Sixth 'Flamenco Hoy' Prizes

Text: Estela
Zatania

Forty-four specialized flamenco critics made up the jury for the Flamenco
Hoy prizes whose sixth edition, with fifteen categories, was celebrated
the night of Thursday, January 27th, in Madrid’s emblematic Casa
Patas. After six years of existence, the event has become an obligatory
date for the flamenco elite, and the prizes have acquired the prestige
afforded by the specialty’s most influential voices.

Casa Patas was filled to overflowing, between artists, prize-winners,
journalists, personalities from the arts and culture and of course, the
permanent ‘godmother’ of the Flamenco Hoy prizes, singer Luz
Casal. The anecdotes flowed non-stop as tends to happen when flamencos
get together. Manuel Curao, winner of the Journalism prize, the first
to pick up his award, spoke wittily and at length, as is befitting any
television personality. Doña Pilar Sánchez, the mayoress
of Jerez, picked up the prize for “Flamenco Promotion”, and
Alfonso Eduardo Pérez, the event’s organizer, commented that
this particular award had been voted almost unanimously. The lady briefly
explained the proposed Ciudad del Flamenco and commented on the upcoming
Festival de Jerez.

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Alfonso Eduardo Pérez Orozco	Manuel Curao

José Manuel Gamboa accepted the trophy for Best Book, “Comprende
el Flamenco” for author Faustino Núñez, followed by
Antonio el Pipa who collected his prize for Best DVD, “Pasión
y Ley”. The popular dancer thanked the organization and commented
that nowadays dancers aspire to recording a DVD just as singers have their
CDs.

The first family member of a winner, on this night of relatives, was
José Galván who proudly accepted the statuette for Best
Male Dancer for his son Israel Galván. The prizes for Best Female
Dancer and Best Dance Show, “Canciones para antes de una Guerra”,
were for María Pagés, currently in Italy. The corresponding
prizes were accepted by members of her company. Best Newcomer in Guitar
Accompaniment went to Diego del Morao for his work on “Confí
de Fuá”, and Best Accompaniment, to Juan Carlos Romero, a
prize collected on his behalf by Carmen Linares for whom he regularly
plays.

Antonio el Pipa with Paco Ortega	Pilar Sánchez Alcaldesa de Jerez

Another award with family ties was for Best Instrumental Soloist, for Raúl
Rodríguez and his record “Son de la Frontera”. Singer
Martirio, she of the dark glasses, mother of the versatile musician, spoke
with the charm that always characterizes her and presented the trophy
to her son who dedicated the triumph to Diego del Gastor on whose music
the recording is based. More relatives when singer Ramón el Portugués
presented the prize for Best Percussionist to his son “El Piraña”,
and Felipe Maya, proud as a peacock, handed over the award for Best Newcomer
Guitar Soloist to his son Jerónimo Maya.

Jerónimo recibe el premio al guitarrista revelación de su padre Felipe Maya	Raúl Rodríguez de Son de la Frontera recibe el premio de su madre Martirio

Singer Montse Cortés accepted her statuette for Best Cante Newcomer
for her CD “Rosa Blanca” and happily commented it was the
first prize she’d ever received. Immediately following, Gerardo
Núñez’ lovely young daughter accepted her father’s
prize for Best Guitar Soloist for “Andando el Tiempo”, a hotly
contested category in this year that included recordings by Paco de Lucía
himself, in addition to Tomatito, Juan Carlos Romero and Emilio Maya among
others.

And lastly, the most awaited prize of the night, Best Singer, went to
Arcángel for this recording “Calle Perdía”.
After announcing that he felt the urge to sing, the young man from Huelva
offered a round of soleá, a capella, making a fitting end to this
gala evening.