He revolutionized the flamenco of his time, formed an artistic and sentimental couple with Lola Flores and conquered the lovers of flamenco singing thanks to a deep and broken voice that transmitted the gypsy identity like no one else. His name was Manolo Caracol.
BIO
Birth-death
July 7, 1909 in Seville (Andalusia)
February 24, 1973(Madrid)
Family and children
Wife: Luisa Gómez Junquera
Children: Enrique, Luisa, Lola y Manuela
He was born in Seville as Manuel Ortega Juárez in Lumbreras Street, number 10, on the day of San Fermín in 1909. His house was located in the heart of the Alameda de Hércules neighborhood, where the oldest public garden of the same name in Spain and Europe is located.
Manolo Caracol came from a gypsy family with deep-rooted ties to flamenco, as well as to the bullfighting world. After a life dedicated to singing, which was prematurely interrupted by a traffic accident at the age of 63, Caracol became a legend as one of the greatest cantaores thanks to his broken voice and an innovative spirit that led him to transgressing the strict rules of flamenco by introducing foreign elements such as the orchestra or the piano.
The nickname came to him as an inheritance from his father at birth. It is said that his aunt Gabriela, mother of Joselito el Gallo, renamed her father after throwing a pot full of snails at him.
“If anyone could boast of flamenco genes, it was Caracol. On his mother’s side, he was the great-great-grandson of El Planeta, one of the first flamenco singers ever recorded; he was also the nephew of the dancers Rita and Carlota Ortega. From his family also came from artists such as El Mellizo, Curro Dulce and El Gordo. And his father, although he was a groom of his cousin the bullfighter, was a semi-professional singer. The lineage did not die with him: his four sons dedicated themselves to the art of flamenco, and Manzanita was his nephew.
Manolo Caracol starts with a prize
At the age of 12, he won the Concurso de Cante Jondo de Granada, a competition promoted by Manuel de Falla and Federico García Lorca. He was accompanied by the Jerez-born cantaor Antonio Chacón, whom Manolo asked to take part. Apparently, the child’s father had no idea that the child had the gift of singing.
Manolo Caracol soon became a living legend of flamenco, although he was always a controversial figure. His phrase “Yo cuando canto me no me acuerdo ni de Jerez ni de Cádiz, ni de Triana, ni de nadie. I try to sing in a half voice, which is how it hurts, that’s the depth, because flamenco is not for the deaf, it’s a deep caress” has gone down in history. Caracol was known for his broken voice with which he not only sang cante jondo, but also more popular palos such as fandango and zambra. Nothing could resist him.
Manolo Caracol in Madrid
Until 1935, when he settled in Madrid, he worked in different shows and toured several places in Spain. His first solo performance was at the Teatro Reina Victoria in Seville with Tenazas de Morón.
In Madrid he earned his living as he did in his early days in Seville: performing in flamenco juergas. However, the Civil War truncated the development of these festivities, and Manolo Caracol focused on theater. Together with Pepe Pinto and La Niña de los Peines they created, once the war was over, a very successful show where they fused singing, dancing and theater to the rhythm of orchestra or piano music. This was a type of show very much to Caracol’s liking.
Art and love: Lola Flores
Undoubtedly, Caracol has not only gone down in history as one of the best flamenco singers in history, but also as the artistic and sentimental partner of La Faraona for eight years.
Luisa Gómez Junquera, a gypsy from Jerez, married Manolo Caracol in 1930, which did not prevent the Sevillian singer from having a romantic relationship with Lola Flores, who was 14 years younger than him.
La Faraona, also from Jerez, joined Manolo Caracol’s company at the age of 15. The sentimental relationship between the two of them was not immediate. Shortly after joining the company, the young Lola fell in love with the guitarist Niño Ricardo.
For a time, Caracol and Flores parted ways, although in 1943, La Faraona proposed her to join the line-up of Zambra, a show written by Quintero, León and Quiroga in which she would be the star. Not without some hesitation, Caracol accepted the offer. When Lola produced the show, they became an artistic couple and although she was the first sword, they were so successful together that he continued to shine as the great cantaor he was. Zambra stayed for eight years, the same length of time the affair lasted.
In her memoirs, Lola went on to say, “We lived a violent and wonderful life. Nights of wine and singing. We were the gods of the early morning. We woke up watching the sun like two teenagers, even though he took me several years.” In parallel to Zambra, they shot a film together: Embrujo. Once the work was finished, La niña de la venta arrived, where the cantaor played the uncle of La Faraona.
The truth is that their relationship was full of ups and downs. Their common history was marked by binges until dawn, intense jealousies that led to breakups and resounding reconciliations.
Meanwhile, she had three children with Gómez Junquera: Luisa, Enrique, Dolores and Manuela, all artists who continued the flamenco lineage.
Manolo Caracol’s legacy
After separating from Lola Flores, Caracol formed a professional couple with the dancer Pilar López, with whom he undertook a long tour that took him to America. Upon his return, he premiered in Spain the show La Copla Nueva, presenting her daughter Luisa as cantaora. Along with it, he undertook other works: Arte español, Color moreno and Torres de España.
In 1958, Manolo Caracol recorded the album Una historia del cante flamenco, accompanied on guitar by Melchor de Marchena, and directed by a professor at the Madrid conservatory, Manuel García Matos. In this album, Caracol made a journey through the history of flamenco singing through 24 songs including saetas, seguiriyas and malagueñas. With this album, and in case there was any doubt, he established himself as one of the best flamenco singers of all time. He was also the first to use orchestrated music as an accompaniment to flamenco, and that is an indisputable part of his legacy.
In 1963, he inaugurated the tablao Los Canasteros in Madrid. In addition to being the place where he performed regularly, the tablao was the “royal theater of the gypsies”, since great icons of flamenco art and Spanish song, such as Pastora Imperio, La Niña de los Peines, Imperio Argentina or a young Rocío Jurado, passed through it. And the flamenco parties until the wee hours of the morning were more than talked about in the Spanish capital.
His last album was recorded in 1972, when he barely a year before he died prematurely in a traffic accident. En él había un faIn it there was a very premonitory farewell fandango.
He was 63 years old and died in a work accident: he was on his way to his tablao, and on a curve near the so-called Puente de los Franceses, his driver lost control of the car and crashed into a pole. Caracol died on the spot, leaving behind a life full of success, art and excesses.
