- The singer receives the 'Castillete de Oro', "the first award he has received in his life", in a moment that he has described as one of the greatest of his career
- "What I want is to contribute my grain of sand so that the flamenco Don't miss it," he added during the discussion
The Union, August 8, 2024
Far from the image of a tough guy, Omar Montes is pure sensitivity. This was perceived by the hundreds of people who yesterday gathered around the New Mining Museum of La Unión to welcome one of the artists of the moment, who came to the municipality for the first time to collect the highest institutional distinction awarded by the International Mining Festival. Cante of the Mines to those who contribute to the defense and dissemination of the flamenco: the 'Golden Castle'.
Overwhelmed, he said that this was the first award he had received in his career. A dream award that made it one of the most important moments of his life. “I would never have imagined this award and it gives me goosebumps,” he said with that sincerity and authenticity that characterizes him. The same way he greeted the media and arrived at the place where he would have a chat with the journalist Juan Ramón Lucas, but not before getting out of the car and kindly greeting all his fans.
Omar, who says he is always joking, became serious and showed some nervousness in front of Lucas, showing him his admiration, creating an atmosphere typical of a conversation between friends who respect each other. There, he recalled that moment when he recorded his first song thanks to a computer he found in the trash with his friend Moncho, or how his desire to leave the environment in which he grew up led him to dream big, working constantly and fighting for his dream, which was to sing, despite the fact that his environment did not support such an ambitious goal. “We were rowing against the current, fighting for a dream that only we saw. But I did not let myself be carried away by all those people, because if you listen to them, that's when you end up badly. You have to believe in yourself because God has given you a purpose and you have it in your head. You cannot give up” he said. That is why he encouraged those in attendance to “always go for the maximum” in everything they do.
“I try to make commercial music applied to flamenco"
Omar Montes has the flamenco inside from the cradle. He points out that it is a way of life with which one is born. Therefore, faced with a "crude and sad reality that the flamenco is being lost” to reggaeton, trap or other music, he is clear: “What I try to do, since I have a speaker of 10 million people who listen to me every month, is to make commercial music applied to flamenco"That's where the 'flame of love' or 'la sevillana' came from, which has made this genre sound in nightclubs for the first time.
“I try to make the flamenco, which is a slightly darker music, making it mainstream by adding more pleasant melodies so that 15-year-olds can listen to it, with more friendly urban words and telling a story so that they are hooked," he said. He already knows that the younger ones love it, but he wants it to be understood from the outside as well. flamenco more purist, that the greats of the genre do not see him as an enemy but as an ally so that the flamenco Don't miss out. “I want to do my bit to make the flamenco do not disappear,” he adds.
Collecting the 'Castillete de Oro' he stressed that everything he does, he does from the heart. “This is a very big moment for me and the president of the Foundation Cante de las Minas has made me very happy,” he said. “We are convinced that Omar is a worthy recipient of the award, because he is the bridge between the music of the youngest with the flamenco lifelong, making many young people listen flamenco and that is a great achievement,” concluded Joaquín Zapata, president of the Foundation.
