Juanito Valderrama
Who is Juanito Valderrama?
Juan Valderrama Blanca, known artistically as Juanito Valderrama, was born on May 24, 1916, in Torredelcampo (Jaén), into a family of farm workers. With barely any access to formal schooling due to the financial hardship of his childhood, he began singing at a very young age, and at just fourteen he joined the company of La Niña de la Puebla, accompanied on his first tours by his own father.
His professional debut in Madrid came on December 2, 1935, at the Cine Metropolitano, an early start that marked the beginning of one of the longest careers in twentieth-century flamenco cante.
Career
Once settled in Madrid, he trained in the atmosphere of Villa Rosa, listening to and taking his bearings from cantaores such as Antonio Chacón, Manuel Torres, and Manuel Montoya, and in 1940 he recorded twelve tracks with guitar accompaniment by Ramón Montoya. With Niño Ricardo, guitarist and composer, he put his name to some of his most celebrated fandangos, among them “El emigrante,” one of the great hits of his repertoire.
From the 1950s onward he took shows such as “Mi vida y el cante” through Spain, France, Belgium, and Holland, and from 1957 toured Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, in addition to performing regularly on Radio Tetuán, in the former Spanish Morocco. In 1954 he formed both an artistic and personal partnership with the cantaora Dolores Abril, with whom he shared the stage for decades and whom he later married.
Palos and discography
He commanded with ease the seguiriya, the soleá, the fandangos, the cantes de Levante, and the mining cantes, a very broad repertoire that sustained him across more than three hundred recordings. In the 1970s he published “Historia del cante flamenco,” a work through which he wanted to set down his view of the genre, and in 2001, already in his eighties, he surprised everyone with the album “Don Juan.” In 2002 he released his memoirs, “Mi España querida,” written together with the journalist Antonio Burgos.
Legacy
He officially said farewell to the stage on June 24, 1994, in a massive tribute held at the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, attended by figures such as Joan Manuel Serrat, Rocío Jurado, and Lola Flores. Over his career he received, among other honors, the Medalla al Mérito en el Trabajo, the Medalla al Mérito Turístico, and the Medalla de Andalucía. He died on April 12, 2004, in Espartinas (Seville), leaving behind one of the most recognizable and well-traveled voices in twentieth-century flamenco.