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Antonio Mairena
Birth nameAntonio Cruz García
Born1909
Mairena del Alcor, Seville Province, Spain
Died1983 (aged 73–74)
Seville, Spain
GenresFlamenco
Occupation(s)Singer

Antonio Cruz García, known as Antonio Mairena (1909–1983), was a Spanish musician, who tried to rescue a type of flamenco, which he considered to be pure or authentic. He rescued or recreated a high number of songs that had been almost lost, and also published several books and articles to divulge his views on flamenco and flamenco history. He considered himself as heir to the art of Manuel Torre, the most classic flamenco singer from Jerez, and also acknowledged the influence of other masters like Tomás Pavón or Joaquín el de la Paula.

Early life and career

Mairena was born in Mairena del Alcor, Seville Province, Spain.

He won several awards, the most important of which was the Llave de Oro del Cante (Gold Key of Flamenco Singing), which he obtained in the third Concurso de Córdoba (Contest of Córdoba). It is common belief that the contest was organized especially to grant him the award, and that the appearance of a contest was contrived to have a good excuse to grant him this honour, although some flamenco historians justify this on the grounds that he deserved the award for the service he had rendered to the art of flamenco (Álvarez Caballero 1995).

He died in Seville, aged 73 or 74.

Discography

[1]

Sources

ÁLVAREZ CABALLERO, Ángel: La discoteca ideal del flamenco, Editorial Planeta, Barcelona, 1995 ISBN 84-08-01602-4

References

  1. ^ Centro Informático Científico de Andalucía Archived November 24, 2005, at the Wayback Machine - Discografía de Antonio Mairena.
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