Enrique el Mellizo
Enrique Jiménez Fernández also known as Enrique el Mellizo (* December 1, 1848 in Cadiz, Spain, † May 30, 1906, Seville, Spain ) was a famous flamenco singer. Together with Silverio Franconetti and Antonio Chacón, he is considered one of the most important people in the development of flamenco. In particular, he had a great influence on the development of flamenco styles of Cádiz. He was the author of a major Malagueña styles, and is the creator of styles of Palos Soleare, Alegría, tango and Saeta and some to be the forefather of Tiento.
Life
Enrique el Mellizo was the illegitimate son of the butcher Antonio Jiménez whose nickname he adopted as his artist name. Although Mellizo twin means he had no twin brothers. He learned his father's profession, occurred only occasionally in the cafés cantante of Cadiz and wanted to become a professional singer. He entered, for example, never a recording studio. Although he almost never left his hometown, his fame grew in Andalusia and singers from other cities came to Cadiz to see his performances. Although he had a friendly character, he is said to have a strange personality. So he moved, for example, during personal crises to lonely places back and shunned society. He died at age 58 of tuberculosis.
Other singers (mostly from Cadiz ), who knew him, took his style. His legacy has been kept alive by singers like Enrique and his brother Antonio, Aurelio Selle, El Niño de la Isla, Manolo Vargas, La Perla de Cádiz, Chaqueton, Pericón de Cádiz, Manolo Caracol, Chano Lobato.
Music Legacy
The most important creation of El Mellizo is his Malagueñas style. In his time, innovative, he mixed the Malagueña with the style of the Gypsies. According to one tradition, he created this style after an unhappy love affair, which brought him a time of loneliness. During this time, he often visited a church and was inspired by the opening songs of the priests in the Holy Mass. In memory of it sometimes such discharges are sung to a Malagueña today. In contrast to the opinion of the critics El Mellizo sang the first to Malagueña as cante libre ( free vocals), ie without binding metric or rhythmic structure.
Other contributions that are attributed to him by oral tradition, are
- He sang the first the Alegrías as cante para escuchar ( to listen ), in contrast to cante para bailar ( to dance ). Originally Alegrías was a style exclusively for the dance.
- He was the creator of Tientos, which is based on the melodies of the tango. Other opinions speak to the singer Diego El Marruro.
- He created and developed different styles of Soleares.
- He contributed to the musical development of the tango.
- He created the Saetas por seguiriyas way, using elements of Siguiriyas for traditional Saetas.
- He created and developed different Siguiriyas styles.