Manuel de Angustias

Se me murió mi madre
se me acabó el mundo
yo voy a vestir
como he vestido a mi corazón
de un negrito luto
Siguiriya. Manuel de Angustias. «En la calle nueva»

por Estela Zatania

On
December 22nd 2005 at half past ten in the morning Manuel Jiménez
Ramírez, «Manuel de Angustias», passed away and the
flamencos of Utrera are in mourning.

A butcher by profession – the people of Utrera have always shied
away from becoming professional performers – he lived through the
times of singer Pinini and the heyday of the calle Nueva. He also worked
in Madrid at Manolo Caracol’s tablao Los Canasteros, and occasionally
in summer cante festivals. Antonio Mairena, who was over a decade older
than him, often visited Utrera to hear Manuel sing because he knew cantes
learned in his youth from Tío Benito, Juaniquí and Rosario
la del Colorao that Mairena only heard for the first time as a middle-aged
man. He was the uncle of Bambino and great-uncle of the current singer
Manuel de Angustias in addition to sharing family ties with Fernanda and
Bernarda.

For many years Manuel was Elder Brother of of the Gypsy Brotherhood of
Utrera and one of the founders of the Potaje Gitano de Utrera, the longest-surviving
cante festival, where he often sang including in the first edition in
1957 with Perrate de Utrera, Diego del Gastor, El Chuchara and Antonio
León.

In the nineteen-sixties he participated in the Vergara Archivo del Cante
Flamenco and thanks to the efforts of Tate Montoya (son of Enrique) and
his record company Lunadisco, Manuel de Angustias recorded a solo record
at the age of 78 leaving a magnificent record of his cante por soleá,
bulerias, livianas, seguirillas, tientos, fandangos and martinetes. Antonio
Moya, his guitarist for that historic recording, remembered him today
with profound affection:

«Tío Manuel was a cantaor with great ‘duende’,
a truly great singer and a wonderful person, a reference for today’s
singers. You don’t need to be a professional performer to be a part
of the cultural heritage, and Tío Manuel was one of the pillars
of cante. He created styles and verses and María la Burra took
his soleá closing and popularized it.

«He was the last gypsy to live on the legendary calle Nueva. Each
year during Holy Week the procession would stop in front of his house,
number 9, so the singers could offer their ‘saetas’.

«He was the most responsible person I ever knew…when we
were going to make the record he was a whole month without speaking and
wore a scarf the whole time so he wouldn’t catch cold. A couple
of years later when they told me in January that I was to take him to
sing at Mont-de-Marsan in June, a friend said «better not say anything
until two weeks ahead or he’s likely to spend from January to June
without speaking!»

In 2003 the Festival del Mostachón de Utrera was dedicated to
Manuel de Angustias whose passing leaves yet another gap in flamenco cante
that cannot possibly be filled.

Photo: Antonio Torres