Ochr 1: Aron Elias Ochr 1

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-It really is fate.

-I wasn't looking for a cave.

-I've been here for...

-..I don't know, a year.

-Isn't that right, Apollo.

-Aron Elias from Porthmadog is known

-for being the lead singer...

-..of one of Wales' most influential

-hip-hop bands, Pep Le Pew.

-For almost two years, Aron has been

-living in Granada in southern Spain.

-Granada is known for

-its Arabian palace, the Alhambra...

-..and is home

-to the flamenco tradition.

-Welcome to Ochr 1 with Aron Elias.

-One Dalmatian.

-The cat has been meowing for days.

-It's been eating the same as me.

-I asked for some cat food

-but they gave me dog food.

-Anyway, cats will eat anything.

-I'm worried for the cat.

-A year ago, in another cave,

-I had been doing a gig.

-I played every Sunday.

-I was the house guitarist.

-I found a cat's body

-without its head.

-A dog had bitten it off.

-It wasn't a nice sight.

-I'm worried for my cat

-so I'm teaching it how to fight.

-I scrap with the cat

-to toughen it up.

-A Boy Named Sue.

-Like Johnny Cash's song.

-The father called his son Sue.

-Sue becomes hard as nails.

-He finds his father

-and says, "Hi, my name is Sue".

-"Hello, how are you?"

-They have a big fight.

-You know the song.

-He explains it in the end

-by saying...

-.."Son, listen, this life is tough.

-"You have to be tough

-in this world...

-"..and I have to tell you that

-was the hardest slap I've ever had.

-"If I hadn't named you Sue, you

-wouldn't be half the man you are."

-Or something like that.

-In a cat context, obviously.

-Sacromonte Caves near Granada

-A lot of people come here

-to look for a cave.

-I didn't come here

-looking for a cave.

-A cave? Why on earth

-would I want to live in a cave?

-It just happened one Christmas...

-..after I had been refused

-an Arts Council grant.

-I don't give a shit.

-I had no money.

-It's not my cave. I'm not a caveman!

-That's where I live at the moment.

-These sandals cost 2 euros

-and are good for nothing.

-There's a hell of a mess here.

-Pep Le Pew were Aron Elias, Dyl Mei,

-Ed Holden and Dave Thomas.

-What was the highlight?

-Pep Le Pew, well...

-..I was spoilt.

-We pissed everybody off.

-We were like

-the new kids on the block.

-We were an ordinary group of lads.

-I've found Pep Le Pew here.

-They're eager to carry on drinking

-and socialising.

-I'm going to be quick.

-How are you, Aron?

-How are you, Aron?

-

-Not bad.

-Are you enjoying Miri Madog?

-Are you enjoying Miri Madog?

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-Yes, I'm keeping it level.

-I'm not going overboard.

-We're pissed off

-our names aren't on the T-shirts.

-We're underground.

-It's cooler to be underrated.

-I was in my first band at 14.

-It was heavy metal.

-We played in Nant Gwynant

-at a friend's party in a cowshed.

-There was a rave after.

-The drummer had great rhythm.

-Osian, Dyl Mei's brother,

-was on the bass. He couldn't play.

-He'd drank too much

-and he was on the floor.

-The drummer was on amphetamines.

-He was just playing on his own.

-I was just playing on my own too.

-It was hopeless.

-That was the first band.

-After the rock phase,

-I shaved my hair.

-Then it was techno.

-But I still really felt that

-I wanted to continue with music.

-What I like is, I'm a bass junky.

-So I learned bass.

-I hitchhiked with a guy

-called John to Glastonbury.

-I saw Roni Size and Reprazent

-with the double bass.

-They mixed electronic elements with

-a drummer, double bass, a rapper...

-..a girl singing and synths

-with Roni Size on the decks.

-I thought when I was 17,

-"That's what I want to do."

-I want to do that.

-I was a bassist and a guitarist

-and a frontman.

-We had a drummer, Dave.

-I had the idea of asking Dyl.

-Dave said, "Ask Dyl?

-Bloody hell, yes, of course!"

