In search of the footprint of Camarón de la Isla, a living legend of flamenco

To enter Ricardo Pachón's house is to enter one of the most extensive flamenco archives of the 20th century.

Dozens of documents parade along the walls, portraits of flamencos from past times, covers that could have been and were not, unknown recordings, recognitions and record awards.

Shrimp is omnipresent practically in all rooms.

"I had a relationship with Camarón for the first time when he was 12 or 13 years old," says Pachón in his studio.

“He used to come to the Seville Fair, when everything closed, flamencos would gather, people like Caracol, Mairena, Lebrijano…, and he would stay in a little corner, listening”.

He attends with exquisite kindness and maintains a glassy gaze that moves from side to side looking for references, pointing to labeled recordings or cradling some of his treasures,

in 1979, in which Camarón gave voice to Federico García Lorca and aligned himself with the new flamenco that was emerging in Seville.

About the recording of that album, which was born timidly and today is a reference, he points out: “Everything was done in a very natural way, as if no one was waiting.

It was a wonderful experience because everyone was happy."

That album revolutionized flamenco and the image of the singer, who until then had recorded, according to Pachón, "under the orders of Paco de Lucía's father in an atmosphere of sobriety", far removed from the Sevillian atmosphere, which he compares to "California of the hottest times."

Flamenco mixed with rock, psychedelic music and sidereal trips with hallucinogenic substances circulated then in Seville.

Pachón describes Lorca's meeting with Camarón, which he introduced, as a crush, and the first time he heard him perform his verse he had "the hair on end."

For the recording, which lasted two months, Kiko Veneno, Raimundo Amador, Tomatito, Jorge Pardo and a lot of people who contributed his art circulated.

Other sounds also floated around there: “Maybe Camarón told you: 'Put me that thing you were listening to yesterday,'

and I hummed it to you and it was a Pink Floyd song.”

But he adds: “He wasn't a rocker, his thing with other types of music was a respectful distance relationship, he assimilated what interested him with tremendous capacity, but he did it thinking about how to bring it to flamenco”.

Ricardo Pachón (Seville, 1937), in the study of his house in Seville, surrounded by memories.

Pachón was the ideologue and producer of the famous album 'La leyenda del tiempo' (PolyGram, 1979).

That work was a revolution within flamenco because it brought together the cante of Camarón, the poetry of Federico García Lorca, and the fusion with other sounds such as rock or blues.

Joseph Fox

José Monje Cruz was born in 1950 in his home in the neighborhood of Las Callejuelas, in San Fernando (Cádiz).

His father, who worked in a forge, died in 1965;

and his mother, Juana, from a canastero family, in 1986. From both of them he inherited a passion for cante that he developed from a very young age.

José was the penultimate of eight brothers, a discontinuous student at the Liceo school in the free classrooms in the basement set up for people without resources, in a paid center, cassock and rod.

He himself would point out the drift of his childhood: “When the children at school studied

tomorrow, my childhood was the forge, anvil, nail and alcayata”.

Flamenco references of the moment stopped at his house and there he began to develop a look, his own voice and a knowledge that would explode shortly after leaving for posterity a legacy of twenty albums, 10 with Paco de Lucía in a memorable duo, and countless of concerts in Paris, New York or the Montreux Jazz Festival, in Switzerland.

His first steps outside the home would be at the Taberna Gitana in Malaga and, shortly after, in 1966, at the age of 16, at the tablao Torres Bermejas in Madrid.

La Tati knows a lot about that universal gypsy.

A woman with a profound gaze and an indomitable character, a gypsy bailaora from the Rastro de Madrid who shared success on stage with the cantaor.

She met him as soon as she arrived from San Fernando in Madrid, they became friends with her and, when she danced at the tablao Los Canasteros, he went to see her with Paco de Lucía, and with Carmela and Tina, from Las Grecas.

That was Manolo Caracol's tablao, who had snubbed him in public when Camarón was a boy: “A blond gypsy isn't going to achieve much in cante”.

La Tati continues at the foot of the canyon, she teaches at the prestigious Amor de Dios dance school, in Lavapiés, and in flamenco gossip it sounds like she is preparing a great tribute for her career.

For her, who shared stages and many end-of-festivities with San Fernando, “in Madrid she lived in blessed glory”.

“We were a brotherhood, we went every night to places where there was flamenco.

He was a tremendous fan, the good artist like him is the one who surpasses the masters”.

