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<\/p>\nEach artist has a story, and each flamenco artist has a thousand stories to be told. A few years ago, someone told me some sad stories about a\u00a0bailaora<\/i>\u00a0from Jerez who was already famous in the 19th century, Mariquita Malvido, who has been totally forgotten in her homeland, just like so many other artists. For many people, she was just the wife of Fosforito el de C\u00e1diz, Francisco Lema Ullet, one of the greatest\u00a0cantaores<\/i>\u00a0of all time. Yet, Mar\u00eda de la Merced Pilas Malvido, her full name (not Mar\u00eda del Pilar Malvido, as it\u2019s sometimes stated) achieved fame as a\u00a0bailaora<\/i>\u00a0in her own right, beyond being just the partner of that\u00a0cantaor<\/i>\u00a0from C\u00e1diz who made history as one of the best singers of\u00a0malague\u00f1as<\/i>, together with Chac\u00f3n, El Canario and La Trini.<\/p>\n
A pending homework for Jerez de la Frontera, among many others, is getting a researcher to publish the history of\u00a0baile<\/i>\u00a0in that city, which is as important as its\u00a0cante<\/i>\u00a0history. In that not-yet-written research, a prominent name would be that of Mariquita Malvido, who incidentally left her mark in Seville, where she lived with her mother and brothers, besides Fosforito, in the middle of the 19th century, at number 83 on La Alameda de H\u00e9rcules, to be precise. In the city registry her occupation is not listed as \u201cartist\u201d, though, even as she was already performing, being one of the main attractions in the best caf\u00e9s of those days, such as\u00a0El Burrero<\/i>,\u00a0El Filarm\u00f3nico<\/i>\u00a0and, later,\u00a0El Novedades<\/i>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Yet, who was Mar\u00eda de la Merced Pilas Malvido, that is\u00a0Mariquita Malvido<\/i>? Her parents were Robustiano Pilas Hern\u00e1ndez and Mar\u00eda Malvido Gal\u00e1n, both born in Jerez de la Frontera, although having roots in Valencia, Santander and M\u00e1laga, respectively. They married on July 1, 1850, in Jerez\u2019s Santiago District, when the groom was 26 years old and the bride 20, and they had several children. Robustiano was a farm labourer, his father was from Santander and his mother from Valencia. Mar\u00eda\u2019s father was from Jerez, and her mother from Antequera (M\u00e1laga). All this information is taken from the birth certificate of Mariquita Malvido, who was born on May 8, 1868 at number 20 of Conocedores street.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t easy to find her actual birth certificate, since her parents had other daughters before Mariquita, also named Mar\u00eda, who didn\u2019t survive childhood. So, the birth certificate shown here belongs to this artist. Mariquita Malvido was, then, from the San Pedro district, also known as La Albarizuela, a neighborhood which was the birthplace of many artists of renown in those days, such as La Serneta, Javier Molina, Juan Mojama and, more recently, the teacher of\u00a0baile<\/i>\u00a0Angelita G\u00f3mez.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.expoflamenco.com\/archivo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/nacimientomariquitas_orig-300x237.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
I won\u2019t dwell on the professional career of Mariquita Malvido, because I\u2019m saving this for the book I\u2019ve been working on for years about the history of flamenco in Seville. I just wanted to publish this information, unknown until now (I presume, because it\u2019s not easy to know everything that has been published about flamenco in the whole world), in order to highlight this great artist from Jerez who ended her days alone with her memories from the time when she was one of the most popular\u00a0bailaoras<\/i>\u00a0from the time of the\u00a0caf\u00e9 cantantes<\/i>. As she grew old, she quit the stages and became a teacher. In fact, I haven\u2019t figured out yet when or where she died, whether in Madrid or in Jerez, where she might have seek the warmth of her family after the death of the love of her life, Fosforito el Viejo, a star of\u00a0cante<\/i>\u00a0in that golden age who ended his life old and forgotten, without anyone who would even take care of his bones.<\/p>\n
If anyone has any information about where and how Mariquita Malvido ended her days, please let us know.<\/p>\n
Translated by P. Young<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Each artist has a story, and each flamenco artist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[174],"class_list":["post-5519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-archivo","tag-jerez-en"],"yoast_head":"\n