-Then, "Dyl, fancy doing...

-"Like Roni. You can be Roni Size."

-"You can be Roni Size."

-And then, you know,

-there were three of us.

-I liked Busta Rhymes.

-"Wah, do wah!"

-Or ODB.

-Yes, I liked them.

-Everybody thought I was nuts.

-Well, I am!

-We started Pep Le Pew and then it

-was like its own little machine.

-It was like an animal or a dragon

-with a life of its own.

-I lost my... I'm a rebel.

-"You're a Welsh hip-hop band."

-No, we're not.

-I don't like to be labelled.

-We live in a world of labels.

-You're this, you're this.

-I lost heart.

-I got lost in the...

-I was the frontman, the face.

-The frontman has to be confident.

-A master of ceremony.

-If not, if you're meek and say...

-.."Alright?

-I'm going to play a song"...

-..a thousand people

-would tear you to shreds.

-Boof!

-What fucked me up

-was I got lost in the character.

-I was Aron Pep Le Pew.

-Ra-da-da-da-da!

-That wasn't really me.

-I'm quite quiet really.

-I'm acting like me now

-in front of the camera.

-I had a nervous breakdown

-when it finished.

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-It's really messy.

-Hey!

-HE SPEAKS SPANISH

-I was telling the dog

-that I'd got him some food...

-..but that he doesn't know

-what 'dog' means.

-It's really messy here!

-I'm just going to feed the cat.

-Mess.

-That'll do for the cat.

-Fucking yuck!

-Yuck!

-What the fuck is this?

-Fucking eat that, you noisy thing.

-A bloke, a gypsy, told me...

-..there are many rules.

-These caves

-are for penniless people.

-Compared to some people...

-There are people who have no money.

-Nothing at all.

-Sometimes, because of work I've done

-in the past, or something...

-..I sometimes have about 50.

-Sometimes.

-But there's the very poor too.

-They have nothing.

-It's a choice.

-I could choose to try and get a flat

-and a proper job.

-But I like it.

-I appreciate things more.

-I do exercises.

-I don't watch too much...

-I don't watch TV.

-There's no electricity.

-I have a cooker. It's disgusting.

-It hasn't been here for long.

-It's disgusting.

-I don't want my family to see it.

-It's cool here in the summer...

-..and it's warmer

-than the houses in winter.

-It's underground.

-But there's a colony of insects

-here.

-That's a good practice

-for doing meditation.

-Practising guitar - trying to play

-a song, I don't know...

-..a classical song

-such as by Agustin Barrios...

-..with about seven insects

-attacking you.

-Trying to carry on playing

-without doing this.

-It tests your patience.

-I hope there are no cameras here...

-..because I'm like this!

-One evening,

-I was waving a stick about.

-Doing all this.

-There's a power...

-..something magnetic here.

-There must be because people

-from all cultures have come here.

-We're close

-but we all have our quirks.

-It's like a community.

-We're all from different places.

-One love.

-Hey!

-He's self-sufficient.

-He's grown all this.

-Plants, vegetables.

-Sergio is the real thing.

-He's what I'm aiming to be.

-He's created this.

-A lot of people

-have been coming here.

-Lots of artists.

-Lots of poets.

-Everyone here can play guitar.

-Ibrahim.

-One evening, around a year

-and a half to two years ago...

-..we met while having a jam

-with the lads.

-He had this instrument.

-It looked like a kora.

-I heard it and thought, "Wow!"

-Jimi Hendrix blues

-in minor pentatonic!

-It looks like a fruit

-crossed with a harp.

-From Mali. The blues.

-It's the blues I fell in love with

-first, musically.

-My brother

-gave me a Muddy Waters tape.

-Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter.

-Howling Wolf.

-I idolized these African-Americans.

-Then I came here

-and met a guy from Mali, Africa...

-..playing the blues,

-but the original blues.

-I love listening

-to different languages.

-Hearing the sound.

-Even though I don't understand

-what he's saying...

-..I do.

-You do. You can feel it.

-I didn't understand what the song

-was about until he smiled.

-I learned a lot from him too.

-They celebrate life.