Francisca Sadornil Ruiz, 'La Tati' (Madrid, 1949), historical representative of flamenco in the capital, in one of the studios of the Amor de Dios dance school, where she is a teacher.

La Tati was born in Madrid's Rastro, where when she was little she "would dance down the street and castanets could be heard everywhere".

A friend of the singer, she performed with him on numerous stages.

Joseph Fox

La Tati mixes present and past: “She was a very sweet person.

I still feel him.

He touched me very strongly when she left because I experienced it as a betrayal of life.

Her cante was capable of making me crackle and put a lump in my throat”.

La Tati danced at the concert in Paris in 1987 at the Winter Circus, with Tomatito on guitar.

would praise the recital and

would take the face of the man from La Isla de San Fernando to the front page to point out in an enthusiastic chronicle: “José Monje Cruz has rehabilitated flamenco among Spanish youth steeped in rock music”.

In Paris she won praise from international critics and in Madrid, on May 4, 1990, she would blow up the Palacio de los Deportes in front of 15,000 people, a figure unthinkable then and now for a flamenco concert.

There is a polyphony of voices, in which Pachón or La Tati participate, who affirm: “Camarón sings better every day”.

That identification with the singer crosses generations and builds family ties like the colors of a soccer club.

Pablo Rubén Maldonado, a gypsy from Granada, is a flamenco pianist.

His father, Abelardo Fernández Jiménez, was a carver and worked as a carpenter.

As a fan of music and painting, he portrayed Camarón on several occasions.

One of his paintings presides over the study of the pianist, who lost his father two years ago due to the coronavirus.

Maldonado is inspired by Camarón “on an artistic level”.

In his opinion, he sounds current because of his courage when exploring other sound territories: “I highlight that openness that I had in mind.

There is a part of flamenco stagnant in the past, he came out of that line,

he investigated other genres and fused flamenco with rock, pop… That's his genius, being able to bring flamenco to a wider audience”.

Among this new audience, part of the legend points to the admiration he generated in artists such as Mick Jagger, Miles Davis or Frank Zappa.

Pablo Rubén Maldonado (Granada, 1977), with a painting of Camarón drawn by his father, in the Madrid neighborhood of Villaverde.

The flamenco pianist claims that Camarón is more open to other sounds and audiences: “He is a reference.

When I first heard The legend of time, which are not traditional sticks, I was very impressed.

That was what I wanted."

Joseph Fox

For another shrimp sector, almost as important as the music is the identification with their way of being off stage.

This is the case of Pastora Filigrana, a mestizo gypsy, a feminist lawyer and a member of the Andalusian Workers' Union.

For her, the legend of the cantaor is also true for his vital example: “When you live under a system that dehumanizes you, that asks you to identify yourself every time you leave home or suffer racism and institutional marginalization, human references are key to the community ”.

That feeling of belonging, Filigrana points out, went through the Roma people: “Camarón is a symbol of respect, he unites so much that I think all the Roma in this country, and also in France, cried the day he died.

That is very powerful from the sociological point of view, it almost borders on the religious”.

And she adds:

“At the height of his fame he married a lowly gypsy, he did not seek recognition from the payos even after rising to the top and playing with the London Philharmonic.

he never wanted

, or assume the

way of living fame ".

Filigrana also points out that Camarón is “incompatible” with the extreme right, which intends to champion a traditionalism that includes flamenco: “He represented the opposite, he never said a word out of place, nor did he believe he was above anyone.

He is not reappropriable because Camarón means the opposite of racism.

The gypsy hallmark of him will remain for eternity”.

Pastora Filigrana (Seville, 1981), on a street in the Sevillian neighborhood of La Alameda.

She is a lawyer and activist in defense of human rights, she is the author of the book 'The gypsy people against the world-system' (Akal, 2020).

Filigrana vindicates Camarón not only for his music, but also as an "ethical reference" of the gypsy community.

Joseph Fox

Thirty years after his death and his massive burial, in a year 1992 that had reserved for him the stages of the Seville Expo and the Barcelona Olympic Games, the interest in José Monje Cruz has not diminished.

The Shrimp Interpretation Center of the Island, in San Fernando, has received 50,000 visits since it opened, just over a year ago, and has numerous special activities scheduled for the anniversary of his death.

In

, a Radio Clásica space presented by Manuel Luis from Jerez, episodes have been dedicated to the cantaor throughout the year;

in the last edition of the Madrid Flamenco Festival, directed by Ángel Rojas, the cantaoras Montse Cortés, Remedios Amaya, La Kaita and La Fabi gave him an evening entitled

;

and at the beginning of the year the comic

by Raulowsky and Carlos Reymán, was published.

