Enrique Morente

Enrique Morente
Orixe	Granada, Andalucía
Período	anos 60-actualidade
Xénero(s)	Flamenco
Na rede
páxina oficial

Enrique Morente Cotelo, coñecido como Enrique Morente, naceu en Granada no 1942. É un cantaor flamenco, e unha figura controvertida no flamenco contemporáneo. Despois duns comezos ortodoxos, derivou cara o experimentalismo, renovando as melodías do cante e colaborando con músicos de diversos estilos sen renunciar ás súas raíces nin ó cante flamenco más tradicional, seguindo no presente ca súa proposta innovadora. In spite of the severe criticism from the most "purist" section of the critics and public, , he is probably the most influential contemporary flamenco singer, who does not only innovate, but also creates tradition: some of his cantes have been recreated by other singers such as Camarón de la Isla, Mayte Martín, Carmen Linares, Miguel Poveda, Segundo Falcón and Arcángel, among others.

Biography

Beginnings

Enrique Morente, born in the typical quarter of Albaicín in Granada, started to sing as a seise (a member of a group of children who sing, dance and play castanets on certain religious festivals). He started to feel attracted for flamenco singing as a child, and had the opportunity to learn in family gatherings, and to listen to established figures from Granada like Cobitos, the family of the "Habichuelas", or Aurelio Sellés (Aurelio de Cádiz):

"The cante begins inside you when you listen to the villager’s singing, to people in their birthplace. Groups of people that meet in a tavern and start singing, and then you listen to them and start singing as well: you learn that at family parties where everybody sings and everybody drinks, and everybody dances and... Apart from that, it turns out that, of course, you need a technique, you need a school, you need to learn. In order to achieve this, what you need... the main help you can get is to have a liking for it; and then the skill to know who to learn from, and from what sources, where to find the good. Then you are on."

However, this appreciation for the popular side of flamenco does not mean that he considers flamenco just as "an art of the people". A flamenco artist, for him, needs technique and dedication:

"It is us, the professional artists of flamenco, who have to make cante flamenco, and nobody else, Flamenco, like any other art, is an art of professionals, although there are many people who peer at us, with a look as if to say: What interesting little creatures! or maybe: Oh! What music the people are playing! and so on. And people often think that maybe you have to have fingers swollen from picking potatoes to be able to play the guitar with feeling. Look, picking potatoes is every bit as worthy as playing a guitar. But I can tell you that a man -with fine, sensitive fingers is not going to be able to make a go of picking potatoes: and I can also tell you that a man with fingers swollen from picking potatoes is not going to be able to play a guitar because he hasn't got the manual dexterity and he hasn't got the dedication. This is a profession like any other which you have to dedicate yourself to completely. It is an art of professionals."

Still in his teens, he went to live in Madrid to start a professional career as a singer. There he could meet some old masters like Pepe de la Matrona and Bernardo el de los Lobitos, and learned as much as he could from them. Pepe de la Matrona took special interest in teaching the young singer: "This interest was raised not so much by Enrique Morente’s intonation, by his registers or by his melismatic as by his attitude towards things, his respect and his learning capacity." In Madrid, he started singing at peñas flamencas (clubs for flamenco fans). In 1964, he signed a contract with the Ballet de Marienma, with which he performs at the Spanish Pavilion in the New York World Fair and at the Spanish Embassy in Washington. Later he took part in a flamenco festival at Teatro de los Alcázares de los Reyes Cristianos, sharing the bill with Juan Talega, Fernanda and Bernarda de Utrera, Gaspar de Utrera, Tomás Torre and Antonio Mairena. During that year and the following one, he also toured Europe and Japan with different flamenco dance companies, and was employed at several tablaos (flamenco venues) in Madrid, such as Las Cueva de Nemesio, Zambra and El Café de Chinitas.

First recordings

Morente made his first recording, Cante flamenco in 1967 with guitarist Félix de Utrera. The recording received a special mention award from the Cátedra de Flamencología, and was followed by Cantes antiguos del flamenco (1969), with guitarist Niño Ricardo. His first recordings were strictly orthodox and showed deep knowledge of traditional flamenco, a rare quality for singers of his generation. During this period he also made his first contact with guitarist Manolo Sanlúcar, with whom he would cooperate on several occasions. Sanlúcar accompanied him in his concert in Ateneo de Madrid, the first occasion in which a flamenco singer performed in that prestigious cultural institution.

