{"id":20134,"date":"2020-06-20T22:48:44","date_gmt":"2020-06-20T20:48:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expoflamenco.com\/archivo\/?p=20134"},"modified":"2020-06-20T22:48:44","modified_gmt":"2020-06-20T20:48:44","slug":"grandpa-goes-to-cadiz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/archivo\/en\/bordonazo-new\/grandpa-goes-to-cadiz\/","title":{"rendered":"Grandpa goes to C\u00e1diz"},"content":{"rendered":"

-Grandpa, where will you go on holidays, this year? <\/strong><\/p>\n

-This year I\u2019ll be going to C\u00e1diz, the land of grace, comp\u00e1s<\/em> and the good life.<\/p>\n

-Enough with the cliches already, grandpa.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

-I know you prefer Andorra, and not because it\u2019s a tax heaven, but the good stuff is in C\u00e1diz. I\u2019ll spend some days in the \u201cLittle Cup\u201d(1) to finish my research about Rosario Monge \u201cLa Mejorana\u201d, the best bailaora of the XIX century. She was the mother of no other than Pastora Imperio. It\u2019s because of La Mejorana<\/em> that today\u2019s bailaoras of Seville move their arms the way they do.<\/p>\n

-And what do you know about her? Because barely anything is known about her family, or about her early years. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

-I know a lot about her, Manolo. Did you know that when she arrived in Seville in the 1880s, revolutionising the caf\u00e9s of Silverio and El Burrero, she was already a widow? Now you know. She wasn\u2019t dishonored by that bullfighter\u2019s tailor, as has been said, because she first got married, as a minor, with a gypsy butcher from Puerto de Santa Mar\u00eda. La Mejorana left C\u00e1diz soon after he died.<\/p>\n

-Bombshell, grandpa! They say that this tailor from Seville, don V\u00edctor Rojas Teresa, was quite handsome, wasn\u2019t he? <\/strong><\/p>\n

-Yes he was. Well-poised and good looking like no other. Since La Mejorana was also a beauty, their daughter was gorgeous too, driving crazy many men with her beautiful green eyes and long eyelashes, more enticing than Greta Garbo\u2019s.<\/p>\n

-Why didn\u2019t this tailor marry La Mejorana? <\/strong><\/p>\n

-Who said he didn\u2019t? They married, but when they were older. What happened is that married young and became a widow soon after, and he already had children by another woman before he fell in love with La Mejorana. This woman\u2019s life should be made into a movie.<\/p>\n

– Was El Caoba from C\u00e1diz, grandpa?<\/strong><\/p>\n

-Of course he was from C\u00e1diz. Jos\u00e9 Rafael Ortega Cepeda was his name. He was a son of Jos\u00e9 Ortega L\u00f3pez, brother of El Nitri, both from Puerto de Santa Mar\u00eda. Caoba had a hard childhood. His birth certificate has less information than Chac\u00f3n\u2019s, and that says a lot. Yet, it\u2019s said that he sang very well, particularly the seguiriyas. Bear in mind that he was the grandson of El Fillo\u2019s brother, Andr\u00e9s, who was the father of El Nitri. It was a family of seguiriyeros.<\/p>\n

-Yet, El Nitri was from Puerto de Santa Mar\u00eda, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

-Yes, but he was raised in C\u00e1diz, among Andr\u00e9s el Loro, Curro Durse, El Mellizo y the Ortegas. He was very attached to Jerez and Triana, though. His brother Francisco lived in Triana for many years, and it\u2019s very likely El Nitri visited him. By the way, Francisco was a neighbor of Curro Puya, Diego el Lebrijano and the Pelaos, and also of Frasco el Colorao, who, according to Rafael Pareja, was Nitri\u2019s teacher. Let\u2019s not forget his connection with the family of El Planeta, in M\u00e1laga, where he also lived. Nitri was a wandering gypsy, a travelling soul.<\/p>\n

-What other Pioneer artists of C\u00e1diz are you interested in?<\/strong><\/p>\n

-I have a great interest in El Mellizo because, although being a humble gypsy butcher who seldom travelled outside C\u00e1diz, he changed things and created a new style. Just imagine: the greatest cantaores, such as Chac\u00f3n and Manuel Torres, were his followers. No one is remembered in posterity just by chance, but because they\u2019ve contributed something. El Mellizo was an innovator and that\u2019s why people still talk about him, more than a century after he died. He certainly didn\u2019t achieve lasting fame for carving calves or for making sausages.<\/p>\n

-Grandpa, I\u2019m shocked. Instead of going to C\u00e1diz to enjoy Victoria beach, you\u2019ll end up dusting off old documents. <\/strong>You have no remedy. <\/strong><\/p>\n

-It\u2019s an obsession, Manolo.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n