The death of Paco Zambrano It has overwhelmed me. It is hard to cope with the death of someone who has contributed so much to the flamenco in general and to the Extremaduran in particular, but the most painful thing is writing the farewell to a friend, the bewilderment suffered when, in short, you receive the news of the loss of one of those beings who leave you with a deep emptiness.
A Francisco Zambrano Vázquez (Fuente de Cantos, Badajoz, 1947 – El Puerto de Santa María, 2025), which is his given name, I met him at the end of the seventies of the last century in Lebrija, a land for which we both professed an invaluable admiration because it opened the doors to its unique singing talents.
It was in such a remote land where he told me about his childhood, with his father's help, listening to the singers who starred in the casts during the fifties in the local cinemas. Zurbaran y CarlotoThere he developed his interest in music, later developing it during the nineteen years he lived in Seville, and with a passion for cante so excessive that he extrapolated it to the year 1971, standing out as a founding member of the Peña Flamenca from Fuente de Cantos, the oldest in Extremadura.
Returning to his homeland in 1980, my admired Paco Zambrano –allow me the reader the colloquial language– was so committed to the associative fabric that two years later, in 1982, he promoted with other great fans and friends equally in memory, the creation of the Federation of Flemish Entities of Extremadura, of whom he was its first president, counting as secretary the incomparable Joaquin Rojas.
From this alliance of peñas, Zambrano and Rojas played a disseminating role of incalculable proportions, making their presence felt in the International Congresses of Flamenco, both with presentations on the defense of the territory and by introducing its protagonists and their respective registers in the three flamenco facets, with the merit, furthermore, that Zambrano was the author of the two presentations that in 1987 (Benalmádena) and 1988 (Cordoba), respectively, approved the cantes flamencos extremeños.
In the mid-eighties of the last century, Paco Zambrano spread the flamenco from the chain BEING in Extremadura, and expanded its disseminating role with articles in specialized magazines Templel, Seville Flamenco y The olive, but without leaving aside his work as a club member, since he was a founding member and president of the two peñaThe oldest in Extremadura, the one already mentioned Peña Flamenca from Fuente de Cantos and the Art Association Flamenco from Badajoz.
Likewise, in 1987 he launched the XNUMXst Competition of Cante Extremeño, dedicated to Porrina from Badajoz, and the 1st International Guitar Competition in Extremadura, in honor of Manolo from Badajoz, a competition that won in its second edition Vicente Friend, without forgetting his active participation in conferences or festival programming, winning the presence of the year 1988 flamenco at the Roman Theater of Mérida.
That same year to which I refer, he organized the I Art Symposium Flamenco City of Badajoz, which I had the honor of closing, and we have met since then in many editions as members of the jury in the now extinct Compass of the Cante, Cruzcampo FoundationThe following year, Zambrano handed over the Peña Nieto baton to Joaquín Rojas, and our dear friend was able to dedicate more time to research, but also to his political duty, since in 1998 he was a national deputy for two terms in the Congress of Deputies, without forgetting that he had a degree in Teaching and was an excellent doctor in Medicine and Surgery, whom those close to us would consult with regarding any organic alteration.
«Paco Zambrano spread the flamenco from the SER network in Extremadura, and expanded his propagation role with articles in the specialized magazines Candil, Sevilla Flamenca and El Olivo, but without neglecting his work as a club member, since he was a founding member and president of the two peña"the oldest in Extremadura"
Already in this century, Zambrano directed the program Flamenco Gathering of Porrina from Badajoz, on the Chain COPE, and collaborated on the program Between palos and complaints, Extremadura Radio Channel, in addition to being appointed director of the Addiction Flamenco opening in Badajoz.
But the new generations will perhaps remember him as a lyricist of fandangos on social media, of which in these urgent lines I recall the one he joyfully labeled as a fandango of the first-time grandfather, when dedicating it to his grandson in 2012: I have a grandson who was born / at the right time. / It may be one's own doing, / but he makes me feel uneasy. / There's no one like my grandson!
Zambrano's popularity grew, however, as a writer and researcher, facets in which he acquired an incontestable notoriety, since he gave a definitive boost to flamenco in Extremadura, as he published essential reference works for posterity, such as Life and work of Porrina de Badajoz (2007), completing his entire discography in the 2019 reissue and expanding his study with the third edition, so recent, of 2025.
To this biography we add Don José Pérez de Guzmán and his fandango (2008) El flamenco Extremaduran in acrostics (2009) Manuel Infante. The Boy from Fregenal (2012) Pepe Nieto from Orellana (2013) and El flamenco organized in Fuente de Cantos, through its Peña Flamenca, in more than 50 years of history (2021), an entity of which, as we noted, he was its first president and founder.
Our very dear Paco Zambrano, who suffered on February 8, 2018 one of the palos the hardest part of his life with death, also from a heart attack, of María Teresa Moreno Cano, his charming wife to whom two months later he dedicated a heartfelt article in expoflamencoSuch a crushing absence could only be mitigated by the enormous love of his children, María Teresa and Paco, and his grandchildren.
Such fruitful work as an effective defender and ambassador of the territory flamenco Extremaduran deserved countless recognitions, among which I highlight the Miguel Acal Award, by the National Association of Art Critics, Writers and Researchers Flamenco (ACEIAF) (2009), to which I add the tribute of the Class of Flamenco from Badajoz (2020) or the one provided at the closing of the XX Autumn Flamenco, of Fuente de Cantos (2023), the festival of which he was the driving force, in addition to other distinctions such as the Extremadura medal (2021), the highest institutional distinction of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura.
From here I bid farewell to these lines with immense sorrow for the loss of my friend Paco Zambrano, to whom I bid you farewell with this fandango of his own authorship:
I was born in Fuente de Cantos,
and I grew up in its streets,
I will now leave Fuentes de Cantos
when it's my turn to die,
even if I'm not in a hurry.
