DATE & TIME
Tues. June 25 at 6:00pm
LOCATION
Rodey Theatre, UNM
Learn More About
“El Pele”
Manuel Moreno Maya ‘El Pele’, is a flamenco singer born in Cordoba in 1954, in the neighborhood of San Pedro. From a very humble family, in his childhood he traveled through the neighborhoods of Cordoba singing in the streets, tablaos and fairs. Manuel Benítez ‘El Cordobés’ was the one who gave him his nickname.At the age of fifteen he won the First Prize Cayetano Muriel (1969) in Cabra (Córdoba). The following year he won the ‘Melón de Oro’ in Montalbán (Córdoba). After some others, he obtained in 1983 two first prizes in the National Contest of Flamenco Art: “La Serneta” for soleá and Pastora Pavón for bulerías. During the 80’s, ‘El Pele’ was the artistic partner of Vicente Amigo, sharing the stage with Camarón. He stands out in soleá, siguiriyas, bulerías, fandangos and tonás and one of his main merits is that he has managed to create new expressive modes in alegrías, tangos and bulerías to which he prints a modern and personal stamp. El Pele’s artistic career is marked by the tireless search for new horizons from the purest roots, his eternal concern to know and recreate his own style; this has led him to be considered as an innovator with the necessary prudence and respect not to lose his principles. In his career, we find clear examples of this. His meeting with the guitarist Vicente Amigo was an internal revolution of his own, and from it was born a milestone in the world of flamenco discography, Poeta de esquinas blandas, which includes songs that have become flamenco anthems such as Vengo del Moro. In 1990, the great David Bowie heard a record by El Pele and decided to take him to open his concerts in Madrid and Barcelona. Previously it had been Prince who had been won over by the Gitano and flamenco art of El Pele. In Coimbra he participated in the VII International Festival of Ethnic Music; in the Palau de la Música in Valencia he triumphed in 1994 with Paco de Lucía, Enrique Morente, Vicente Amigo and other important flamenco artists, while in Montreux (Switzerland) he obtained a great success sharing the stage with Manolo Sanlúcar, Camarón and Lole y Manuel.