The prestigious essay collection dedicated to flamenco from the Andalusian publishing house Almuzara publishes a book of Juan Toro Barea, a renowned enthusiast and researcher of flamenco, dedicated to Diego from MoronHe subtitles it Biography of the goblinWhich couldn't be more accurate, because if there's one thing this unique guitarist has, like his uncle and teacher... Diego del GastorAnd in general, the touch of Morón's character is precisely that of a duende (a type of spirit), pellizcoEmotional connection, the capacity for emotional transmission, for elevation, I would add, recognizing myself as one of the many who feel something special with this type of guitarist. Perhaps with less technique than many others, with a more uneven career, with less popularity, but undoubtedly with a facet only given to a few: that of making a vivid impression in the quickest way, not through technique, which certainly exists, but by adding, with profound simplicity, a charge of suggestion, of radical experience from the purest emotion. In any case, it is something, as he often says, personal, "in my pellizco "I'm in charge," so there will be others, as happens in reverse with virtuosos, who are unfazed or hardly bothered. I'll leave it at that.
Here's an example of what I mean: the guitarist Diego Torres AmayaDiego de Morón, with his emblematic soleá playing, a family legacy. We see him in this video recording published on YouTube in March 2011:
The book's author, Juan Toro, is a native, like the artist, of Morón de la Frontera, where he was born in 1958. He emigrated to CataloniaBut he had the opportunity in his youth to spend considerable time with Diego de Morón, born in 1947 and who died in 2025, the same year his biography was published. As the back cover tells us, this is not just a biography, but an act of justice, a testament of the soul, a hymn to the spirit of art. That is to say, a need to tell the story in the first person, without a bibliography—which is therefore absent—or weighty analyses, but with personal testimonies and those of other fans and family members. A vindication of the emotional quality of Diego's art, lamenting—and I join in this—that artists like him have not had, and do not have, greater visibility or higher recognition.
The book is divided into several chapters that cover aspects such as genealogy and family life, childhood, early learning, military service, love affairs, family and children, Morón from the 1960s to the 21st century, and comings and goings to United States o Japan, the record recordings, the economic or vital difficulties, etc., plus a final discography.
Toro describes the family atmosphere, always within the social context of the 1960s and beyond, the final decades of the dictatorship and the beginning of the democratic era. Poverty and limited education were the initial challenges. The family branch, however, is of distinguished flamenco lineage: his uncle Diego del Gastor as the patriarch, and then his nephews and relatives, including Diego himself, and his father, the flamenco singer. Joseleroothers like The Andorran, or cousins and nephews like the flamenco dancer Fernandillo de Morón, Paco del Gastor, who has a biography in this same collection, Pepe Torres placeholder image, among others.
To learn more about the author, our colleague Estela Zatania He interviewed her in September 2025:
Interview with Juan Toro, author of 'Diego de Morón – Biography of the Duende'
Toro, as well as other testimonies, offer us a truly sincere vision of the artist, who finds an accurate description only in poetry, with its lyricism, because the feeling that art produces, feeling in general, is ineffable and words are barely, as he said Bécquera rude language. The first one writes: "Dieguito is one of those crazy "Wonderful. A pure, true musician. Without ambiguity or duplicity. A free spirit. Passionate to the point of rapture and always straight to the heart" –p. 91–. And further on, this other one that hasn't been well received: "The force that sustains his universe and that forged his passionate character has delicate forms and a cypress soul. It is there, with six sharp, dark swords dominated by lacerating cries, where his existence dwells" –p. 226–.
Here with one of his most recognizable songs, which, says Toro, reached the charts back in the seventies, Fresh air, some intense bulerías, from the album Diego from Moron.
Here we will see various testimonies from personalities of flamenco , the Ortiz Newwho had him at his house for a few days in Madrid, Raúl Rodríguez, captivated by his music, etc. And there are plenty of anecdotes, like the dizziness he felt after many hours of playing, or when some guards stopped him and he ended up playing for them for quite a while… to compensate for the pages dedicated, of which there are some, to the tribulations of his life, the feeling that he wasn't valued enough, or the deaths of family members and very close friends. To his girlfriend Julia He dedicated this song, in pain. Listen carefully, and don't just stop at the introduction, this A memory of Julia, published in 1977:
An admirer of himself, his uncle, and of Paco de LucíaWe are told that Diego de Morón is a charmer of guitar enthusiasts. I had the opportunity to hire him when I was president of the Calixto Sánchez Teachers' Association in Seville many years ago. A privilege I will never forget. Thanks to Juan Toro for his book and for championing the figure of this unique, magical artist. He has done so, and makes no secret of it, from personal experience and complete admiration, and it shows, but he always does it with elegance.
→ Juan Toro, Diego de Morón. Biography of the goblin, Almuzara, Córdoba, 2025, 269 pages.
