Manolo Caracol

Although as a singer he always retained the ability to deliver the core of the traditional art, he was not ashamed to commercialize flamenco to attract a mass popularity; then he gained fame and fortune, as well as adding to a checkered reputation.

This kind of theatre show, very common at the time, was a musical with commonplace love stories set in Andalusian or gypsy context and their musical pieces were usually a mixture of Spanish popular songs called Coplas andaluzas or Canciones españolas.

In 1963 he opened the tablao Los Canasteros, where he dedicated the rest of his life, and where the most outstanding artists of the time performed.

[5] Although sometimes criticized by a very orthodox section of the flamenco public (mainly because of his facet as a singer of copla andaluza, a style which purists consider spurious, but also because of the irregularity of his performances), he is usually considered as one of the singers that better represent 'Duende' (a typical flamenco term which basically means "inspiration").

He possessed a deep, earthy, yet warm voice, and delivered the flamenco cantes (songs) with passion, originality, and extremely personal phrasing.

(Ángel Álvarez Caballero, El cante flamenco, 1998) Anselmo González Climent: "With Caracol, it is impossible to remain emotionally detached (...), from the first line, since the "temple" itself he starts running through our sensibility and invades us thoroughly.

Una historia del cante flamenco, originally published by Hispavox in 1958 with guitarist Melchor de Marchena remains his most seminal work.