El Taranto and its (almost) 60 years of history

Antonio Mairena said of the headquarters of the Almerian peña El Taranto that it was “the Sistine Chapel of Flamenco”.. But its location, in an Arab cistern, is not the only thing that makes it special.

The Taranto was founded in 1963. It was 22 March and a flamenco singing contest organised by Radio Almería was being held at the Teatro Cervantes. The winner was José Sorroche and the jury was composed of Rafael Monterreal Alemán, Diego López López, Cristóbal Muñoz Montoya, “El Niño de Álora” and Lucas López López. These people were the ones who decided at that time to create a flamenco peña. They started to meet twice a week in the house of one of them, shaping their association. They based their statutes on those of the Peña Juan Breva de Málaga and would “de alta” them under the recent Law of Associations in 1965.

The name was to be Peña Fosforito, but it was Antonio Fernández Díaz “Fosforito” himself who advised it to be registered with the name of the cante from Almería par excellence.

Pure flamenco history

Since its formation, this Almerian peña has been very participative, basically because for almost a decade, it was the only registered flamenco peña. In addition, some of its members were founders and directors of the Andalusian Confederation of Flamenco Clubs and the Andalusian Flamenco Foundation, today the Andalusian Flamenco Centre. They are part of the foundation of the Semana Flamenca, of the Institución Social para la Tercera Edad de los Artistas Flamencos (ITEAF) and of the brilliant magazine Taranto.

The memoirs published on the occasion of his 25th anniversary are pure flamenco history of Almería. In the writings of Lucas López, one of the aforementioned founders, this could be a summary of the early days:

“It is difficult to highlight the main events that have taken place in the long history of our Peña. I dare, however, and in no particular order, to highlight a few: Antonio Mairena’s last public performance, which is commemorated by a plaque in the cisterns. The two performances of Camarón in 1984 and 85, with Tomatito; the debut of José Mercé in the aljibes one cold December night in 1983, the jazz fusion nights, one of which had an exceptional spectator, Chick Corea, who listened to Tomatito, Carles Benavent and Jorge Pardo; the poems dedicated to us by José Ángel Valente and Julio Alfredo Egea; Camarón singing to dance to Rafael El Negro and Chano Lobato to Matilde Coral in the Teatro Cervantes…”.

El Taranto de Oro

Since 1973, the Taranto de Oro has been awarded to a relevant artist who has a special relationship with the peña. This award is held by, for example, José Menese, Camarón, Tomatito… and, of course, Fosforito, who was with the founders at the beginning and continued to be so. El Taranto also gives an award to a guitar artist and the so-called Peña El Taranto Trophy to the best performance of the year in any of the events organised by this association.