Farruco
Who is Farruco?
Antonio Montoya Flores, Farruco, was born in 1935 in Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, into a Roma family of basket-weavers, and was a distant great-nephew of the guitarist Ramón Montoya. He trained within his own family tradition, without passing through academies, and developed from a young age a vigorous, temperamental way of dancing. He married at fourteen and became a father at fifteen, setting early on the life rhythm of an extensive flamenco family: he went on to have five daughters, all married to Roma men, and became a grandfather at thirty-three.
Career
During the 1950s he danced alongside Lola Flores, Pilar López and Manolo Caracol, and between the late fifties and early seventies he formed the trio “Los Bolecos” with Rafael Negro and Matilde Coral, a group that renewed the language of Roma dance of its time. In 1977 he formed the group Los Farrucos together with his daughters Rosario “La Farruquita” and Pilar, and in 1986 he founded his own dance school as well as taking part in the international tour “Flamenco Puro.” In 1995 he appeared in Carlos Saura’s film “Flamenco,” and also in the docudrama “Bodas de gloria,” produced for Canal Plus.
Style
He was regarded by his contemporaries as one of the Roma dancers of greatest art and power in Andalusian dance, particularly associated with the farruca, the palo that gave him his stage name: a dance of strength, temperament and authentic Roma genius, far removed from any affectation.
Legacy
His son, who also bore the name Farruquito, died in a traffic accident at the age of eighteen, a loss that deeply marked the family. Antonio Montoya died in Seville in 1997, leaving behind a true flamenco dynasty: his grandson, known artistically today as Farruquito, continues the family tradition, and Farruco is still remembered as one of the great patriarchs of twentieth-century Roma dance.