Enrique Morente
Enrique Morente
Background information
Birth name
Enrique Morente Cotelo
Born
1942
Granada, Andalusia, Spain
Genre(s)
Flamenco,
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter,
Years active
1960s- to present
Website
http://www.enriquemorente.com
Enrique Morente Cotelo, known as En-
rique Morente, born in Granada, 1942 is a
flamenco singer and controversial figure in
contemporary flamenco. After his orthodox
beginnings, he plunged into experimentalism,
writing new melodies for cante (flamenco
singing) and jamming with musicians of all
styles, without renouncing his roots in tradi-
tional flamenco singing, which he keeps on
cultivating.[1][2] In spite of severe criticism
from the most "purist" amongst the critics
and public, [3][2], he is probably the most in-
fluential contemporary flamenco singer, who
not only innovates, but could also be said to
create tradition: some of his cantes have
been performed by other singers such as
Camarón de la Isla, Mayte Martín, Carmen
Linares, Miguel Poveda, Segundo Falcón and
Arcángel.
Biography
Beginnings
Enrique Morente, born in the traditional
quarter of Albaicín in Granada, started to
sing as a seise (a member of a group of chil-
dren who sing, dance and play castanets on
certain religious festivals)[3] He started to
feel attracted to flamenco singing as a child,
and had the opportunity to learn at family
gatherings and to listen to established fig-
ures from Granada like Cobitos, the family of
the "Habichuelas", or Aurelio Sellés (Aurelio
de Cádiz):
"The cante begins inside you when
you listen to the villager’s singing,
to people in their birthplace. Groups
of people that meet in a tavern and
start singing, and then you listen to
them and start singing as well: you
learn that at family parties where
everybody
sings and everybody
drinks, and everybody dances and...
Apart from that, it turns out that, of
course, you need a technique, you
need a school, you need to learn. In
order to achieve this, what you
need... the main help you can get is
to have a liking for it; and then