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Enrique Morente & Lagartija Nick
Biographie Enrique Morente & Lagartija Nick
Enrique Morente
was born in the Albaicín on Christmas Day 1942, the second son of Encarnación Cotelo and Juan Morente. As a boy he was a seise at Granada cathedral, and at eighteen he left for Madrid, where he worked as a bricklayer, shoemaker, barber and seller while singing in the flamenco peñas. He died in Madrid on 13 December 2010.
His recordings set lyrics by poets including Federico García Lorca and Miguel Hernández, and he recorded Omega with the rock group Lagartija Nick. In 2005 he presented Morente sueña la Alhambra, a dark, poetic vision of the monument.
Enrique Morente best sums up his approach, ‘La ortodoxia, y estoy plenamente seguro de ello, a uno de los que le gusta es a mí, pero yo creo que nuevos caminos y, si esto está hecho con sinceridad y honestidad, siempre sirve para ver nuevas experiencias y los errores sirven para ver nuevas ventanas. Cuando se intentan nuevas cosas, todo no va a salir perfecto, todo no va a salir bien, eso siempre es un riesgo, para mí sería mucho más cómodo al estar cantando siempre la malagueña del Canario…’ (La Discoteca Ideal de Flamenco by Ángel Álvarez Caballero, Enciclopedias Planeta, Barcelona, 1995).
His first recording appeared in 1967: on Cante flamenco he was accompanied by the guitarist Félix de Utrera. His second recording followed soon after; on Cantes antiguos del flamenco he was accompanied by the guitarist Niño Ricardo. With these two recordings he made a strong start in the world of flamenco, and he demonstrated his excellent knowledge of traditional cante flamenco. It was however, after this period that his restlessness increasingly began to be apparent. In his own words: ‘Yo soy una persona que me aburre cantar siempre igual y pienso que la ortodoxia hay que cogerla e inspirarse y desarrollarla para hacer cosas que inviten a hacer nuevo arte.’
