Carlos Cano

Carlos Cano (born January 28, 1946 in Granada ; † December 19, 2000 ibid), actually José Carlos Cano Fernández , was a Spanish singer, composer and songwriter ("Cantautor"), who had devoted himself primarily to the Andalusian copla .

Life

Carlos Cano was born into a family in Granada that was shaped by the Spanish Civil War . His grandfather was shot at the end of the civil war in 1939. His roots in Andalusia shaped his life and work. Like many young people in the poor region of southern Spain, he emigrated for some time to the rich industrial countries of Central Europe, worked in Switzerland and Germany, spent some time in Paris and made experiences that he also incorporated into his songs.

Cano started poetry and learned to play the guitar. Encouraged by other singers such as the Catalan Lluís Llach , he began to play his music on the guitar and sing at the university in 1969. His songs were initially mostly political, in the time of Franco Carlos Cano was considered persona non grata . His “ verdiblanca ” - green-white-green is the flag of Andalusia - is considered the country's unofficial anthem.

In the 1980s Cano sang many songs with his unmistakable, warm, sonorous voice about love, love affliction and his love for Andalusia, but also took sides for the disadvantaged, as in " Mi amiga Rigoberta " for the indigenous people in Central America, sang about the victims of " Srebrenica ", the "madres locas", those mothers whose children disappeared under the military dictatorship in Argentina and who every Thursday in front of the Casa Rosada , the pink-colored office of the president in the " Plaza de Mayo " in Buenos Aires, with white Headscarves demonstrated in silence.

In 1995 the singer suffered an aortic tear and was operated on in New York at the Mount Sinai Clinic. He returned to Spain with new ideas (“ Nací en Nueva York ”). In the fall of 2000, a new aneurysm struck him . He was in the hospital in Granada for three weeks, where he died of another aortic tear on December 19. 20,000 people passed his body, which was laid out in the town hall.

Cano was married and had two daughters and a son from a new partnership in the last few years of his life.

music

Contrary to some classifications, Carlos Cano was not a flamenco singer , but mainly dedicated himself to the traditional song of his homeland, the Andalusian copla. He sang traditional coplas and composed mainly modern coplas, in which tango , samba , habanera , fado , fandango , boléro and other styles flowed, as well as carnival songs. Again and again he sang about the cities of Andalusia. The port city of Cadiz , which he particularly loved, posthumously declared the singer an honorary citizen. His most famous songs include “ Maria la Portuguesa ” (dedicated to the Portuguese fado singer Amália Rodrigues ), “ Luna de Abril ”, “ Habaneras of Cádiz ”, “ Que desespero ”, “ Tango de las madres locas ”. His last compositions include the Moorish setting of "El Diván del Tamarit" by the Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, which he published in 1998 in the double album "Casidas y Gacelas". He sang with many famous Spanish singers, including Marina Rossell and María Dolores Pradera , who dedicated a CD “ A Carlos Cano ” to him after his death .

Discography

• A duras penas (1975)
• A la luz de los cantares (1976)
• Crónicas granadinas (1978)
• De la luna y el sol (1980)
• El gallo de Morón (1981)
• Si estuvieran abiertas todas las puertas (1983)
• Cuaderno de coplas (1985)
• A través del olvido (1986)
• Quédate con la copla (1987)
• Luna de Abril (1988)
• Ritmo de vida (1989)
• En directo (1990)
• Mestizo (1992)
• Forma de ser (1994)
• Algo especial (1995)
• Chiclanera y otros grandes éxitos (1996)
• El color de la vida (1996)
• Grandes canciones (1997)
• El Diván de Tamarit, Casidas y Gacelas (1998)
• La copla, memoria sentimental (1999)
• Carlos Cano en directo (1999)
• De lo perdido y otras coplas (2000)
• Que naveguen los sueños (2001)
• Grandes Exitos (2006)
• Una vida de copla (with DVD) (2006)
• Carlos Cano. Última gira: Granada, Nueva York, La Habana (2012)

literature

• Fernando Gonzalez Lucini: Y la palabra se hizo música. La canción de autor en España. Fundación Author, Madrid 2006, ISBN 978-84-8048-687-3 .
• Juan José Téllez Rubio: Carlos Cano. Una historia musical andaluza. Fundación Author, Madrid 2005, ISBN 978-84-8048-601-9 .
• Diego de los Santos Lopez: Carlos Cano. A la Luz de sus Cantares. Almuzara Editorial, Córdoba 2005, ISBN 978-84-96416-70-3 .
• Fernando Gonzalez Lucini: Manifiesto Canción del Sur. De la memoria contra el olvido. Fundación Autor, Madrid 1998, ISBN 978-84-8048-632-3 .

Web links

• "Maria la Portuguesa"
• Carlos Cano Programa Tesis Canal Sur Andalusía, Part 1
• Carlos Cano Programa Tesis Canal Sur Andalusía, Part 2
• "Sin ti no puedo vivir"
• "Tango de las madres locas"
• A journey through Andalusia in Carlos Cano's footsteps