His next record, Homenaje flamenco a Miguel Hernández (Flamenco Homage to Miguel Hernández, 1971), initiated his frequent use of lyrics by outstanding poets. Later on, he would record flamenco songs with lyrics by Federico García Lorca, John of the Cross, Lope de Vega, Al-Mutamid, Antonio Machado and Manuel Machado, Jorge Guillén, and others. Soon later, an illegal live recording was published in Holland.

"The thing that most calls your attention in his first productions is how much care he devotes to the lyrics of his cantes. This is probably the first step in his future career as as an innovator in flamenco. The poems by Miguel Hernández, for example, became immortal in his impressive 'Nana de la Cebolla' or 'El Niño Yuntero'. With the attitude he showed, in these poems, against the francoist regime, he became the favourite flamenco singer for the left-wing opposition in the country, as well as one of the first innovators."

Latest works

In 1995 he appeared singing a siguiriya in Carlos Saura's film Flamenco and recorded his most controversial recording: Omega, together with punk rock group Lagartija Nick, with the participation of guitarists like Tomatito, Vicente Amigo, Juan Manuel Cañizares or Miguel Ángel Cortés and percussionists like Tino di Geraldo. Flamenco and punk rock are mingled with recreations of songs by Leonard Cohen, and lyrics by Federico García Lorca's book Poeta en Nueva York ("A Poet in New York"), together with traditional flamenco lyrics.

(2001) saw the publishing of a very much sought for record by Morente, "Enrique Morente en la Casa Museo de García Lorca de Fuentevaqueros", a collection of songs based on the poetry of Federico García Lorca. The recording had been made in studio in Madrid, in 1990, and it had been commissioned by the Diputación de Granada (a government institution). Only a limited edition was made and the copies were sent as gift to particular persons. In the second hand marked, those copies reached 25,000 pesetas (150 euros).

Another interesting release of Morente, El Pequeño Reloj, saw the light in 2003. Whereas the second half of the CD a more or less random collection of songs, the first half of the record comprises a surprising series of songs which are broken in two parts: in the first part of the song, Morente's voice is superimposed on top of old 78 r.p.m recordings of old masters of the flamenco guitar like Ramón Montoya, Sabicas or Manolo de Huelva, while the second part is a modern development of the same palo, with the side guitar of the young and innovative guitarist Niño Josele.

Although he does not know musical notation he has composed music for theatre plays, films and television, such as the work Las Arrecogidas del Beaterio de Santa María Egipcíaca", the music for Oedipus the King with José Luis Gómez.

He has tried the mixture between flamenco and classical music in works like Fantasía de cante jondo para voz y orquesta (Cante jondo Fantasy (music) for voice and orchestra]], together with pianist Antonio Robledo, guitarists Juan Habichuela and Gerardo Núñez and Madrid Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Luis Izquierdo, 1986) or with Allegro Soleá, which he presented at Seville's Flamenco Biennal in 1990. Along the lines of the mixture of flamenco with other types of music, he collaborated in the show Macama Jonda by José Heredia Maya, together with the Tetuan Andalusian Orchestra and Abdessadeq Cheqara, or with the Bulgarian Voices choir Angelite. In his recording Omega, already mentioned, he mixed flamenco singing with punk rock, music by Leornard Cohen, and lyrics by Federico García Lorca. In the show África-Cuba-Cai he mixed flamenco with music from Senegal, and Cuba (Cai is the way Cádiz is pronounced in Andalusian Spanish). The show also underlinks the historic links between Cuban and flamenco music: "That's always been close to flamenco, since way back, because the ships in Cádiz went to Cuba, some came and others stayed over there, we've always had that."

It is difficult to think of any kind of music which has not interested Morente. After one of his concerts with Cheqara Orkesta of Tetuan, he declared: "…if I had to put out a CD for every culture I mixed with I'd be putting out about 7 or 8 CDs a year. It wouldn't be bad - if I got paid for it by the record company then I could build myself a home."

