José Menese
Who is José Menese?
José Menese Scott was born on December 3, 1942 in La Puebla de Cazalla (Seville). A payo cantaor, he began singing at barely 8 years old in his father’s shoe shop, a humble, working-class setting far removed from the great stages he would eventually tread. His great patron was the painter and lyricist Francisco Moreno Galván, who took him to Madrid and introduced him to the capital’s intellectual and artistic circles, decisively shaping the course of his career.
He made his public debut at the Cine Carretería in Osuna, introduced by Antonio Mairena, whose way of understanding cante jondo — serious, orthodox, far from commercial concessions — he adopted as his own aesthetic reference from the very start.
Career
Between 1963 and 1968 he was part of the cast at Madrid’s Zambra tablao, sharing bills with figures such as Pericón de Cádiz, Perico el del Lunar, Rafael Romero, Juan Varea and Rosa Durán. His principal guitarist for much of his career was Melchor de Marchena, and later he was also accompanied by Enrique de Melchor and Juan Carmona “Habichuela.” In 1965 a short film recorded for German television boosted his popularity and opened the way to a tour across Spain.
His reach turned international with two recitals at the Paris Opera in 1973 and 1974, and took on an almost institutional dimension in 1985, when he performed with the National Orchestra and Choir of Spain at a concert held at the United Nations headquarters in New York. He also appeared at venues such as the Teatro Real, the Auditorio Nacional, the Palau de la Música in Barcelona and Madrid’s Teatro Monumental. Moreno Galván put him in touch with writers and artists of the Generation of ‘50 — Caballero Bonald, Rafael Alberti, Antonio Gala, Fernando Quiñones, Luis Rosales — though Menese always insisted he did not want other poets writing for him, preferring to see himself as “a man alone with the voice of his people.”
Palos and discography
His repertoire, faithful to the Mairena legacy, included tonás and free-form cantes, siguiriyas, soleares, tangos, tientos, malagueñas, granaínas, tarantas and serranas. He left an extensive discography that began in 1963 with his recorded debut alongside Melchor de Marchena, and which includes titles such as “Cantes de José Menese” (1965), “Cantes flamencos básicos” (1967), “Menese” (1968), “Renuevos de cantes viejos” (1970), “Andalucía: 40 años” (1978), “La Puerta de Ronda” (1987), “Firme me mantengo” (1991) and “A mis soledades voy, de mis soledades vengo” (2005), his last studio work.
Legacy
Over his career he amassed an extensive list of honours: the Tomás El Nitri Prize of Honour at the National Flamenco Art Competition of Córdoba (1965), the Siguiriyas Prize of Marbella (1966), the Mairena del Alcor award (1967), the People’s Prize of the newspaper Pueblo (1968), the Golden Saeta of Seville (1969), the Golden Taranta of Almería (1971) and the National Cante Prize of the Chair of Flamencology (1974), among others. He was also the first cantaor of his generation included in the Larousse Dictionary, at the age of 25, and Rafael Alberti dedicated a poem to him. He died at his home in La Puebla de Cazalla on July 29, 2016, aged 74, weeks before the tributes planned for him at the Mairena del Alcor and Alcalá la Real festivals; he is considered one of the most influential non-Roma cantaores in flamenco history, capable of bridging the most orthodox cante jondo with intellectual and university audiences.