Juan Valderrama 1916-2004
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He was 87 years old but we couldn't stop using the diminutive «Juanito». And in the collective memory of an entire nation the original sound track of his songs continues to play…»El Emigrante», the song and film which gave him superstar status in the nineteen-fifties and turned him and the author of the music, guitarist Niño Ricardo, into wealthy men. «De polizón», «Pena mora», «Romancero», «La primera comunión», «Madre hermosa»…welcome songs that sweetened Spain's terrible postwar period.
Then would come the artistic collaboration with La Niña de la Puebla, and later on, with Dolores Abril who was to become his wife – the popular couple were the royalty of the itinerant variety shows which brought Spanish canción and flamenco to the most God-forsaken towns when television had yet to come to Spain This is one of those times when people say «his death marks the end of an era», because it was six decades of singing, touring, recording, moving in the ambience, and his biographer Antonio Burgos tells us he rememered the most minute details of everything he experienced.
In addition to his songs, he knew cante flamenco in all its forms and recorded several anthologies, but his personality and delivery were best-suited to the cantes of Levante and the so-called 'ida y vuelta', particularly guajiras with the old 'décimas' that were his calling card. His approach to singing was not everyone's cup of tea, but those who knew him personally remember him as a charming man, polite and affectionate. Later in life he received a series of tributes and honors including the Medalla de Andalucía, the Medalla de Bellas Artes and the Medalla al Mérito del Trabajo, but surely the most significant recognition has been the profound admiration young singers such as Mayte Martín and Diego el Cigala profess for him. More information: Flamenco Tribute to Juanito Valderrama.
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