Musical career
Fanatical about flamenco singers such as La Niña de los Peines, Camarón de la Isla, Pepe Marchena and Manuel Vallejo, she sang folk songs at the age of 4. She sang a taranta (traditional sailor's songs) accompanied by maestro Sabicas' guitar at age 7. Her art has dazzled not only the most demanding flamencologists but also rockers like Lenny Kravitz. Estrella's debut as a singer took place at the presentation gala of the Alpine Ski Championships in Sierra Nevada, being only 16 years old. Estrella participated in Omega, Enrique Morente's album. Carmen Linares sponsored her at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville in a tribute to La Argentinita, a Spanish-Argentinian dancer and singer. Her first album, "Mi cante y un poema" (My folk song and a poem) composed of flamenco songs was platinum and the second, "Calle del aire" (Air Street) composed of popular and Christmas songs, was gold. Thanks to the success of her albums, the singer has participated in numerous festivals, such as the Seville Biennial, the Barcelona Guitar Festival and the Granada International Music and Dance Festival in Granada.
In the summer of 2004 she presented, in Granada, the concert "Estrella 1922" a tribute to the Sevillian singer Pastora Pavón, la Niña de los Peines, recorded live for its later edition. In 2005 she made her debut at the Barbican Center in London and started a series of shared concerts with her father Enrique, commissioned by the International Festival of the Guitar of Córdoba. In addition, the show "Estrella 1922" premiered also at the Teatro Español in Madrid that same year.
Filmography
Morente was the voice behind Penélope Cruz's flamenco song in the 2006 film Volver .
She played herself in the 2011 animated feature Chico & Rita .
In 2013, [5] Estrella narrated the documentary, Guadalquivir, directed by Joaquín Gutiérrez Acha. The film is about the Guadalquivir River, the wildlife, and the natural reserves/parks from Cazorla to Doñana, through the Sierra Morena mountains in Andalusia, southern Spain. The director commented that "We needed to find the voice of Andalucia. And it is Estrella, without a doubt. It is a plus for this work/project. Guadalquivir would have not been the same film without her."
On 15 February 2014 the short film "Caen Piedras desde el Cielo" (Stones fall from the skies), by director Rafael Robles "Rafatal", premiered in Malaga, Spain, starring Estrella Morente as the protagonist, "Luz". The short film is about a single mother in the 1970s working in a religious hospital and the obstacles she faced. [6]
Flamenco is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, particularly in Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Murcia. In a wider sense, the term is used to refer to a variety of both contemporary and traditional musical styles typical of southern Spain. Flamenco is often associated with the Romani people of Spain, who have contributed significantly to its professionalization in the past two hundred years. Flamenco is uniquely Andalusian and historically included Spaniards of both gitano/non-gitano heritage.
New flamenco or flamenco fusion is a musical genre that was born in Spain, starting in the 1980s. It combines flamenco guitar virtuosity and traditional flamenco music with musical fusion.
The winners of the Second Annual Latin Grammy Awards were announced during a press conference on Tuesday, October 30, 2001 at the Conga Room in Los Angeles, California. The conference, which was broadcast live on the internet, was hosted by Jimmy Smits and Paul Rodriguez. Alejandro Sanz was the big winner winning four awards including Album of the Year. Juanes won three awards including Best New Artist.
Polo is the name of a flamenco palo or musical form. There is only one known song in this palo, which is extremely similar to another palo called caña, and its guitar accompaniment, like the caña, shares its rhythm and motifs with soleá. Both the caña and polo share the same musical mode. The polo has usually been considered as a derivation of the caña. To complete the singing of the polo, singers usually sing a stanza in the palo of soleá, generally in the style called soleá apolá.
Pastora Pavón Cruz, known as La Niña de los Peines, is considered the most important woman flamenco singer of the 20th century. She was a sister of singers Arturo Pavón and Tomás Pavón, also an important flamenco singer, and aunt to Arturo Pavón, the first flamenco pianist. Both brothers, Pastora and Tomás, together with singer Manuel Torre, were the inspiring models for the next generation of singers like Antonio Mairena, Pepe de la Matrona or Fosforito, who led the movement towards the revival of traditional forms in the decades of the 1950s-1970s.
José Tejada Marín, known as Pepe Marchena and also as Niño de Marchena in the first years of his career, was a Spanish flamenco singer who achieved great success in the ópera flamenca period (1922–1956). Influenced by singers like Antonio Chacón, he carried to the extreme the tendency to a more mellow and ornamented style of flamenco singing. Owing to his particular vocal conditions and singing style, he excelled mainly in palos (styles) like fandangos, cantes de ida y vuelta and cantes libres, contributing to making them the most popular flamenco styles in the era of the ópera flamenca, and created a new cante de ida y vuelta, the colombiana, later recorded by many other artists like El Lebrijano or Enrique Morente. He was also the first flamenco singer to use an orchestra to accompany flamenco singing, though later he returned to the guitar.
