The recognition of Medina boy always started from Arcos de la FronteraThe town that in 1983 named a street after him and in 2001 honored him with the IX Recital of Saetas, the year in which it also dedicated the Festival of the Snows to him, where the Niño Medina National Journalism Prize was awarded, a contest that I am honored to have won and which was only held for the first time.
And that opens up a controversy that was saved by Antonio Cristo Ruiz in the magazine Oil lamp No. 142 (published in February 2004), where it was shown that, although of Arcos ancestry, José Manuel Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Rodríguez de la Rosa, Niño Medina, was born on May 30, 1888 from Jerez de la Frontera and being baptized in the Parish of San Marcos.
But hovering over his work, although it is often said that Niño Medina recorded alongside Master Patena at Odeon with the International Talking Machine Company (GMBH), the only recordings I have of him yield 31 cantes –some repeated– that correspond to 1910 with the guitar of Ramon Montoya, the year that coincides with the full commercialization of the two-sided shellac record, and which branched out into the Zonophone and Gramophone labels.
In this light, Niño Medina rigorously addressed three variants of the seguiriyas of Manuel Molina, such as the women of Jerez according to Mr. Antonio Chacon (With cloves and cinnamon y Always in the corners), and the Puerto Cabal (And I pray to God), in addition to the Cadiz style of Old Man of the Island (Let's kneel down).
As for the soleares, he is the first flamenco singer to introduce us to one of the three styles attributed to the Zonophone label. Juaniquin (They call me the Moreno), a majestic and distinctive variant that includes reminiscences of La SernetaIn addition to having one of the albums in its repertoire, and on the same record label, canteJerez residents of Beans (They dress in red y When I was most comfortable), which he so successfully disseminated Pastora Pavón, another man from Cádiz Henry the Twin (That you don't love me, mountain girl), and two from La Serneta with Chaconian echoes (Evils that time brings y They say I feel nothing).
On the other hand, in mining styles he sought the Chaconian model, and the taranta, for example, he mastered it extensively, as evidenced by his introduction of the Almerian taranto of The Little Owl (Ronda, Pruna and Alcalá), which could well have served as the basis for the one of Pastora Pavón (give me poison), and in the taranta of Linares (All the miners tremble), in addition to contributing to the taranta of The Gabriela (A foggy morning, which concludes with the fandango of Cartagena, To the water current), something new, such as the temperament of the petenera, as can be seen in the mining taranta Oh, gallery.
Without losing this line, Medina followed in Chacón's footsteps in Cartagena (To remove the pathway), which he resolved with the Lucena fandango of Rafael Rivas (That had to stop.), apart from executing the big one of Red the Espadrille Maker (End, pain, end).
"Niño Medina was a true master, a flamenco singer of the so-called encyclopedic kind, since, in addition to mastering the styles of his time, some point out that he, along with Niño de la Isla, infused the Asturian and mountain songs with flamenco, not forgetting his contribution to flamenco jotas (Al puerto de Guadarrama), a style with which he anticipated El Chozas."
On another note, although it was Antonio Revuelta The first person to sing the guajira publicly at the end of the 19th century, no one questions that it was Niño Medina who, according to Domingo Sampiero, elevated her to the “peak of popularity”, and her You will remember, my love, resolved with And it is the artist's path.While lacking virtuosity for undemanding fans, it is a good example of perfect execution.
This was also evident in the tangos, since, very much in line with Manuel Torre, he tackled the slow tangos (today tientos) of Cádiz (And he blessed my mother) and the people of Jerez from Frijones (The light of endeavor, If I publish you, I'll lose track of you. y In the house of sorrow), in which he was also a teacher of Pastora Peacock.
But within the wide range of tangos, Niño Medina specialized in the garrotín, of which he was an accomplished specialist, since he competed, according to González Climent, with the Child of the Marianas y Manuel Torre at the Café de Novedades. While the first, who would be the one to take the prize, displayed his Marianas and the second the Farruca, Niño Medina achieved fame with the Garrotín in the early years of this century, to the point that he monopolized the style that he began to sing, as confessed by Niño de las Marianas himself, and his version (If the King of Spain lost, Once I loved you y How much do you want to bet?), served as a reference, along with that of Amalia Molina, for the modality that would enhance Pastora Peacock.
However, it was through petenera and bulerías that he would capture the attention of his contemporaries and later analysts. Thus, the short petenera (At the foot of your grave) Niño Medina took it from his grandfather, while he perfected his mastery of the petenera grande, a style which, like Don Antonio Chacón, he also learned from Medina the Elder (I don't even believe in my own mother. y Boy who was leather and barefoot), a variant that lengthened its melodic sequence and which, in addition to being followed by Manuel Escacena and for the unsurpassed Pastora Pavón was magnified by the brilliant Sevillian (I would like to deny).
He was also one of the pioneers of bulerías, recording two sets of short bulerías, almost all of Jerez character, the first with six stanzas (When they have a dress, Oh my God, what a mess I'll make!, I was born in Algiers, the Arcos native Oh mommy, oh mommy, the Cadiz version of Four pairs of Francis y My God, what is this?), and the second with seven (I wish I could be with you, I wish I could be with you, I feel a strange sensation in my body., That muleteer is cursed, Oh my God, what a mess I'll make!, Oh mommy, oh mommy y Oh my God, I don't know what this is.).
These canteThe reviews point to Niño Medina and La Niña de los Peines, who are equally important, as the leading figures in the recording industry of current bulerías, the first professional cultivators of authentic Jerez bulerías, to the point that they were the ones who contributed to the initial popularization of this cante so complex.
In light of the foregoing, Niño Medina was a true master, a flamenco singer of the so-called encyclopedic kind, since, in addition to mastering the styles of his time, some point out that he incorporated flamenco, along with the Island Child, the Asturian and mountain women, not forgetting their contribution to flamenco jotas (To the port of Guadarrama), a style with which he anticipated The Huts.
With this work by Niño Medina, it is confirmed once again that while the great masters of art have always been the object of the most intense curiosity from thoughtful people, I only detect that exception in the flamenco, a genre in which only memory seems to act as sentinel of the spirit. ♦
→ See here the first installment by Manuel Martín Martín about Niño Medina.