Raúl Valerio, Raulowski (Badajoz, 1971), after the presentation of the comic 'Camarón say about me' in the Delirio de Móstoles bookstore.

The Extremaduran illustrator has published the latest biography of Camarón, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of his death.

His partner, the screenwriter Carlos Reymán, died shortly before the book was published.

Joseph Fox

The book joins the long ten biographies that exist, the last three in graphic novel format.

Aesthetically, the man from La Isla was also innovative: his tattoo on his hand with a star and a crescent, his curly hair, his temporary beard or his suits adapted to modernity gave him a style full of personality.

Raulowski points out that this diversity is part of his richness: "The person's charisma is what transmits what he has inside."

And in that sense he comments: "Everyone has their vision of him and they are all valid."

Raulowski explains how he managed to find his: “I was making drawings until I internalized him in all his stages.

He always repeated a detail, some spots that came out of his eyes that were black tears.

The sorrow of the gypsy people and also the memory of his mother and his father”.

That skinny boy with fair skin and blond hair who wanted to be a bullfighter when he grew up was nicknamed Camarón by his uncle Joseico.

He soon began to sing to contribute to the family economy, attracting attention for having a unique quejío.

His first reference scenario would be the Venta de Vargas, in San Fernando.

Founded in 1921, it was a stopping point for flamencos long before a very young Camarón began to emerge, but there the name began to circulate by word of mouth.

Also to build the myth of an introverted person, proud of his race and dissident of the adulation of the power of money.

Lela Fontao, who was the local's cook for 50 years and still frequents the kitchen to check if everything is going well, met Camarón as a child, hearing him sing for the first time when “Joselito” was two years old: “You were beginning to hear it in La Island:

'There is a boy from Las Callejuelas who takes away the sense'.

And of course, we all knew each other, so I went to see him and there he was, singing and with his little hands clapping”.

She tells it with a smile that she often wears, which is accompanied by a sparkle in her eyes if she adds the memory of her husband, now deceased, a close friend of Camarón: “When José left for Torres Bermejas, that's where we went to celebrate the wedding night.

In a small apartment in the center of Madrid, very close to the tablao.

José, a little gypsy who accompanied him at the time, my husband and I sleeping in the same room”, and she adds: “Then what had to happen with my husband happened, but here, on La Isla”.

She tells it with a smile that she often wears, which is accompanied by a sparkle in her eyes if she adds the memory of her husband, now deceased, a close friend of Camarón: “When José left for Torres Bermejas, that's where we went to celebrate the wedding night.

In a small apartment in the center of Madrid, very close to the tablao.

José, a little gypsy who accompanied him at the time, my husband and I sleeping in the same room”, and she adds: “Then what had to happen with my husband happened, but here, on La Isla”.

She tells it with a smile that she often wears, which is accompanied by a sparkle in her eyes if she adds the memory of her husband, now deceased, a close friend of Camarón: “When José left for Torres Bermejas, that's where we went to celebrate the wedding night.

In a small apartment in the center of Madrid, very close to the tablao.

José, a little gypsy who accompanied her then, my husband and I sleeping in the same room”, and she adds: “Then what had to happen with my husband happened, but here, on La Isla”.

Lela Fontao (San Fernando, 1945), inside the Venta de Vargas, surrounded by images of the singer.

Lela met José Monje Cruz as a child, they were neighbors in the neighborhood of Las Callejuelas.

Her husband was a close friend of Camarón and gave him the money with which the cantaor traveled to Madrid for the first time to perform at the Torres Bermejas tablao.

Joseph Fox

La Venta de Vargas is part of the shrimp route organized by the tourist office of the municipality of Cadiz.

The tour includes the house where he was born;

the Juan de Vargas square, where the monument to Camarón is;

the museum;

the sale;

Royal Street;

the father's forge;

the main church, where he asked the Nazarene for permission to marry La Chispa in 1976;

the flamenco club that bears his name, or the cemetery, where the faithful leave flowers before a mausoleum presided over by a figure of the singer.

Lolo Picardo, Lela's son, is the current manager of Venta de Vargas.

He has seen pilgrims from all over the world arrive there.

Picardo is a good-natured person, faithful to the philosophy that has dominated the place throughout its history, where gastronomic quality is a sign.

