{"id":5369,"date":"2026-10-11T01:12:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T23:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sinergiaskal.com\/?p=5369"},"modified":"2026-10-12T14:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T12:59:14","slug":"interview-with-el-kanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sinergiaskal.com\/en\/ocio-y-cultura\/entrevista-a-el-kanka\/","title":{"rendered":"El Kanka: M\u00e1laga, travel and the songs inspired by places"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are artists who talk about the places they visit, and others who manage to weave those places into their songs.<\/strong> Throughout El Kanka\u2019s career, M\u00e1laga, Andalusia, Madrid, Latin America and many years on the road have formed part of a personal landscape that blends with music, humour and a highly distinctive outlook on life.<\/p>\n

In 2026, he published Calm<\/em>, an album that celebrates precisely something hard to find in a profession characterised by touring, travelling and constant exposure. Ten tracks in which he once again blends different styles and influences, whilst encouraging us to pause, observe and live at a different pace.<\/p>\n

In this interview<\/strong> for Sinergia Sk\u00e5l,<\/strong> we want to talk less about promotion and more about experiences: about M\u00e1laga, about journeys that leave a lasting impression, about how a city is perceived when you arrive there as a musician, and about how culture can also help us to discover and understand a destination. interview<\/strong> also explores his relationship with travel, music and the places that ultimately become part of his creative process. At Sinergia Sk\u00e5l, we have also examined this relationship between culture and identity in Picasso and M\u00e1laga<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"*La
Official promotional image of Calm<\/em> \u00b7 El Kanka\u2019s official website<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Interview with El Kanka: M\u00e1laga, his roots<\/h2>\n

1. M\u00e1laga plays a major part in your identity and features time and again in the way you speak, the way you remember things and the way you compose. After so many years of travelling and living abroad, what does M\u00e1laga mean to you today when you return?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I think that, as for anyone, the place where you were born, grew up, experienced your first loves and heartbreaks, and so on, is always an anchor, a set of roots. I feel as though I\u2019m truly coming home, not just because of the number of people (family, friends and so on) who are still waiting for me when I go back \u2013 and there are plenty of them \u2013 but also because of the little piece of me that\u2019s still there.<\/p>\n

2. Your new album, Calm<\/em><\/a>, highlights precisely the need to slow down. To what extent does that quest relate to a professional life that has, for years, been characterised by roads, airports, hotels and concerts?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure it does, a great deal. Not in any explicit way \u2013 that is to say, I wasn\u2019t thinking about it whilst writing the song \u2013 but it\u2019s clear that it\u2019s a very unusual profession, where every day is different and it\u2019s generally difficult to establish a routine\u2026<\/p>\n

3. Travelling is an inevitable part of a musician\u2019s life. Is there anywhere you\u2019ve visited thanks to music that has, in some way, changed the way you write, think or see the world?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, you learn something everywhere\u2026 Perhaps especially in Latin America, because obviously, even though we understand each other perfectly as we speak the same language, we\u2019re very different peoples with very different histories, and there are far more differences when it comes to our outlook on life\u2026 But I\u2019ll also tell you that there are plenty of differences (and similarities) between a Galician and an Andalusian, hehehe.<\/p>\n

4. You\u2019ve travelled to many cities in Spain and Latin America. When you arrive somewhere new, are you the sort of person who tries to really get to know the place, or, after so many years on tour, do you find it difficult to break out of the hotel-soundcheck-concert routine?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, to be honest, I\u2019m not really the adventurous type\u2026 I like meeting people and I like going out for a meal, but I\u2019m not (if you know what I mean) the sort to go out of my way to see the pyramids\u2026 I\u2019m saying this as someone who recognises a shortcoming, but I suppose that, partly because of all the travelling I\u2019ve already done for my job, I don\u2019t feel like going any further than is strictly necessary\u2026 That said, if I manage to stay a few days longer (which isn\u2019t usually possible), I try to immerse myself a bit in the atmosphere of whichever city I\u2019m in.<\/p>\n

5. Music can shape the image of a region almost as much as its cuisine, architecture or landscapes. Do you think a city can also be understood through its songs and musicians?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, an entire identity is built through creative expression, and music is by far the most popular and widespread form of it.<\/p>\n

6. Your music blends rumba, flamenco, Latin American rhythms, boleros and many other influences. To what extent has travelling and experiencing other cultures helped to broaden your own musical language?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think quite a lot\u2026 And in fact, rather than just broadening it (which it has done), it has brought into sharper focus certain aspects that were already there\u2026 As for my, shall we say, Latin-influenced style (bolero, chacarera, etc.), I think I\u2019ve had it since I was a child, as my father was a great lover of Latin American song and folklore, but I\u2019m sure it has intensified as a result of my visits to the other continent.<\/p>\n

