Niño De Utrera

Born: 1907, Utrera, España Died: October, 12 1964, Viña Del Mar, Chile Being the youngest son of a very humble and numerous family. In his childhood he sang while leading a group of goats through the streets of the town, which earned him the nickname "The Clock", because he woke up those who slept. Very soon he stood out for the originality of his cante, his artistic personality being very different from what was usual in the Utrera of his time, standing out above all in the field of fandangos. He performed in important companies accompanied by famous guitarists such as “Niño Ricardo”, “Sabica” and Ramón Montoya, with whom he recorded unforgettable albums. He was a singer of the so-called Flamenco Opera specialized in “cantes por fandangos” and a follower of the “Niño de Marchena”. In 1935 he acted with Estrellita Castro in the movie "Rosario la Cortijera." The Spanish Civil War was a determining factor in his departure from Spain, going into exile in the Argentine Republic, where he shared the stage with Angelillo, another based in Buenos Aires, obtaining great success as a performer of the Spanish song in the "cantes de fandango" and " songs back and forth ”. The Avenida Theater was one of the stages that saw the “Niño de Utrera” shine in the 1940s. He joined the Catalan singer Trini Moren with whom he married and they formed a company, with which they toured much of South America . In Argentina, Juan Mendoza managed to achieve fame by walking the name of Utrera in triumph throughout America, even in the North, winning important awards and the most significant and worth taking into account, becoming an ambassador of our Spain, which he always admired and he wanted, granting his friendship and support to all the Spanish artists who visited him. Of his disappearance, that October 12, 1964, his biographies have affirmed until now that he was surprised by death on one of his farewell tours of the American public, in a rehearsal in Viña del Mar (Chile). Many see in his artistic figure only the songbook, but it can be shown that Juan Mendoza was a flamenco singer of great artistic quality, with many recordings in which he played all the styles of cante, with the main guitars of the time, such as Niño Ricardo , Sabicas or Félix de Utrera. He is a cantaor with a laine and sweet voice, in the “clear” line of cante marked by Pepe Marchena and an admirer of Chacón, Vallejo, La Niña de los Peines, Pepe Pinto or Juanito Valderrama. He was an artist of the so-called flamenco opera, an aesthetic considered spurious by many traditionalists who do not know or want to ignore that he was the dominant one in flamenco from the twenties to 1936, and was considered, in the sweet sounds of the cantes de ida y back, mainly in the Colombian and the milonga, as one of the easiest and most recognized interpreters. The Spanish-Argentine writer and flamencologist Anselmo González Climent, said of him: “To the presumptuous fandanguillo and the orchestral cuplé, Juan Mendoza arrived with delicacy and with dignity, without falling into the sinfulness of the Argentine accent, and that temporarily detached from his land, He had the great merit of keeping himself pure and whole ”. He defines him as a magnificent Seguillero and Saetero, very confident in Levante styles, splendid from Malaga and cultivator of Don Antonio Chacón's formal packaging. There are many flamenco feathers that coincide in ensuring that if “Niño de Utrera” had not been absent from Spain for so long, his name and his style would have reached much higher heights in our country, as it did in America, where he walked triumphantly the name of Utrera by the most prestigious stages and he became one of the most famous interpreters of the Spanish Song. He passed away in Viña del Mar, Chile, on October 12, 1964 during rehearsals with the Compañía Romería. After his death, on October 12, 1964, the City Council of Utrera and the Utreran fan Antonio Domínguez, carried out important work so that his mortal remains returned to Utrera, which were deposited in a cemetery in the municipal cemetery in 1995. .