Manolo Caracol

Who was Manolo Caracol?

Manuel Ortega Juárez., was a flamenco cantaor.

Born in Seville, Spain, he was descended from a long line of flamenco artists including Enrique Ortega and Curro Dulce, and he was possibly related to El Planeta and El Fillo. The family was also known for its bull fighters.

Under the stage name El Caracol, he "gained international fame as much for his flamboyant personality as for his extraordinary cante." Later his juergas became notorious. Although as a singer he always retained the ability to deliver the core of the traditional art, he was not ashamed to commercialize flamenco to attract a mass popularity; then he gained fame and fortune, as well as adding to a checkered reputation. For the most part, this was during what was later widely known as a decadent age in the history of the art, the age of Ópera flamenca.

In 1922 as a youth, he had been awarded the first prize at the Concurso de Cante Jondo de Granada, organized by intellectuals like Manuel de Falla and Federico García Lorca. However, in the first stage of his career, he made a living singing mostly at private parties, which at the time, were, together with cafés, the usual stages for flamenco artists.