-The gitanos too with flamenco.

-Celebrating life. Vamos!

-Ibrahim with Malian music.

-Come on!

-I felt I'd had a shot of adrenalin!

-Boof!

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-HE SPEAKS SPANISH

-She's a lifesaver.

-She's made me coffee.

-She's like the mother figure here.

-You don't fall out with her.

-She makes tea.

-The mint plants

-grow wild around here.

-You pick it and break it up.

-Granada is a very cultural city.

-People come here to study

-from all over the world.

-People like me

-without financial support...

-..so we come here to study.

-I go to the library, Centro de

-Documentacion Musical de Andalucia.

-This is like my office

-when I'm learning a song.

-It's the hub...

-..for all the scores

-of Andalucia's traditional music.

-Centro de Documentacion Musical

-de Andalucia.

-Let's go in.

-They've been great.

-They've given me a card despite

-my not having a formal address.

-I was very lucky to get a card...

-..because you normally need to give

-a phone number and a house number.

-I have neither.

-It's great. The banks

-have no idea where to find me.

-They are so good to me.

-I don't have electricity

-in the cave so I come here.

-I'm charging things up.

-If I need a score...

-..by Chopin or Angel Barrios...

-..I get to borrow it here.

-I learn slowly

-by listening here in the mornings.

-I try to memorize it by

-listening to it over and over again.

-Then I go back and read it

-and try to remember it in my mind.

-Putting my OCD to good use.

-Making my obsession a positive.

-I learn better by listening

-than by reading a score.

-I'm a little illiterate musically.

-It's a lot of work.

-I've been learning

-Clair de Lune for five years.

-I still haven't cracked it.

-I tried to play it

-on Radio Cymru. Embarrassing.

-This is chromatic.

-It's on bass.

-I'm trying to work it out for

-a guitar. It should be possible.

-It's a lot of work.

-There's this film called The Pianist

-or Piano Player about a man...

-..having a nervous breakdown

-after learning a Tchaikovsky piece!

-It's a true story about this

-character that learns a huge piece.

-He has a breakdown after

-performing it and getting applauded.

-He had a fit

-and ended up in hospital.

-It looks a bit like Bethesda.

-Snowdonia.

-What's great...

-..is one minute you're in a city...

-..and the next minute

-the nearest thing to silence.

-There is no silence.

-I can hear a flute.

-Where's the best place?

-I've always been interested.

-I did karate when I was a kid.

-I've researched meditation.

-Zen from Japan.

-Tai chi from China.

-People think it's hippy-dippy.

-Every atom of the body

-requires oxygen.

-There's a scientific way

-of explaining meditation.

-It's about moving in time

-with your breathing.

-Meditation

-is about clearing the mind.

-Look at these clouds.

-The clouds are like your worries.

-"Facebook.

-What will I eat tomorrow?"

-"I've got a bill to pay,

-blah, blah."

-"I'm in love."

-"Everything's a shambles."

-Just let all those things pass

-like a cloud in the sky.

-That's the aim with meditation.

-I've always had

-a wall of thoughts in my mind.

-When I had a nervous breakdown...

-..I was following it,

-not letting it pass.

-"My life is crap

-and I've fucked it up."

-I followed that cloud...

-..and all I thought about

-that day...

-..stayed in the same tone or chord.

-That's me explaining

-the bad thoughts in music terms.

-That's my way of explaining it.

-I'm good at speaking about it

-but not at countering it.

-I've been interested in mindfulness

-and mental health...

-..all my life.

-There was illness in my family

-and I had to learn about it.

-From my experience...

-..of seeing the effects of

-pharmaceutical drugs on people...

-..I've concluded they don't work...

-..they just brush

-the problems under a mat, or bed.

-The problems increase

-and there are after-effects.

-They make people worse.

-In my opinion,

-it shouldn't be seen as an illness.

-It's normal after losing a child

-or being in an accident...

-..to feel sad or depressed

-and be unable to concentrate.

-They call it psychosis because

-you focus so much on the problems.

-The trauma.

-It's not madness

-to have these feelings...

