Guitarist Enrique de Melchor dies
in Madrid at the age of 61
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Guitarist Enrique de Melchor dies in Madrid at the age of 61. According to information communicated to Flamenco-world.com by sources close to the artist, his death occurred on the morning of January 3rd, 2012 in a hospital in Madrid as a result of the metastasis of a cancer which he had overcome years earlier. Enrique Jiménez Ramírez (Marchena, Seville, 1950), son of the historic guitar maestro Melchor de Marchena, made his début at the age of fifteen at the Tablao Los Canasteros by the hand of Manolo Caracol. As an accompanying guitarist, he played for top cante figures like Antonio Mairena, El Lebrijano, José Mercé, Enrique Morente… And especially for José Menese, who he was lead guitarist for both on stages and at the recording studio, as is reflected on albums such as ‘A mi madre Remedios’, ‘La Puerta Ronda’ and ‘A mis soledades voy, de mis soledades vengo’, among other titles. He also collaborated with Carmen Linares on ‘Antología. La mujer en el cante’, playing the petenera by La Niña de los Peines for her. But he always let his personality surface as a composer and concert guitarist. He thus expressed it on discs like ‘Cuchichí’ (1992), ‘Bajo la luna’ (1996) and ‘Arco de las rosas’ (1998), among others. His most recent album is ‘Raíz flamenca’ (2005), a compilation with previously-unreleased scores in which he recovered collaborations by Paco de Lucía, José Mercé and Manzanita. Enrique de Melchor received the Calle de Alcalá Award at the 2010 Caja Madrid Flamenco Festival. With this news, flamenco once again goes into mourning in a tragic year which has added up the losses of Moraíto Chico, Enrique Morente and Mario Pacheco.
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