7. Andalusia is evident in the way you express yourself, without it becoming a clich\u00e9. How can you maintain your own identity whilst remaining open to everything that comes from outside?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, quite naturally, really\u2026 I\u2019ll always be who I am and I don\u2019t shy away from that; on the contrary, I\u2019m proud of my roots and I embrace them, but I wouldn\u2019t want to be a narrow-minded person who thinks that everything about me is the best, and everything else is worse\u2026 Naturally, I\u2019m curious about things that are different from me; that\u2019s what makes life rich, and it doesn\u2019t clash with what I\u2019ve brought with me from home.<\/p>\n

\"El
El Kanka live \u00b7 image from the artist\u2019s official website<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

8. Concerts, venues and festivals have also become a reason to travel. Do you think cities fully appreciate the value of live music for their cultural identity and also for their appeal as a destination?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It depends on how each city feels about it\u2026 If I were to talk about mine, for example, I\u2019d sadly have to say no, because not much has been done for live music, let alone for the local scene; I think it\u2019s still a work in progress\u2026 Although, in any case, it\u2019s a bit of a stretch to talk about the \u201ccities\u201d as a whole because, well, I\u2019m sure that in any city there are different views on the matter depending on the group of people you speak to.<\/p>\n

9. M\u00e1laga has changed enormously over the last few decades, and tourism has played a major part in that transformation. As someone from M\u00e1laga who returns to the city time and again, how do you view that change, and what would you like M\u00e1laga never to lose along the way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I\u2019d say it\u2019s already lost a great deal\u2026 Look, I don\u2019t know what the solution is, because we\u2019re also in a country that has built its economic model around tourism, for obvious reasons, but the truth is that I, for one, find it sad to see how cities (especially the city centre) are losing their identity\u2026 And it\u2019s even sadder, now that a much-needed debate on housing has begun, to see how thousands of people in M\u00e1laga are being overwhelmed by rising rents.<\/p>\n

10. After travelling so many kilometres and seeing so many different places, what have you learnt about the difference between visiting a place and feeling that you\u2019ve really been there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hmm, let\u2019s see\u2026 I suppose there\u2019s a grey area when it comes to this\u2026 It\u2019s not the same as going somewhere once for a gig \u2013 doing a soundcheck, playing the gig and coming back \u2013 as it is having been there 30 times (you get the picture), staying for two days, staying for a week, or actually living there\u2026 The more time you spend there and the more you get involved, the more you get to know the place and the more that place seeps into you too. I\u2019m a bit of a mix of many places now\u2026 Or, as Facundo Cabral sang, \u201cI\u2019m not from here, nor am I from there\u201d.<\/p>\n

11. If someone who doesn\u2019t know M\u00e1laga asked you to show them just one place to start getting to know your city, where would you take them and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hahaha, well\u2026 I love M\u00e1laga so much I wouldn\u2019t know which one to choose\u2026 As I\u2019ve told you, I\u2019m all about food and bars, so I\u2019d take them for some espeto at El Palo \u2013 it\u2019s still an area that\u2019s retained a lot of its character \u2013 or to the Ba\u00f1os del Carmen, the Casa del Guardia, the Casa del Perro\u2026 I\u2019d also take them up to Gibralfaro to show them the city from above.<\/p>\n

The interview<\/strong> thus offers a very personal perspective on M\u00e1laga, the changes it has undergone, and the way in which an artist comes to belong to many different places.<\/p>\n

12. And finally: if you had to start writing a song about M\u00e1laga today, what image, sound, smell or moment would kick off that first verse?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Surrealist City
\nThat I love and need so much
\nIt always tastes like country food to me
\nAnd it\u2019s the first one on my list
\nhahaha<\/p><\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An interview with El Kanka about M\u00e1laga, travelling, *La calma*, live music and the identity of a city that continues to feature in his songs.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111],"tags":[116,110,113,112],"class_list":["post-5369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ocio-y-cultura","tag-destacado-ocio-home","tag-home-la-mirada","tag-musica","tag-ocio-y-cultura"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sinergiaskal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sinergiaskal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sinergiaskal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinergiaskal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinergiaskal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5369"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sinergiaskal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5379,"href":"https:\/\/sinergiaskal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5369\/revisions\/5379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinergiaskal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sinergiaskal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinergiaskal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinergiaskal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}