El Potito
Antonio Vargas Cortés El Potito was born in 1976, in Seville. His parents were Gypsy dancers. At the age of six years he was already singing and playing the guitar in the tourist ships that navigated up and down the Guadalquivir river.
El Potito is in constant progress, personally as well as artistically and most of the Flamenco professionals see in him the biggest hopes for the future of this incomparable form of art. A great responsibility that El Potito is well aware of and that he carries with tact and gallantry. In fact he is accustomed to this since, when he was ten years old, the news spread throughout Seville that “Changuito’s boy”- (Changuito was his father, a versatile and brilliant artist) sang like an old man.
He was then requested to perform at the best parties and was endorsed by renowned artists such as Camarón, Paco de Lucía and Lola Flores. With hardly fourteen years of age, he recorded his first album, produced by Pepe de Lucía and he obtained a notable success. The recording featured top of the line collaborators: Paco de Lucía, Tomatito, Vicente Amigo, Manolo Franco, etc.
From those days, The Potito has managed to cross the desert that all prodigy children must take at the time of adolescence leaning on the best teachers he could find: Tomatito, Jorge Pardo and Carles Benavent, Ketama etc. His collaborations in the albums of these artists have been remarkable and he has performed with them worldwide.
Mia Pa Los Restos was the album that meant the beginning of a fruitful maturity- at the age of nineteen!- of El Potito and it was a Flamenco recording without concessions, that his musicality and exquisite sense of the rhythm made accessible to a wide audience. Tangos and tanguillos such as “La niña del canastero” and “Mia pa los restos” were heard on the radio and in all the bars but the disk also included a seguidilla of considerable seriousness and several masterful cantes por bulerias.
El Potito’s recording, titled “El Ultimo Cantaor (The Last Flamenco Singer) shows a young creator full of inspiration and he is able to test the limits of the Flamenco music that is made today. On this recording by El Potito he shows his expertise at the cante por bulerias, sometimes allowing himself to be possessed by the soul of the legendary Niña de los Peines and other times experimenting, singing with only percussion accompaniment or creation a whole new way to perform the jaleos extreños together with Carles Benavent, Guadiana and Ramón El Portugués. He also sings fandangos and tarantas and surprises listeners with his good taste and feeling in the pop songs “Viento Amargo” (Bitter Wind) and “Romance de la Luna”, that were written expressly for him by the Barbería del Sur.
In addition to being at one of his best moments ever as far as recordings, El Potito has also reached an outstanding live performance by working with Tomatito and by creating his own really solid band by gathering some of the best musicians of his generation.
El Potito thinks that all kinds of music can be fused. Traditional Flamenco has already been invented and now needs to evolve. Even though he likes purity, he has no choice but to advance.
His 2013 album with his wife Maleni is a Christian worship recording.
Discography:
Andando Por Los Caminos (CBS, 1990)
Macande (CBS, 1992)
Mia Pa Lo Restos (Nuevos Medios, 1996)
El Último Cantaor (Nuevos Medios 1999
Un mundi de colores (2000)
El Potito (2003)
Barrio Alto (Sony BMG Music, 2006)
Nueva Vasija (2009)
Mi Alabanza y Mis Raices, with Maleni (2013)
Mi Reencuentro (Concert Music Entertainment, 2018)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.