EL CHOCOLATE GENIO GITANO

Foto: ©Gilles Larrain, El Chocolate.
http://www.gilleslarrain.com/

Latin Grammy 2002 award winner Antonio Núñez Montoya, 'El Chocolate,' was born in Jerez de la Frontera (Spain) in May of 1940, but his artistic birth took place in Seville, at the Alameda de Hercules, his cradle and school of singing. The Pavones, Vallejo, El Sevillano, and many others were his teachers and from their living voices he learned the deepest secrets of flamenco music.

These eminent professors of the “Seville university of Flamenco” imparted their masterful classes throughout the first half of the 20th century. Those were the years in which performers sang for sane flamenco aficionados, for fun-seeking drunkards with money, for country folk that went to the theater with desires of having a good time and for other artists with whom they shared moments of pain and joy.

And so, with that interior baggage, Antonio Núñez developed his own artistic personality that makes him noteworthy and unique.

He is the heir to the most classical of flamenco schools, where truths were exposed with all crudeness and where elaborate excess was clearly denounced. 'El Chocolate' doesn't understand half colors in Flamenco, just like he doesn't understand relief and embellishments. Body and soul have to join to find oneself in the gut, to find the feelings, undress them and introduce them to the exterior as an expressive vehicle. As he says: “The soul of flamenco doesn't come, it is necessary to look for it.”

El chocolate won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Flamenco Album in 2002. He preserved and added to the legacy passed onto him by the great masters like Manuel Torre and Manolo Caracol and he was one of the last old traditional voices of flamenco. In July 2005 El Chocolate was due to perform at the 40th Caracol Festival de Flamenco in Lebrija, but he had to cancel due to ailing health; one week later he died of cancer at his home in Seville on 20th July.




Videos
El Choclate: Fandangos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jn8Gkntm28
Chocolate y Diego Carrasco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OSRfLhIbno
MORAO-CHOCOLATE-FARRUCO Y TERREMOTO GENIOS GITANOS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1VJM0oVa50&feature=related

el chocolate, farruco y farruquito

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n2RGrcz_1Q&feature=related



El Chocolate por seguiriyas (DailyMotion w/short commercial)

El Chocolate por seguiriyas by cultura-flamenca


Recommended Viewing
Rito y Goegrafia del Cante Vol 11

Recommeded Listening
Antonio Núñez 'El Chocolate' (Belter, 1968)
Mano a Mano El Chocolate/ Fosforito (Belter 1970)
Antonio Núñez 'El Chocolate' (Trama, 1977)
Los Cantes de El Chocolate (SAEF, 1980)
50 Años de Flamenco, 1935-1985 (Olympo, 1985)
Los Cantes de El Chocolate (Perfil, 1986)
El Chocolate, Maestros del Cante (Hispavox, 1987)
El Chocolate, Maestros del Flamenco (Hispavox, 1988)
Antonio Núñez 'El Chocolate', Flamenco de Hoy (Coliseum, 1990)
Si Yo Volviera a Nacer (Senador, 1996)
Mis 70 años con el Cante (Palo Nuevo/Muxxic 8431588 013625, 2001)