The singer whom all flamenco fans know as \u201cCamar\u00f3n de la Isla\u201d, was born in San Fernando December 5, 1950, as Jos\u00e9 Monge Cruz. His nickname, \u201cCamar\u00f3n\u201d, which is a small species of crustacean, was a reference to his light build and fair hair. He died prematurely on July 2, 1992.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the short version. The long version, despite his having lived only 41 years, is actually very long. And tall and wide and bigger than life itself. The child who early on caught the attention of great singers such as the legendary Manolo Caracol, became the adolescent whose circle of friends included youngsters who would become top interpreters such as Rancapino, Pansequito and Juan Villar, and whose fame grew exponentially after he teamed up with the young guitarist, Paco de Luc\u00eda, another outsized genius of flamenco, without whom Camar\u00f3n would most likely have gone down in flamenco history as one of many great singers, but not the cult figure he has become and will surely remain.<\/p>\n
In late October, the Consejer\u00eda de Cultura through the Instituto Andaluz de Flamenco, with the collaboration of the municipal government of San Fernando and the University of C\u00e1diz, organized a convention titled \u201cLeyenda Camar\u00f3n 25 A\u00f1os\u201d to commemorate the quarter century that has passed since the singer\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s highly unlikely the name of any other flamenco performer would have been fashioned into a 20-foot long 6-foot high polyester resin cut-out to adorn the entrance of the San Fernando Convention Center. Nor, for that matter, would numerous experts, VIPs and flamenco followers have converged on this town that dots the map on the way to the capital city of C\u00e1diz.<\/p>\n
With the early autumn sun of Andalusia asserting itself outside the Convention Center to the upper 80s Fahrenheit, we sat in the spacious air-conditioned auditorium to hear from people like Manuela Carrasco, Tomatito, Curro Romero, Pepe de Luc\u00eda, Rancapino and others of Camar\u00f3n\u2019s inner circle, in addition to journalists, biographers and specialized analysts who each gave their perspective on the local kid who made good.<\/p>\n
In the evening, there were performances at several venues, including the legendary Venta de Vargas where decades earlier a young Camar\u00f3n and friends had become steeped in the flamenco way of life, and rubbed shoulders with top artists who passed through.<\/p>\n
Thus, on the 25th anniversary of the day that shook the flamenco world with the news of Camar\u00f3n\u2019s untimely passing, we gathered to pay homage. It\u2019s common that flamenco fans cite their discovery of Camar\u00f3n as being the key factor that triggered their interest in this artform, even when an entire generation of followers never saw him in person. For us older folks, for myself personally, I remember those heady days in the 1970s when Camar\u00f3n was flamenco\u2019s golden boy, and he would turn up everywhere\u2026 at festivals, informal fiestas, often in Utrera where he would always prefer to play guitar for other people\u2019s singing. I also remember seeing him at what was then Madrid\u2019s front\u00f3n (Basque handball arena); countless gypsy groups filled the venue with their extended families and drink coolers\u2026people who had clearly not before cared about flamenco, now considered this young singer a sort of deity, and gathered at the stage door exit hoping to catch a glimpse of him, that he might lay hands upon their children. To call Camar\u00f3n a cult figure falls short.<\/p>\n
But in real terms, what did Camar\u00f3n bring to the artform now officially designated by the UNESCO a World Cultural Heritage? The most concise answer is: the canastero sound. This is a way of singing that had long been standard in Extremadura in southwestern Spain and southern Portugal, and which had not previously been commercially exploited. It involves melodies and an unmistakable delivery that evoke something more exotic, less occidental than non canastero flamenco. Melodies which bend and whine, choral singing and flattened notes that broadcast orientalism without actually straying from standard scales. With the brilliant support of Paco de Luc\u00eda, there was a fresh new approach to rhythm; nooks and crannies of time that had always been there but were not previously inhabited, were now filled with music, a wide-open repertoire took shape with emphasis on the festive forms of buler\u00edas and tangos, and of course, the eventual fusion with pop forms was the final touch that ensured Camar\u00f3n\u2019s place in the pantheon of world music.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The singer whom all flamenco fans know as \u201cCamar\u00f3n de la Isla\u201d, was born in San Fernando December 5, 1950, as Jos\u00e9 Monge Cruz. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":11592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-estela-flamenca"],"yoast_head":"\n