Since recently he has been given over to a new task:

schedule flamingos from San Fernando.

His idea is to value local talent, something that has never been lacking in the area.

The bailaora Sara Baras, the cantaora Niña Pastori, the guitarist Jesús Guerrero or the flamenco-jazz saxophonist Antonio Lizana are examples.

For Picardo, who also defines himself as a shrimp farmer, a merit that made Camarón special was his straightforwardness: “He and Enrique Morente are revolutionaries even in their way of being.

Until that time, the flamingos considered themselves gods.

I think we have to name both of them because, in addition to being geniuses and innovators in music, they were humble”.

And he adds looking into the eyes: "But they never let them trample on them."

the guitarist Jesús Guerrero or the flamenco-jazz saxophonist Antonio Lizana are examples.

For Picardo, who also defines himself as a shrimp farmer, a merit that made Camarón special was his straightforwardness: “He and Enrique Morente are revolutionaries even in their way of being.

Until that time, the flamingos considered themselves gods.

I think we have to name both of them because, in addition to being geniuses and innovators in music, they were humble”.

And he adds looking into the eyes: "But they never let them trample on them."

the guitarist Jesús Guerrero or the flamenco-jazz saxophonist Antonio Lizana are examples.

For Picardo, who also defines himself as a shrimp farmer, a merit that made Camarón special was his straightforwardness: “He and Enrique Morente are revolutionaries even in their way of being.

Until that time, the flamingos considered themselves gods.

I think we have to name both of them because, in addition to being geniuses and innovators in music, they were humble”.

And he adds looking into the eyes: "But they never let them trample on them."

I think we have to name both of them because, in addition to being geniuses and innovators in music, they were humble”.

And he adds looking into the eyes: "But they never let them trample on them."

I think we have to name both of them because, in addition to being geniuses and innovators in music, they were humble”.

And he adds looking into the eyes: "But they never let them trample on them."

Lolo Picardo (San Fernando, 1969), current manager of Venta de Vargas.

There a very young Camarón began to sing to bring money home.

Picardo assures that the cantaor ousted some clients who put money before "respect for cante".

One of his specialties is the shrimp omelette, an invention of the house and now a reference dish in the area.

Joseph Fox

There are other destinations from which to evoke Camarón de la Isla. La Cantina del Titi is a restaurant on La Casería beach, in San Fernando.

It shares a wall with another restaurant called La Corchuela.

They are the last two vestiges of a corner considered until a few months ago as a paradise by the regulars of the area.

Until February of this year, the two premises cohabited there with a group of single-storey fishermen's huts painted in colors with almost a century of life, which gave the place a point of magical realism.

La Cantina del Titi opened in 1934;

La Corchuela, in the 1950s. From the beach that caresses them, you can see the entire Bay of Cádiz, and the towns of Cádiz and Puerto Real.

There he probably ran around as a kid José Monje Cruz before becoming Camarón.

The booths were demolished by the Law of Coasts, despite the fact that the City Council asked that they be declared of public interest and other voices begged that they be protected.

That is now history, but the place is still wrapped in a shrimp air reflected in the landscape of their music.

La Cantina del Titi may also have its days numbered, but for now it is still standing, full of portraits of the cantaor.

La Cantina del Titi, next to La Casería beach in San Fernando.

Run since 1934 by the Muñoz family, in an enclave from where you can see the Bay of Cádiz.

The place is frequented by local and foreign shrimpers.

Joseph Fox

Its symbolic value does not fade despite the years.

The Madrid City Council approved in March to place a statue in the center of the city.

As is the case in Badalona, ​​where he died and where the installation of a sculpture was also approved years ago, beyond words nothing has moved.

In any case, the mark left by the one from San Fernando is indelible, not only in the history of flamenco.

Although the public administrations have been timid in relation to the recognition of the cantaor, his social permeability 30 years after his death is impressive.

Artists of all styles and genres sing to Camarón;

his face is a classic in traditional taverns and shops;

he is present in murals and graffiti;

he is an inspiration for artists from different disciplines;

He has a legion of devoted followers and there are also many who experience it intimately, in deep connection with the strength of his music.

The phenomenon and respect are still alive.

In Cádiz, at the El Chico greengrocer on Fermín Salvochea street, the owner gets emotional talking about the myth.

Although he was five years old when he died and was unable to see any of his concerts, his fervor is fed through his cante because Camarón, he says as he attends the show, “was the greatest and there will be none like it ”.

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