Enrique Morente Cotelo, known as Enrique Morente, was a Spanish flamenco singer and a celebrated figure within the world of contemporary flamenco. After his orthodox beginnings, he plunged into experimentalism, writing new melodies for cante and jamming with musicians of all styles, without renouncing his roots in traditional flamenco singing, which he kept on cultivating despite criticism.
"It hasn't been easy. First came the accusations of corruption of the music, of treachery in his struggle to disfigure what was already perfectly coded. When some albums and some categorical evidence of his knowledge of the classical approach laid these malicious comments bare, then came the most twisted condemnations. That the pace of the compás waned, that he didn't really make you feel and that kind of thing."
The cante flamenco, meaning "flamenco singing", is one of the three main components of flamenco, along with toque and baile (dance). Because the dancer is front and center in a flamenco performance, foreigners often assume the dance is the most important aspect of the art form — in fact, it is the cante which is the heart and soul of the genre. A cante singer is a cantaor or cantaora.
Bambera is a cante, one of many traditional song forms associated with flamenco.
Carmen Pacheco Rodríguez, better known by her stage name Carmen Linares, is a Spanish flamenco singer.
El Concurso del Cante Jondo was a fiesta of flamenco arts, music, song, and dance, held in Granada in 1922. Conceived and initiated by composer Manuel de Falla, it enjoyed early and strong support from the poet Federico García Lorca. The two-day evening event was held outdoors at the Alhambra. The show included the best of well-known flamenco artists, but the contest's prize money was reserved for amateur performers.
Antonio Carbonell Muñoz is a Spanish singer-songwriter of Romani heritage, known for his participation in the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest.
Rafael Riqueni del Canto, is a Spanish guitar player and composer. He is considered as one of the biggest names or “Maestros” in flamenco guitar history. At age fourteen, he won the two main national awards for flamenco guitar in Spain. As an adult, he has won the most prestigious flamenco music awards in Spain, including: Premio Andalucía de Cultura, Premio Nacional de la Crítica, Giraldillo a la Maestría de la XVIII Bienal de Flamenco y el Premio AIE. In 2017, he was awarded with XXXI Compás del Cante, this award is always referred to by the Spanish media as the "Flamenco Nobel prize".
Javier Limón is a record producer, singer and songwriter born and raised in Madrid, Spain. Limón has worked with several artists, mainly from Spain, since he incorporates elements of flamenco rhythm to his work. Besides his work as producer has also dabbled as an interpreter and has released three studio albums, Limón, Son de Limón and Mujeres de Agua. Since 2003, Limón has done recordings in Israel, Bogotá, Bristol, Paris, Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, New York City and Morocco. In 2004, Limón was awarded the Latin Grammy Award for Producer of the Year for his work on Lágrimas Negras by Diego El Cigala and Bebo Valdés, Cositas Buenas by Paco de Lucía, El Cantante by Andrés Calamaro, El Pequeño Reloj by Enrique Morente, Niño Josele by Niño Josele and Tributo Flamenco A Don Juan Valderrama by Various Artists. Javier Limón serves as the Artistic Director of the Berklee College of Music's Mediterranean Music Institute, which operates in Valencia, Spain as well as Boston, Massachusetts.
Mauricio Sotelo is a Spanish composer and conductor.
Juan Manuel Cañizares is a Spanish flamenco guitarist and composer. He is a winner of the "Premio Nacional de Música" (1982) and "Premio de la Música" (2008) awards.
María del Mar Rodríguez Carnero, better known by her stage name La Mari, was born 18 January 1975 in Málaga, Spain and is the lead vocalist of Chambao. One of three original members of the group that formed in 2001, she sang alongside cousins Eduardo Casañ and Daniel Casañ, until Chambao disbanded in 2005. La Mari remained, continuing to front the band and release albums under the name Chambao.
Juan Pinilla Martin is a flamenco singer from Granada (Spain), critic, writer and columnist. In August, 2007 he won the Festival del Cante de las Minas, with the prize Lámpara Minera 2007, considered the most important flamenco prize. He studied Translation and Interpretation. At present he studies Law. In 2014, he was nominated for the prestigious Latin Grammys Awards In 2016 he was awarded the title of favorite son of the province of Granada (Spain) He is an artist committed with the social reasons. The night he won the Lámpara Minera he dedicated the prize to the workers victims of the workplaces accidents.
La Macanita is the artistic name of Tomasa Guerrero Carrasco, a Spanish flamenco singer.
Canción Andaluza is the final studio album by Spanish musician Paco de Lucía, released on April 29, 2014 through Universal Music Spain. It was released posthumously after his death on February 25, 2014. Produced by de Lucía himself, it features collaborations with fellow Flamenco singers Estrella Morente and Vicente Castro "Parrita", and Venezuelan salsa musician Oscar D'León.
