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Paco de Lucía is invested Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Cádiz (UCA)
Paco de Lucía (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

Paco de Lucía is invested Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Cádiz (UCA). The Algeciras-born guitarist was conferred this honor on March 23rd at a ceremony held at the Superior Polytechnic School of Algeciras. The sponsor of the act and vice-rector of UCA’s University Extension, Virtudes Atero Burgos, pointed out in the ‘eulogy’ that “what is folk, what is Andalusian and what is flamenco have been added by Paco del Lucía to the artistic ambience of the cultured, to which they in fact belong”. Moreover, he went back over his artistic career and his life, falling back on his humble origins and on his ability to personalize musical crossbreeding. Following the protocol ceremony, the toque maestro admitted that this award was special to him: “When I found out about the decision by the University of Cádiz, I felt something different. I’ve always considered myself the antithesis of formal education. I’ve always been streetwise and self-taught in every sense of the word”. And that, in his case, represents “real pride in a component of effort and dignity”. In the name of the university institutions, rector Diego Sales Márquez recognized that the ceremony was “a way to at least partly reduce the enormous debt the university owes to flamenco”.