El Niño Isidro
Who is El Niño Isidro?
Francisco Barrera García, known as El Niño Isidro, was born in Huelva in 1896. He began singing in public very young, at just thirteen or fourteen, at parties and gatherings in his community, and from that point on cante became the axis of his entire professional life. His name remained forever linked to the city that saw him born and, most especially, to one of the most important dates on the Andalusian calendar: the romería de El Rocío.
Career
He was a constant presence at the Feria de Sevilla and never missed, throughout his entire career, the romería de El Rocío, to which he devoted a good part of his repertoire. He performed regularly at the Seville tablao El Guajiro and also brought copla andaluza to the Teatro Pavón in Madrid, in addition to taking part in numerous flamenco festivals across Andalusia. His dedication to the Rocío devotion and his constant presence at the Feria made him a very popular figure in his homeland.
Palos and discography
He is considered, alongside Manuel Mora “El Comía,” Rengel, and Rebollo, one of the principal creators of the fandango de Huelva, a style to which he devoted most of his career. Within that specialty he cultivated the fandangos rocieros and siguiriyas rocieras, dedicated to the Virgen del Rocío, and went on to compose more than two hundred fandango lyrics of his own. His repertoire was rounded out by saetas, verdiales, malagueñas, and the so-called estilos cortos, valientes, alosneros, and serranos, sustained by a voice of great timbre, especially suited to flamenco cante.
Legacy
He died in Huelva in 1960, in the same city where he had been born. His mark on the fandango of Huelva was so significant that, in 2009, the ninth edition of the Circuito de Cante Flamenco de Huelva was dedicated to his memory, a tribute that recognized his role as one of the fathers of this style and his unshakeable devotion to the romería that shaped much of his work.