We flamenco critics have our favourites, whether we like to admit it or not. When I\u2019m at home, I usually listen to what I really like, sometimes as part of a research, to check my conclusions, other times just for the sake of enjoying a good cantaor<\/i> or cantaora<\/i>. I pick an artist according to my changing moods, and yesterday I decided to review the great discography of one of the masters of cante flamenco<\/i>, Jos\u00e9 S\u00e1nchez Bernal, the unforgettable Naranjito de Triana <\/i>(Seville, 1933-2002), a good friend of mine and someone I\u2019ve admired to this day. That is actually something that has given me many headaches, because, oddly, there were critics and influential aficionados who couldn\u2019t understand my admiration for him, even in Triana, where this master of cante was born, on the popular Fabi\u00e9 street to be precise, the same birthplace of Curro Fern\u00e1ndez and Diego Camacho El Boquer\u00f3n<\/i>, among other flamencos of that district of Seville. Fabi\u00e9 street is the first street on the right, walking down along Pureza street (the old Larga street) from Plaza Altozano. Naranjito\u2019s cante style was typical of Triana, naturally. He lived for many years outside that district, though, because, among other reasons, he just felt like it. I visited him many times in his beautiful house, in the Santa Cruz neighborhood, where he had a luthier workshop, and we always ended up talking about Triana, about Manol\u00edn el de la Murga, Emilio Abad\u00eda, El Sordillo or El Titi, artists he took as role models for his career in cante, without forgetting his admiration for other legends such as Antonio Chac\u00f3n, Manuel Vallejo, Ni\u00f1a de los Peines and her brother Tom\u00e1s.<\/p>\n
Talking about cante with Naranjo (1) was like talking to an expert flamencologist, because he knew about flamenco perhaps more than anyone else, and not just about cante<\/i>, but also about baile<\/i> and guitar. He played the guitar very well, by the way, and he even accompanied, among others, the great Antonio Mairena. He not only played<\/i> the guitar, but also made<\/i> great guitars. As if all this weren\u2019t enough to merit admiration, the master of Triana was also a very cultured man, a lover of literature, possessing a deep knowledge of many topics. He was also someone with a great sense of humor, yet not that unoriginal and cheap sense of humor so common in Seville and in flamenco, but rather a refined wit, with a natural talent acquired on the streets and in parties. He wasn\u2019t a clown, but an artist who knew a thousand stories and was able to tell them with a wonderful spark. For a few months we were recording a TV series that never aired, together with Juan Valderrama. On recording days, we would go out to some restaurant to have lunch or dinner, but we could barely eat, as we laughed so much with Naranjo and Valderrama\u2019s stories. Listening to them talking about cante was something to behold: the two masters mano a mano<\/i>. I remember one day when Juan Valderrama told a story about an album recording with Montoya and Mojama, I think it was in the north of Spain, and Naranjo was amazed with the detail of Juanito\u2019s facts. He would even remember the name of the bars where they went for drinks. Naranjito also had a prodigious memory and he knew better than anyone else the Triana of post-Civil-War Spain.<\/p>\n
He was able to sing all the Triana styles of soleares and seguiriyas with mastery, not because he learned them from recordings, but because he lived in Triana. Is Naranjo recognized today as one of the great cantaores of Seville? I don\u2019t think so. Certainly those with a solid knowledge of flamenco appreciate the style and the works of the master from Triana, but overall he\u2019s not very well-known, particularly his discography, where he showcases a great variety of palos de cante<\/i>. Perhaps no one in Naranjo\u2019s time was able to master as many palos as himself, and he excelled in both the basic palos<\/i> and in the so-called \u201clight palos<\/i>\u201d(2), although I don\u2019t think there\u2019s such thing as \u201clight palos\u201d, just cantaores who either can or can\u2019t perform them. He could perform them for sure, as he had a superb singing ability. Not just a powerful voice, but he also knew how to sing. Antonio Mairena, Juan Valderrama and Pepe Pinto appreciated him greatly and highlighted his worth as cantaor several times. He shouldn\u2019t be forgotten by Triana or Seville, because he was a great master and one of the best teachers. After retirement, don Jos\u00e9 taught at the Fundaci\u00f3n Cristina Heeren<\/i> in Seville and one day he invited me to watch one of his lessons. When I arrived, he was teaching a girl from Finland how to sing a sole\u00e1 alfarera<\/i>. Believe it or not, the girl mastered that cante de Triana<\/i>. He was great even when teaching, and that\u2019s one of my favorite things.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Is Naranjo recognized today as one of the great cantaores of Seville? I don\u2019t think so. Certainly those with a solid knowledge of flamenco appreciate the style and the works of the master from Triana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":17606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[256],"tags":[194],"class_list":["post-17608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bordonazo-new","tag-cantaor-en"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
\n