{"id":10286,"date":"2021-09-16T07:05:12","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T07:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.universolorca.com\/personaje\/caracol-manolo-manuel-ortega-juarez\/"},"modified":"2021-10-22T09:00:21","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T09:00:21","slug":"caracol-manolo-manuel-ortega-juarez","status":"publish","type":"personaje","link":"https:\/\/www.universolorca.com\/en\/personaje\/caracol-manolo-manuel-ortega-juarez\/","title":{"rendered":"Caracol, Manolo (Manuel Ortega Ju\u00e1rez)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manolo Caracol (nicknamed Snail), artistic name of Manuel Ortega Ju\u00e1rez, was born in Seville in 1909 into an old dynasty to which belonged dozens of renowned singers and bullfighters. He was great-great-grandson of El Planeta; great-grandson of Enrique El Gordo Viejo<\/em> and Curro Durse; grandson of El \u00c1guila; great-nephew of Paquiro and more or less close relative of a long list of creators, including his father (Manuel Fern\u00e1ndez, Caracol el del Bulto<\/em>), which allowed him to be educated in an environment conducive to his vocation. He started very young. In fact, his first triumph dates back to 1922, when he was 11 years old, in the Flamenco Song Contest<\/a> in the Plaza de los Aljibes<\/a> organized by Manuel de Falla<\/a>, Ignacio Zuloaga<\/a> and Federico Garc\u00eda Lorca, among others, when he was twelve years old.<\/p>\n

He was born in Corral de los Frailes, in Seville’s Alameda de H\u00e9rcules, and before triumphing in the 1922 contest he toured the taverns of the neighborhood and cemented a solid and promising fame. In Granada he won the shared first prize (one thousand pesetas) with Diego Berm\u00fadez, El Tenazas<\/em>,<\/a> a 68-year-old singer from Mor\u00f3n. Caracol fascinated the jury and the audience with his singing and his youth.<\/p>\n

Galer\u00edn, critic of El Liberal from Seville<\/em>, wrote after his performance: “A boy of eleven years old, son of the former swordsman, Caracol, takes the stage. He is accompanied by one of the best guitar players<\/em> in Spain, Ni\u00f1o de Huelva. Caracolito opted for the siguiriyas prize and when the guitarist received a standing ovation in some beautiful falsettos, the boy broke out, very flamenco, very gypsy-like, but unable to cope with something so big, with this couplet: `Corre y dile a mi mare [Run and tell my mother]\/ que no llore m\u00e1s [not to cry anymore], \/ sino que vaya a la audiencia de [but to go to the court of\u00a0C\u00e1diz]<\/em>\u00a0\/ por mi libertad [for my freedom]’. There was much applause for the boy, but as the little boy was prepared, he went forward to the stage with two formidable (modern) saetas, which started a storm of applause”.<\/p>\n

His first triumph as a singer dates back to 1922, when he was 11 years old, in the Flamenco Song Contest in the Plaza de los Aljibes organized by Manuel de Falla, Ignacio Zuloaga and Federico Garc\u00eda Lorca, among others, when he was 12 years old.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Melchor Fern\u00e1ndez Almagro<\/a>, a great friend of Federico Garc\u00eda Lorca, who attended the flamenco event, wrote after recording Caracol’s performance: “Triumph for him and for the stupendous\u00a0guitarist\u00a0they call Ni\u00f1o de Huelva. The pathetic force of this supreme manifestation of human sorrow pierces our spirit”.<\/p>\n

His success in Granada propelled him to the show companies and opened the doors of the Reina Victoria Theater in Seville and the Central Theater in Madrid. In 1925, he participated in another song contest with Ni\u00f1a de los Peines<\/a>, Pepe Marchena and El Cojo de M\u00e1laga.\u00a0In 1930, he married and recorded his first album. From then on, and until the end of the Civil War, he performed at private parties.<\/p>\n

After the war he was part of the show Four Pharaohs<\/em>, together with El Sevillano, Juanito Valderrama and Pepe Pinto. Finally, in 1943, he began one of his most successful collaborations: with Lola Flores he staged Zambra<\/em>, a show based on music by Quintero, Le\u00f3n and Quiroga, which remained on the billboard until 1951.<\/p>\n

\"Manolo<\/a>
Manolo Caracol and Lola Flores.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the end of his artistic relationship with Lola Flores he embarked on an artistic tour of America with the dancer and choreographer Pilar L\u00f3pez J\u00falvez<\/a>, sister of La Argentinita<\/a>. In 1963, he founded the flamenco\u00a0tablao <\/em>(theater) of Los Canasteros in Madrid, to which he devoted himself entirely for the rest of his life and through which passed the most renowned flamenco artists.<\/p>\n

In 1972, he released his last record and a year later, on February 24, 1973, he died in a traffic accident on his way from his home in Madrid to Los Canasteros. The car, driven by his chauffeur, collided with a pole due to a strong gust of wind. His disappearance caused great commotion and there were many events of recognition and tribute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manolo Caracol (nicknamed Snail), artistic name of Manuel Ortega Ju\u00e1rez, was born in Seville in 1909 into an old dynasty to which belonged dozens of renowned singers and bullfighters. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10289,"template":"","agrupacion":[134],"class_list":["post-10286","personaje","type-personaje","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","agrupacion-musicians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.universolorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/personaje\/10286"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.universolorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/personaje"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.universolorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/personaje"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.universolorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.universolorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"agrupacion","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.universolorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/agrupacion?post=10286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}