Biography Enrique Morente

1 biography

1.1 beginnings
1.2 first recordings
1.3 alternating tradition
1.4 later works

biography
beginnings

enrique morente, born in traditional quarter of albaicín in granada, started sing seise (a member of group of children sing, dance , play castanets on religious festivals). started feel attracted flamenco singing child, , had opportunity learn @ family gatherings , listen established figures granada cobitos, family of habichuelas , or aurelio sellés (aurelio de cádiz):

cante begins inside when listen villager’s singing, people in birthplace. groups of people meet in tavern , start singing, , listen them , start singing well: learn @ family parties sings , drinks, , dances and... apart that, turns out that, of course, need technique, need school, need learn. in order achieve this, need... main can have liking it; , skill know learn from, , sources, find good. on.

however, appreciation popular side of flamenco not mean considers flamenco art of people . flamenco artist, him, needs technique , dedication:

us, professional artists of flamenco, have make cante flamenco, , nobody else, flamenco, other art, art of professionals, although there many people peer @ us, if say: interesting little creatures! or maybe: oh! music people playing! , on. , people think maybe have have fingers swollen picking potatoes able play guitar feeling. look, picking potatoes every bit worthy playing guitar. can tell man -with fine, sensitive fingers not going able make go of picking potatoes: , can tell man fingers swollen picking potatoes not going able play guitar because hasn t got manual dexterity , hasn t got dedication. profession other have dedicate completely. art of professionals.

still in teens, morente went live in madrid start professional career singer. there able meet old masters pepe de la matrona , bernardo el de los lobitos, , learned as them. pepe de la matrona took special interest in teaching young singer: interest raised not enrique morente’s intonation, registers or melismatic attitude towards things, respect , learning capacity. in madrid, started singing @ peñas flamencas (clubs flamenco fans). in 1964, signed contract ballet de marienma, whom performed @ spanish pavilion @ new york worlds fair , @ spanish embassy in washington dc. later took part in flamenco festival @ teatro de los alcázares de los reyes cristianos, sharing bill juan talega, fernanda , bernarda de utrera, gaspar de utrera, tomás torre , antonio mairena. during year , following one, toured europe , japan different flamenco dance companies, , employed @ several tablaos (flamenco venues) in madrid, such las cueva de nemesio, zambra , el café de chinitas.

first recordings

morente made first recording, cante flamenco in 1967 guitarist félix de utrera. recording received special mention award cátedra de flamencología, , followed cantes antiguos del flamenco (1969), guitarist niño ricardo. first recordings strictly orthodox , showed deep knowledge of traditional flamenco, rare quality singers of generation. during period made first contact guitarist manolo sanlúcar, whom cooperate on several occasions. sanlúcar accompanied him in concert in ateneo de madrid, first occasion in flamenco singer performed in prestigious cultural institution.

his next record, homenaje flamenco miguel hernández (flamenco homage miguel hernández, 1971), initiated frequent use of lyrics outstanding poets. later on, record flamenco songs lyrics federico garcía lorca, john of cross, lope de vega, al-mutamid, antonio machado , manuel machado, jorge guillén, , others.

thing calls attention in first productions how care devotes lyrics of cantes. first step in future career innovator in flamenco. poems miguel hernández, example, became immortal in impressive nana de la cebolla or el niño yuntero . attitude showed, in these poems, against francoist regime, became favourite flamenco singer left-wing opposition in country, 1 of first innovators.

in 1971 , 1972, toured mexico guitarist parrilla de jerez , dancer ana parrilla, tour included presentation @ auditorium of universidad de las américas, , performed @ lincoln center (to return perform @ again in 1973) , spanish institute in new york city. in 1972, awarded premio nacional del cante (national award flamenco singing) cátedra de flamencología in jerez.

alternating tradition

morente arrived orthodox flamenco singing recording homenaje don antonio chacón (homage antonio chacón, 1977), obtained national award best folk music album, granted ministry of culture. in recording, morente vindicated figure of singer antonio chacón, creator of granaína , fundamental figure of flamenco in first decades of 20th century, had been, nevertheless, relegated views of 1950s–1970s flamencology, representative of non-romani (gypsy) flamenco generation considered impure. however, in alternation between tradition , innovation typical of morente, recording followed, in 1978, despegando ( taking off ), time in innovative mood: title is, in fact, declaration of intentions.

in 1981 toured new show, andalucía hoy ( andalusia today ), later perform @ paris olympia in paris, france. in 1982, of recordings chosen flamencologist josé blas vega take part in flamenco anthology magna antología del cante (a complete collection of traditional styles of cante) illustrate songs such tarantas almería, several types of cartageneras, fandangos frasquito yerbabuena, , malagueñas , granaínas created antonio chacón.