Owing to his innovative approach, he has been widely criticized by the more extremely traditionalist sectors of the flamenco critic and public: "Needless to say, all this cost Morente a real torment, since flamenco is still a very closed world, in which the slightest attempt for novelty is taken as a deadly sin of heresy." . Although Morente's work is now widely recognized by most critics, and has inspired many singers of the young generation like Mayte Martín or Arcángel, there is still a section of traditionalist critics and public that still disparage his work:

"Aficionados were scratching their heads after the show, trying to figure out exactly, which forms--if any--Morente was working in much of the time. 'Remember the old days when you could actually recognize what flamenco forms were being performed?'"

Ethic bias is often not alien to these criticisms. A good number of flamenco critics and public were introduced into flamenco at the time of the "reappraisal period" led by singers like Antonio Mairena and critics like González Climent or Ricardo Molina, in whose views, pure flamenco singing would be a patrimony of Gypsies, which non-Gypsies could only try to imitate in vain without ever reaching its essence. In the same review quoted above we can read: "And once you have experienced truly great Gypsy singing of this sort, the erudition of an artist like Morente pales like a candle flame next to a blazing torch.". This views on Morente,though very common in the seventies and eighties, have almost died down. The controversy between tradition and innovation, Gypsy and non-Gypsy singing and other topics, so common twenty years ago, is now relatively confined to a limited section of the public, while most flamenco fans and critics acknowledge Morente's deep artistic intelligence and commitment:

"This comes from the man who never sings the same way twice, who tirelessly seeks that new inflection, that unheard-of scale, the change of tone that best matches the desired feeling and intentions at a given moment. The easy option would be the other one. To do what Enrique does you need extreme intellectual abilities and extreme emotional commitment. He takes the perfectly-laid, common foundations, defined by tradition, and on them builds with all the conceivable potential of flamenco."

Awards

First prize at the contest Málaga Cantaora (1967)
Premio Nacional de Cante (Flamenco Singing National Award) granted by Cátedra de Flamencología y Estudios Folklóricos Andaluces de Jerez de la Frontera (1972)
National Award for best folk recording, awarded by the Ministry of Culture (1978)
En 1989 es nombrado Socio de Honor del Club de Música y Jazz San Juan Evangelista
Honorary Membership of the San Juan Evangelista Jazz and Music Club (1989)
Premio Nacional de Música (Music National Award), Ministry of Culture, awarded to a flamenco singer for the first time (1994)
Golden medal of the Cátedra de Flamencología de Jerez de la Frontera (1995)
Compás del Cante (1995)
“Galardón de Honor de los Premios de la Música”, awarded by the Ministry of Culture (1998)
Pastora Pavón ("Niña de los Peines") Award, awarded by the autonomous government of Andalusia (2004)
Medal of Andalusia, awarded by the autonomous government of Andalusia (2005)
National Critics award for best DVD and best flamenco singing record for Morente sueña la Alhambra (2006)
National Award of Music for best flamenco recording for Morente sueña la Alhambra (2006)
Morato de Oro, awarded by Peña El Morato (2006)
Best flamenco recording, Deflamenco.com Awards (2006)

Films

Flamenco. Directed by Carlos Saura (1995)
Morente sueña La Alhambra. Directed by José Sánchez-Montes (2005)
Iberia. Directed by Carlos Saura (2005)

Recordings

Cante Flamenco (1967)
Cantes Antiguos del Flamenco (1969)
Homenaje Flamenco a Miguel Hernández (1971)
Morente en Vivo, Díscolo, (1981), illegal recording live
Se Hace Camino al Andar (1975)
Homenaje a Don Antonio Chacón (1977)
Despegando (1977)
Sacromonte (1982)
Cruz y Luna (1983)
Enrique Morente en la Casa Museo de Federico García Lorca de Fuentevaqueros (1990); Republished (2001)
Esencias Flamencas (1988)
Morente - Sabicas (1990)
Misa Flamenca (1991)
Negra, si Tú Supieras (1992)
Allegro Soleá y Fan-tasía del Cante Jondo (1995)
Omega (1996)
Morente – Lorca (1998)
El Pequeño Reloj (2003)
Morente Sueña la Alhambra (2005)

External links

www.enriquemorente.com

Further reading

Gutiérrez, Balbino (2006). Enrique Morente. La voz libre. Madrid: SGAE. p. 702.