2008, I did some shows in small places and I haven’t been back, so I’m practically going for the first time.
I have never been to New York; in Washington, neither; In Orlando, neither. We will also be in Puerto Rico… so it will practically be my first time.
Dates Camino in United States:
April 25th: Nueva York – The Town Hall.
April 26: Washington – Lincoln Theatre.
May 4th: Miami – James L. Knight Center.
May 5th: Orlando – Steinmetz Hall.