in 1990 in comeback orthodoxy, recorded morente-sabicas, guitarist sabicas, in 70s. in following year, created , recorded flamenco mass, type of creation had precedents, 1 recorded antonio mairena, luis caballero, , naranjito de triana in 1968. morente s mass totally different previous examples. whereas earlier flamenco masses tried use traditional flamenco singing liturgy, morente s not have liturgic purpose, , mixes flamenco other genres gregorian chant. mass, in 1 of touches of humour, morente said:

@ given point, thought dedicate pope clement, 1 of el palmar de troya, remembered had canonized franco, primo de rivera, carrero blanco , guys and, while on 1 hand thought funnier, on other hand thought joke interpreted in strange way , didn t it, though it. record made sincerity , true intention, no matter results, , thought ruining bit because of joke.. , much!

later works

enrique morente in concert (barcelona, march 2009).

in 1995 appeared singing siguiriya in carlos saura s film flamenco , recorded controversial recording: omega, alternative rock group lagartija nick, participation of guitarists such tomatito, vicente amigo, juan manuel cañizares , miguel Ángel cortés , percussionists tino di geraldo. flamenco , punk rock mingled recreations of songs leonard cohen, , lyrics federico garcía lorca s book poeta en nueva york ( poet in new york ), traditional flamenco lyrics. work performed @ 2008 festival internacional de benicàssim, under stage name morente omega con lagartija nick (antonio arias, david fernandez, lorena enjuto , jesus requena).

the year 2001 saw publishing of sought record morente, enrique morente en la casa museo de garcía lorca de fuentevaqueros , collection of songs based on poetry of federico garcía lorca. recording had been made in studio in madrid, in 1990, , had been commissioned diputación de granada (a government institution). limited edition made , copies sent gifts particular persons. in second hand marked, copies reached 25,000 pesetas (150 euros).

another interesting release of morente, el pequeño reloj, saw light in 2003. whereas second half of cd more or less random collection of songs, first half of record comprises surprising series of songs broken in 2 parts: in first part of song, morente s voice superimposed on top of old 78 r.p.m recordings of old masters of flamenco guitar ramón montoya, sabicas or manolo de huelva, while second part modern development of same palo, side guitar of young , innovative guitarist niño josele.

although morente not read musical notation composed music theatre plays, films , television, such work las arrecogidas del beaterio de santa maría egipcíaca , music oedipus king josé luis gómez.

he has tried mixture between flamenco , classical music in works fantasía de cante jondo para voz y orquesta (cante jondo fantasy voice , orchestra, pianist antonio robledo, guitarists juan habichuela , gerardo núñez , madrid symphony orchestra, conducted luis izquierdo, 1986) or allegro soleá, presented @ seville s flamenco biennal in 1990. along lines of mixture of flamenco other types of music, collaborated in show macama jonda josé heredia maya, tetuan andalusian orchestra , abdessadeq cheqara, or bulgarian voices choir angelite. in morente s aforementioned recording omega, mixed flamenco singing punk rock, music leonard cohen, , lyrics federico garcía lorca. in show África-cuba-cai mixed flamenco music senegal, , cuba (cai way cádiz pronounced in andalusian spanish). show underlines historic links between cuban , flamenco music: s been close flamenco, since way back, because ships in cádiz went cuba, came , others stayed on there, ve had that. difficult think of kind of music has not interested morente. after 1 of concerts cheqara orkesta of tetuan, declared: …if had put out cd every culture mixed d putting out 7 or 8 cds year. wouldn t bad – if got paid record company build myself home.

owing innovative approach, morente criticized more extreme traditionalist sectors of flamenco s critical faculty , public, though had been said needless say, cost morente real torment, since flamenco still closed world, in slightest attempt novelty taken deadly sin of heresy. . although morente s work recognized critics, , has inspired many singers of young generation mayte martín or arcángel, there still section of traditionalist critics , public still disparage work:

aficionados scratching heads after show, trying figure out exactly, forms—if any—morente working in of time. remember old days when recognize flamenco forms being performed?

ethnic bias not alien these criticisms. number of flamenco critics , public introduced flamenco @ time of reappraisal period led singers antonio mairena , critics gonzález climent or ricardo molina, in views, pure flamenco singing patrimony of romanis, non-romanis try imitate in vain without ever reaching essence. in same review quoted above can read: , once have experienced great romani singing of sort, erudition of artist morente pales candle flame next blazing torch. these views on morente, though common in 1970s , 1980s, have died down. controversy between tradition , innovation, romani , non-romani singing , other topics, common twenty years ago, relatively confined limited section of public, while flamenco fans , critics acknowledge morente s deep artistic intelligence , commitment:

comes man never sings same way twice, tirelessly seeks new inflection, unheard-of scale, change of tone best matches desired feeling , intentions @ given moment. easy option other one. enrique need extreme intellectual abilities , extreme emotional commitment. takes perfectly-laid, common foundations, defined tradition, , on them builds conceivable potential of flamenco.

in december 2010 reported morente had fallen coma after ulcer operation, , had been declared brain dead. died in madrid on 13 december 2010.