Vicente el Granaíno
Who is Vicente el Granaíno?
Vicente Fernández Maldonado, known as Vicente el Granaíno, was born in Granada in 1927. Blind from birth, he received his musical training at the school for the blind in his city, where he learned classical guitar, and later moved into flamenco playing as well as the bandurria and the lute under the guidance of maestro Rodríguez Albert. By fourteen he already stood out enough to win a prize in a plucked-string music competition organized by the ONCE, a foretaste of the career he would go on to build.
Career
He founded and directed the Trío Granada, an ensemble with which he toured stages in Spain, the United States, South America, Morocco and Europe. In 1965 he moved to the Americas, where he formed his own company, and later lived for twenty-five years in Madrid before returning to Granada. Throughout his career he accompanied both guitarists such as Niño Ricardo and Sabicas and singers of the stature of Antonio Mairena, Canalejas de Puerto Real, Rocío Jurado, Perlita de Huelva and Alfredo Arrebola, among many others, always living independently despite his blindness.
Style and discography
His simultaneous mastery of the guitar, the bandurria and the lute, together with his ability to move with equal ease between the classical and flamenco repertoires, made him one of the great internationally recognized masters of plectrum instruments. Between 1970 and his later years he produced more than a hundred recordings for labels such as Hispavox and Belter, among them the album “Cuatro Instrumentos y un Intérprete” (1994), on which he alone played guitar, bandurria, lute and bass, and he closed out his career with a duo recording alongside pianist José Molina.
Legacy
In 1965 he performed at the White House before President Eisenhower, who gave him a guide dog as a gift, and in 1963 he gave a private performance in Granada, together with Canalejas, for the then Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sofía. In 2010 the Granada City Council awarded him the Silver Medal of Merit, in recognition of a career that came to a close with his death on 22 January 2017, at the age of 96.