Flamenco triumphs at the 2011 Music Awards

Enrique Morente, Chano Domínguez, Kiko Veneno and La Shica are prizewinners

Flamenco-world.com, April 2011

The decision by the Academy of Spanish Music to pay tribute to flamenco after it was declared Heritage of Humanity has remained clear at the winners’ podium in the fifteenth edition of the 2011 Music Awards. And not just in the specific section for flamenco, but it also spreads to many other categories. Enrique Morente receives the posthumous title of the Best Flamenco Album Award, but also winning prizes are musicians tangential to the jondo such as Chano Domínguez, Kiko Veneno, Joan Albert Amargós and La Shica, among others. The gala will have flamenco as its common thread and it will be directed by Javier Limón.  

Enrique Morente (Photo Daniel Muñoz)

As a tribute by the Academy of Spanish Music to one of the most creative musicians of the past few decades, Enrique Morente wins the posthumous title of the Best Flamenco Album Award 2011, a category in which he competed with ‘Ruido’ by José Mercé as well as ‘Cuerdas del alma’ by Cañizares. And it awards his latest disc ‘Morente + Flamenco’, his second selection of previously-unreleased live cantes which he had stashed away in his personal archives.

But flamenco imbues many other categories in this fifteenth edition. Pianist Chano Domínguez, a flamenco jazz icon, wins the Best Jazz Album Award for ‘Piano Ibérico’. La Shica, as much a bailaora as a singer, wins the prizes for Revelation Artist and Revelation Album for ‘Supercop’. Kiko Veneno, one of the instigators of new flamenco, wins the Best Alternative Pop Award for ‘Dice la gente’. Joan Albert Amargós has been awarded as Best Arranger for his work for ‘Sonanta Suite’ by Tomatito. And also well-known is the jondo influence on singer Pastora Soler, Best Copla Album for ‘15 años’; rapper La Mala Rodríguez, Best Hip Hop Album for ‘Dirty bailarina’; and the group Los Planetas, Best Alternative Rock Album for ‘Una ópera egipcia’.

Flamenco gala