Tori Sparks

Nearly 10 years ago, an American singer-songwriter played a concert in a small club in Barcelona while touring in Europe. She didn’t speak Spanish or Catalan; she didn’t know anyone here. She had been told that Barcelona was a beautiful city, that there was a “huge church that’s never been finished,” and not much else.

Fast-forward to 2018, and Tori Sparks has become a household name in Barcelona and beyond. She has released two — soon to be three — flamenco fusion albums in collaboration with local musicians, has a house in the residential neighborhood of Horta and has a cat from the Raval known as "Bad Kitty." She speaks fluent Spanish and is a fixture on the local and national rock scene. Sparks is here to stay. 

On September 14th, Tori Sparks and her musical collaborators Calamento and El Rubio will present a special show at local concert hall Luz de Gas. They will record the show live and release a selection of songs on a limited-edition vinyl record called Wait No More. The album will come out on April 20th, 2019, in honor of next year’s Record Store Day, and will include songs from their albums El Mar (2014) and La Huerta (2017), plus some new compositions. This will be Sparks’ seventh album, the third that she has recorded in collaboration with El Rubio and the musicians from flamenco fusion trio Calamento (Javi Garcia, percussion; Ramon Vague, bass; and Pepe Camacho, Spanish guitar).

Who is Tori Sparks and how does a Nashville-based singer-songwriter end up in Barcelona?

Seven years ago, Tori was touring non-stop in the United States and parts of Canada. She was self-managed, averaging 200 or more concerts per year and had released four albums on her own small record label, Glass Mountain Records. Sparks was also a sought-after public speaker at universities and music conferences on the topics of women in the music industry and the DIY (“do-it-yourself”) business model.

“I learned so much in Nashville,” Sparks says. “I had the opportunity to work with some of the best musicians and engineers in the world. Living there is like taking a 24/7 master class in music and in the music business.” Her second, third and fourth albums were co-produced and engineered by David Henry — who has worked with R.E.M., The Cowboy Junkies, Widespread Panic and more — and her musicians included, among others, multi-instrumentalist Fats Kaplin, who later went on to tour with Jack White.

“Things were good in Nashville, I had a life and a career there, but it was more ‘career’ than ‘life.’ I didn’t have many ties because I was touring constantly. I’m not sure if I got burned out from simply overdoing it, or if after a while everyone just needs a personal and professional change,” she says.

Sparks turned her eye towards Europe. After a few successful tours, she decided to try living overseas in order to seek out new experiences and tour the European continent more extensively. In 2011, Tori packed up her laptop, some clothes, and two guitars, and boarded a British Airways flight to Barcelona.

"'Why Barcelona?’ I get that a lot,” Sparks laughs. “It might have made more sense to have chosen London or Berlin where there is more infrastructure when it comes to the [music] industry. I can’t explain it, I just felt like this was where I should be. In hindsight it was one of the most important decisions I’ve ever made, personally and professionally, because the end result was this musical collaboration that has taken me in so many new directions. On a personal level, there’s also a sense of community here that I never found in Nashville.”

Sparks and Calamento ran into each other at a benefit concert for the local food bank. What started out as a just-for-fun side project between a rock/blues singer and an instrumental trio turned into their first record together, El Mar, in 2014. The addition of electric guitar player El Rubio to the recording session transformed the band into a quintet. The bilingual project was an unexpected international success that was hailed as "adventurous, pushing the envelope" (Rolling Stone), "defies comparisons” (Rockdelux) and “pure art” (Los Conciertos de Radio3, RTVE2). The band went on to tour in Portugal, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria and beyond.

Tori thinks that the album was well received both locally and internationally because the band went into it with no expectations, which made the music sound organic and fresh. “There was no plan to sound more or less flamenco, more or less commercial, or more rock, et cetera. We liked how the music sounded and didn’t force it into a box. I think the audience can tell that we are having fun, so they have fun.”

Two years later, Tori Sparks + Calamento returned to the studio to record their second studio album, and Tori’s sixth record, La Huerta, which combines original songs with unexpected versions of Led Zeppelin and Camarón de la Isla. On this album, the electric guitar played a bigger role, slowly pushing the band further into rock territory, but without losing the flamenco fusion base. “The idea was to risk more on this record, not to make a repeat of the last one,” Sparks says.

The music magazine Popular1 named Tori Sparks one of the female artists of the year in 2017, and she was asked to appear on late night television show LateMotiv with Andreu Buenafuentes, but professional success doesn’t necessarily translate into integrating into the local community. Tori has worked hard to build her life here. Learning the language(s) has enabled her to collaborate with local musicians such as Luz Verde, A Contra Blues, Dani Neŀlo and Alma de Boquerón, to interact with her audience and to form close friendships with people who have become more like family.

Another element that has endeared Sparks to the local community is her habit of giving back through music. She rarely says no to a benefit concert or volunteer project and is a strong proponent of social justice and music education. Tori is known for being politically and socially active and is one of the most visible faces in the Spanish/Catalan movement for freedom of speech called No Callarem.

When asked about her activism, Sparks replies that she’s never been a political artist. “Helping raise money for the Ronald McDonald House or for refugees isn’t political,” she says. “It’s having the humanity to use your electrically-amplified voice to call attention to a cause that needs it. It makes me happy to help in the way that I’m able. A movement such as No Callarem could be seen as more ‘political’ because it would require government support to change the way that certain laws are applied, but the right to freedom of speech in a democratic society is so fundamental and important that I couldn’t help but get involved. If that makes me seem controversial or political, so be it.”

Tori Sparks and Calamento’s upcoming concert at Luz de Gas will not only be a live album recording, but will also support the causes she cares about. Families and volunteers at the Ronald McDonald House are invited to come to the show for free, and a portion of the proceeds will go to support No Callarem.

As to why record a live record, especially in today’s digital musical environment where fans seem to prefer easily digestible singles, Sparks replies: “This musical project is, at its core, a live band. The interaction with the audience is as important as the music in our live shows. It’s almost impossible to capture the crazy energy of a concert in the closed environment of a studio; we wanted this third album to reflect that.” Anyone who has ever seen Tori Sparks play knows what she means. At the end of the show, she usually ends up drenched in sweat, high heels off, exhorting the audience from in the middle of the room with no microphone, with the crowd singing and screaming along to the band’s driving rhythm. 

Invited guest artists will include singer Alba Bioque, recently tapped to tour with Cirque de Soleil, and other special guests to be announced in the days preceding the event.

“We might have belly dancers,” Sparks confesses with a devious smile. “We might. You’ll have to come to the show to find out!” Stage clothes for the concert will be created by local designer Thembe Fashions.

Tickets for the concert are available at Ticketea.com, on ToriSparks.com or the Luz de Gas website.