Flamenco Star Enrique Morente in Intensive Care

Enrique Morente, one great masters of flamenco, is in “stable condition,” according to his family, at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Madrid’s Clínica La Luz. He is recovering from two surgeries to treat esophageal cancer. Some Spanish media reports mention that Morente is in a coma after suffering a stroke.

Enrique Morente will be turning 68 on December 25. He was born in the Albaicín district of Granada (Spain). At the age of eighteen, he moved to Madrid, where he was known as Enrique El Granaíno (Enrique, from Granada).

In the Spanish capital he would hang out both on and off stage with the biggest flamenco names of the time: Pepe de la Matrona, Bernardo el de los Lobitos, Manolo de Huelva and others. Very soon, he surprised the critics and the experts by his curiosity about and interest in assimilating and performing the most difficult flamenco cantes and styles, and also by his commitment to becoming a broad-based cantaor, without distinction of schools or geographical divisions.

Many regard Morente as the best flamenco singer since the death of the legendary Camarón de la Isla.

He married dancer Aurora Carbonell and has three children, including Flamenco singer Estrella Morente, who is one of the leading vocalists of her generation; Enrique Morente Carbonell and Maria Soleá Morente.

Before his surgery, Morente had been working on a new album titled ‘El barbero de Picasso’ (Picasso’s barber), which is a tribute to the great Spanish painter born in Malaga. The album is scheduled for release in the next weeks.