Award-wining flamenco singer José Antonio Valencia Vargas, better known as José Valencia, was born in Barcelona in 1975. He grew up in a gypsy family from Andalucia (southern Spain) that had temporarily moved to Barcelona. The family returned to Lebrija (Seville province) in 1983.
José Valencia performed on stage for the first time when he was five years old. It was at a tribute festival to Melchor de Marchena held in Barcelona. The young artist appeared as Joselito de Lebrija, performing with his uncle Luís de Lebrija.
At the age of 11, he won the First Prize in the Youth Contest of the Federation of Peñas y Entidades Flamencas de Sevilla and a year later, he was awarded the soleá prize in the prestigious Concurso de Cante de Mairena del Alcor. Later he worked with guitarist Pedro Bacán and with his ensemble El Clan de los Pininis.
In 2000 he changed his stage name to José Valencia and began to sing with various dancers such as Farruquito, Antonio Canales, Rafael Campallo, Antonio “El Pipa”, Joaquín Grilo, Javier Latorre and Andrés Marín.
Throughout 2005, he was a member of the show ‘Carmen, Carmela’ by Antonio Canales. He also started to perform as a soloist at the ‘Flamenco Thursdays’ at the Joaquín Turina Hall in Seville and at the Mont de Marsan Festival.
In 2012, José Valencia won the Giraldillo del cante award at the 2012 Seville Flamenco Biennial.
José Valencia released his first solo album in 2012 titled Sólo Flamenco.
In 2015, José Valencia released a live CD+DVD set called Directo. The live show featured José Valencia on vocals; Juan Requena on guitar; Manuel Parrilla on guitar; and Bobote, Juan Diego Valencia and Manuel Valencia on palmas (flamenco handclap percussion).
Discography:
Sólo Flamenco (Karonte, 2012)
Directo (El Mandaito, 2015)
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.