Vicente Soto "Sordera". Flamenco singer from Jerez de la Frontera

My journey through flamenco singing: Cádiz, Seville, JerezPremiere in Madrid

Manuel Valencia, guitar
Manuel Cantarote and José Rubichi, clapping and cheering

Synopsis
A musical journey through three of flamenco's most emblematic cities, paying homage to undisputed figures of the art form. In Cádiz, the memory of flamenco song is scattered among La Caleta, Santa María, and La Viña. The raw, metallic echoes still fill the labyrinthine streets. The salty, seafaring songs of El Mellizo and La Perla de Cádiz breathe life into a unique style forged in the clear sounds of its bay. In Seville, Vicente Soto strolls through Triana and recalls the Caganchos forge, where the spirit of the gypsies and the first songs were forged. He also lingers in the courtyards scented with jasmine to seek the echoes of El Titi. Jerez remains the architectural sum of all the echoes of the forges and bell ringers that its two gypsy quarters—Santiago and San Miguel—gathered. Jerez is the memory of cante jondo (deep song). Seguiriya by Paco la Luz, soleá por bulerías, bulerías from Jerez.

Vicente Soto “Deafness”
Vicente was born in the Santiago neighborhood of Jerez, into a family with a long and distinguished flamenco tradition. He is the custodian of one of the most important legacies of cante jondo, being a direct descendant of a lineage of flamenco singers that includes such significant names as Paco La Luz, La Serrana, El Sordo La Luz, El Niño Gloria, and his own father, Manuel Soto "Sordera." Even as a child, he combined his guitar studies with his natural inclination towards singing, ultimately choosing the latter in his teens. From then on, he began working in various flamenco venues in Madrid and expanded his professional experience worldwide, performing alongside artists such as Antonio Gades, La Chunga, and Manuela Vargas.

He has performed on stages as prestigious as La Scala in Milan, the Théâtre des Nations in Paris, the Teatro Avenida in Buenos Aires, and the Teatro Comunale in Rome. He has toured solo in the United States and Canada, and in 1984 resided in Japan. He returned to Paris in 1985 with the show Flamenco Puro . In 1986, he toured Spain and Portugal with his show Pessoa Flamenco , which premiered at the Teatro Español in Madrid and the Teatro São Luiz in Lisbon (revived in 2004). His flamenco cantata, Las Horas Muertas, by José Bergamín, premiered at the Teatro Albéniz in Madrid and at the Seville Biennial. The show, a tribute to a patriarch, La Casa de los Sordera, premiered in 1998 at the Teatro Central in Seville and the Centro Cultural de la Villa in Madrid.

On April 24, 1999, to mark the awarding of the Cervantes Prize to the poet José Hierro, the show * El hierro de Vicente Soto * premiered at the Teatro Cervantes in Alcalá de Henares . *Entre dos mundos 2000 *, a show that combines flamenco and Latin rhythms with texts by Spanish and Latin American poets, has premiered at Casa de América in Madrid, Guadalajara (Mexico), and the Seville Biennial, among other venues. His discography includes a notable trilogy dedicated to Seville, Jerez, and Cádiz, produced by Spanish Radio and Television (RTVE). This trilogy features up to 40 different styles, the most representative of these three emblematic flamenco cities.

Vicente Soto "Sordera" has released 13 albums and has received the most prestigious flamenco awards (the National Prize of Córdoba, the Pastora Pavón Prize, and the Mairena del Alcor Prize). He has performed at major flamenco festivals throughout Spain and France, and in theaters and music festivals in Germany, Italy, the United States, Japan, Australia, the Philippines, Canada, Portugal, Argentina, Mexico, the Netherlands, Austria, and Belgium. In 2005, Vicente Soto "Sordera" released * Estar alegre * and premiered * El Quijote cantante y sonante* , which he toured throughout Spain and several other countries. In 2007, he premiered * Voces jondas *. In 2010, he presented his shows *Geografías flamencas * at the Teatro Price in Madrid and * Los versos navegables * at the Almagro International Theater Festival, touring extensively throughout Spain and several European countries.

In 2013, he released a new album, Colores distintos (Different Colors ), which premiered at the 2013 Jerez Festival, and presented the show La esencia flamenco del Siglo de Oro (The Flamenco Essence of the Golden Age ). In 2015, he premiered Quijote flamenco (Flamenco Quixote) at the Fernán Gómez Theatre in Madrid, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the publication of the second part of Don Quixote. In 2018, he premiered his album and show A la mujer. Coplas del desagravio (To Woman: Songs of Redress) at the Jerez Festival and at the Suma Flamenca in Madrid.

Photo: Claudia Ruiz

*Reduced visibility in the 2nd tier