Manuel Muñoz Alcón (Sanlúcar de Barrameda 1943-Jerez de la Frontera 2022), universally known as Manolo Sanlúcar, took the name of his land since, along with guitar and family, it was what he loved most in life. Retired from the stage for the last ten years, he dedicated himself body and soul, like a hermit and exegete, to what is today his extraordinary intellectual legacy. It is the most precious creation for the Cádiz artist, a creative, philosophical and didactic testament, divided into three written volumes, the first of them 'Andalusia: the Other History', an erudite introspection around the origin of the Andalusian culture whose germ It is flamenco, as well as a catalyst for the character and idiosyncrasy of Andalusia.
A story told from a different point of view, in which music coexists in parallel struggle with the persistence and vicissitudes that marked the evolution of the Andalusian people, subjected for centuries. It is followed by two others titled 'The School', where the academic-artistic model defined by the teacher is outlined; a treatise on musical science, canons and everything that brings together the dense flamenco cultural world. A document that acquires the title of historical as it is the first that rigorously organizes canonical musical knowledge in the culture of the flamenco guitar.
Added to them is the legacy in audiovisual format 'The flamenco guitar', which consists of thirteen chapters presented, written and directed by Manolo Sanlúcar himself, the result of as many years of work and in which more than forty renowned artists participated, With the flamenco guitar as a common thread, it comprises a masterful exposition of the so-called 'palos' of flamenco from a formal vision of its precepts.
All this vast legacy, at the express wish of the Sanluqueño genius, passed into the hands of a Catalan whose friendship with the maestro was forged in the final stage of his life. José Martínez Talavera, a seasoned businessman in a family insurance company whose love of the guitar since he was very young ended up placing him, almost without intending it, in the inner circle of the multifaceted creator of the marshes. It is in that same environment of confidences and friendship where he received Sanlúcar's commission: 'Even today I am not clear what he saw in me. Why he believed he was the right person to preserve his legacy, his life's work. A responsibility that I could not oppose.
From his watchtower in a unique building located in the very heart of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, headquarters of his company, he remembers the day when Manolo Sanlúcar confessed to him his last will, his desire: to have a foundation that would also house a 'museum', a place that transcended his person and endured over time. Martínez then proposed that he convert his long-developed pedagogical method into the Manolo Sanlúcar International Flamenco Guitar Institute, where he could train students from all over the world following his teaching, the one from which figures such as Vicente Amigo, Rafael Riqueni, David Carmona or himself emerged. Juan Carlos Romero, a disciple who directs the institute by direct appointment of his friend and teacher.
As a result of that love affair between teacher and businessman, in 2019 the Manolo Sanlúcar Aura Seguros Foundation was born, on the pillars of what the company had previously created, the Foundation for Flamenco Arts. 'I told Manolo that in the same way that he had
changed his last name for that of his city, we would do it for his,' recalls Martínez. And so he began to take his first steps, embarking on a path not without stones in his shoes. The difficulties inherent in raising a project of international scope such as this one were met by the pandemic, and later the titanic effort to strengthen the three main branches that sprouted from the trunk of a tree that today casts its protective shadow like the fetish olive tree under which many of the pages were written with Sanlúcar's thoughts and studies in his peaceful intellectual retreat on the Sevillian estate of El Pedroso.
Where is the Foundation going? To promote the figure of Manolo Sanlúcar and disseminate his legacy as a whole, a board of trustees was created that combined a technical management profile necessary for the day-to-day governance, as well as a purely artistic and academic profile as befits the multidisciplinary personality of Sanlúcar. José Martínez is accompanied by the honorary president Ana María Rencoret, the artist's widow, his vice president, the Andalusian intellectual, former rector of the International University of Andalusia and former Minister of Culture of the Board, author and flamencologist Juan Manuel Suárez Japan. Juan Carlos Romero (director of the International Guitar Institute) occupies the vice-secretary's office, and he is accompanied in the secretariat by the general director of Aura Seguros, Carlos Muiño, along with the guitarists and patrons Paco Garfia (director of the Flamenc-ON festival), José María Parra and Jordi Franco, prestigious luthier of the most talented national guitarists.