-..after something awful's happened.

-Tai chi or mindfulness.

-There's no right way.

-Meditation is the best way ahead.

-I was on Prozac at 18.

-Fuck! 18!

-Why?

-I was growing and it was normal

-for my hormones to be going mad...

-..with complex emotional events

-going on in my family.

-It was natural for me

-to be a bit fucked up.

-Excuse my language!

-I'm much better.

-I'm coping much better

-than even a year ago...

-..since learning how to meditate.

-Meditation just helps.

-But not without the spitting.

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-Hello?

-KNOCKS ON DOOR

-You've caught me in a crisis.

-I've got no sensible trousers.

-How are you?

-Despite not having a lot of clothes,

-I'm still vain.

-I still want to look, not good...

-..I just want to look...

-I've only got half a mirror here.

-I don't like my hair

-as it isn't the same colour.

-I haven't got any clothes.

-I haven't had a cup of tea yet.

-I just woke up

-and did bits and bobs.

-I sat over there

-and stared for a while.

-That was hours ago.

-Bandana or no bandana?

-I'm more worried about what I wear

-than clearing this bloody mess.

-I have to keep everything

-off the ground because of the mud.

-Clothes and everything.

-It's drier now than it was.

-It's getting hot, isn't it?

-Just think about cold water.

-Just things...

-If you can't get safe water.

-If it's too hot, the water's hot.

-It's great to wash in the day.

-You can wash in the day

-with warm water if it's hot.

-You can't have

-a glass of cold water, it's warm.

-He's one of my mates,

-one of my friends.

-He's my guitar mentor.

-He plays

-original gypsy flamenco guitar.

-I fell in love with flamenco,

-the style that Salvador plays.

-Sabicas.

-The masters of masters.

-Salvador is up there.

-He's influenced a lot of people.

-I'd always seen Salvador

-around on his own playing.

-I never went to speak to him

-because I respected him.

-He manages to fill the square

-by the cathedral...

-..with an incredible ambience.

-A musician sees another musician

-on the street and helps him out.

-A musician won't ask

-another one for money.

-There's respect

-because we're on the same team.

-We get hassled by the police...

-..we go to the same places

-to get papers and do the admin.

-Usually, you have to have a licence

-for dangerous things like cars.

-Cars travel at 70mph

-and can kill people.

-Guns, obviously.

-Guitars?

-What's the crack there?

-The sadness is a part

-of the musician's spirit.

-Salvador plays with passion.

-All I have to do is watch him and I

-learn something. I learn by hearing.

-Salvador is just great.

-Five wives, not at the same time.

-He's got children with all of them.

-He has children

-in Australia, China...

-I didn't ask

-about the other families.

-Maestro de maestros.

-The guy is amazing.

-It's pure flamenco.

-It's pure.

-The history of gypsies...

-..I've always been very interested

-in their culture and their freedom.

-I've got a romantic image of gypsies

-from my time living in Wales.

-They're nomadic, they travel,

-people settle in one place.

-That carries on

-one generation after another.

-They're people.

-They're great characters.

-They're just natural.

-They've got the soul.

-They've got that special something.

-It's in their blood.

-Granada has been

-so, so kind with me.

-I'm lucky. Incredibly lucky.

-My brother Dylan

-said I was blessed and cursed.

-It's a part of the journey.

-Granada has turned me into

-more of a man.

-I think if my normal

-was accepted in Wales, I'd return.

-I am scared of people.

-I love Wales. I miss my family.

-There's a lot of pain.

-I'm running away from myself.

-The character

-that everyone sees on the outside.

-Yes, but this is why.

-It's a new beginning.

-It's a new beginning for me

-to be me...

-..not the character

-Aron Pep Le Pew...

-..or the character

-my parents wanted me to be...

-..or the character my friends

-wanted me to be, or the fool.

-This is where I've bettered myself.

-I was confused

-and trying to please everyone else.

-"What song would you like? OK."

-Musically,

-I always played for other people.

-Here, I play what I feel.

-Wales, I love you,

-but I want to be me now.

-S4C Subtitles by Testun Cyf.

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