Camarón de la Isla

He was unquestionably the driving force behind the new trends in flamenco, and his personal style conquered the world and started a tradition which has a huge number of followers. It was said of him that his heart didn't fit in his chest, and that his soul 'suffered' in every performance that he gave. His premature death, caused by lung cancer, turned him into a flamenco legend. He was from a gypsy family and it was his uncle José who nick-named him Camarón, because he was blond and fair-skinned. He studied little and badly, he tried his hand as a bull-fighter with a young bull, and taught himself to play the guitar. Since he was very young, when he was eight, he used to sing in the inns and at tram stops with Rancapino to earn a little money. He already became very famous as a child. When he was twelve, his mother lied about his age to allow him to travel; at fourteen, he took part in the film El amor brujo, starring Antonio Gades; and at sixteen, he won the first prize in the Festival del Cante Jondo (Flamenco Festival) in Mairena de Alcor. He then went to Madrid with the company of Miguel de los Reyes, and in 1968 he became part of the team of resident artists in the Torres Bermejas tablao. He worked there for twelve years, and it was also where he met Paco de Lucía, with whom he recorded ten albums between 1968 and 1977. After Castillo de Arena, Paco de Lucía embarked on his solo career. Camarón, who was undergoing a period of change, recorded La Leyenda del Tiempo (1979), an innovative record in which Tomatito already appears as his guitarist. From this moment on, he doesn't stop and takes part in dozens of festivals. Potro de Rabia y Miel (1992) was to be his last record. An irreversible lung cancer was to snatch his life away on 2 July 1992 in Badalona (Barcelona). Over 100,000 persons gathered for his funeral. Nine years later, the Junta de Andalucía (Andalusian regional government) posthumously granted him the Llave de Oro del Cante (Golden Key for Singing).