Manolo Sanlúcar said of the guitar that 'it is a companion of solitude, a challenge to the will, a measure of perseverance, an invitation to the imagination, a source of sensitivity, a window to abstraction, the core of feelings, a record of truth and a bearer of transferable knowledge. '. Consequently, under this premise, the most ambitious branch of the Foundation is without a doubt the creation and subsequent
development of the Manolo Sanlúcar International Flamenco Guitar Institute. Its primary objective is no less important, to become the largest and most relevant international school of this instrument in the world through the universal dissemination of the academic and artistic model defined by the Cadiz native in his role as teacher specified in 'The School'. From the Institute, the knowledge also collected in 'La Guitarra Flamenca' will be taught. A particularity that distinguishes the training in its different locations throughout Spain and abroad is the special attention not only to musical technique, but also to a solid humanistic training.
To this end, the guitarist, composer and producer of stars such as Miguel Poveda, Carmen Linares, Pasión Vega and Rocío Márquez, as well as an outstanding disciple of Sanlúcar, Juan Carlos Romero from Huelva, refines the institute's teaching program together with the director of the Symphony. from Triana, Manuel Alejandro González.
Sanlúcar de Barrameda will be the headquarters where the future directors of the different franchises of the institute will be trained, both in Spain and abroad. Seville is the capital that will operate as a hub and where the highest level students will complete their studies in a final cycle of two courses. Córdoba, Badajoz and Barcelona will host the first franchise centers, to which other cities will gradually join. International expansion will begin with China, France and Greece.
The headquarters of the Manolo Sanlúcar Aura Seguros Foundation is located in a mansion designed in 1907 by Aníbal González, author of the Plaza de España in Seville and main exponent of Andalusian regionalism. From the garden that precedes it, an imposing statue of Manolo Sanlúcar welcomes visitors. The façade is oriented towards an incomparable horizon, the point where the Guadalquivir becomes the ocean, presided over by the beauty of Doñana. In the space occupied by two of its floors, visibility will be given to all the assets treasured during Manolo Sanlúcar's life; an extraordinary collection of Andalusian art, its guitars, awards and recognitions, in addition to its musical and academic creations in a format that contemplates the latest audiovisual technologies in order to create an entire sensory experience within the reach of the future visitor. Its inauguration is scheduled for the first quarter of 2024.
In February and March 2024, the V edition of the Flamen-ON Flamenco Festival will be held. Without giving up its main venue, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, the festival will fulfill its metropolitan vocation, expanding to other locations. It will also do so in subsequent editions to Sanlúcar de Barrameda. As a differentiating fact, Flamenc-ON also brings flamenco closer to an uninitiated audience, such as schoolchildren, and programs street shows. Furthermore, it is a springboard for those flamenco talents in Catalonia, who have shared the stage with great figures such as Mayte Martín, Miguel Poveda, Vicente Amigo, Jerónimo Maya, Arcángel, Diego Carrasco or Cristina Hoyos, which makes it one of the festivals reference.
Or from Santa Coloma to the world, we could say. From the south to Catalonia and from Catalonia to the south, following in the universal wake of Manolo Sanlúcar, the Foundation will present its tribute to the artist after whom it is named on November 16 at the Latin Grammy gala to be held in Seville. Juan Carlos Romero, his disciple and visible head of the International Institute of Flamenco Guitar, will perform, accompanied by the guitar of Paco Jarana, the percussion of Tino di Geraldo, the singing of La Macanita and the clapping of the Mellis, 'De Muleta' , one of the pieces of Tauromagia, the composition
which after its publication was elevated to the Olympus of masterpieces by both critics and guitar figures themselves. In his own words, the greatest flamenco guitar work in history.
