Jondo on the Piano Began on the Alameda: A Special Tribute to Currito el de la Jeroma, the All-Round Artist

Who was the first to play deep flamenco —lo jondo— on the piano?

When I began researching and planning this series of micro-stories, conceived to accompany my historical walk through the Alameda de Hércules, I never imagined how many times I would cross paths with Currito el de la Jeroma.

From the very first moment this all-round artist stepped into my way, the protagonist of several chronicles and articles by professional historians of flamenco.

The reach of his figure is incredible: he even appears at the parties of artists’ families on the Alameda, and I have the privilege of knowing some of his descendants personally.

That is why writing chapter number ten for him seemed perfect to me: a round number, just as the flamencos of Jerez called him —«reondo», round, complete.

With this chapter I close the Chronicle of the Alameda de Hércules. In ten instalments we have travelled through the neighbourhood before the art and the reasons why flamenco flourished here and nowhere else; the dance academies and the salones de recreo that gave way to the cafés cantantes; the guitar, the cante, the first recordings and even the flamenco piano. The Sevillian School of dance deserves a chapter of its own: I will devote a special to it later on.

This work aims to be a tribute to all the artists of that golden age, and my mission is to share it. I hope it has opened the memory of many and the appetite of others for the history of flamenco. But history is truly felt when you walk it: join me on my walk, a personal and sensory route, to understand why it happened here and why it was so prolific.

Thank you to so many researchers and chroniclers of flamenco: without their work, this series would not have been possible.

I dedicate this chronicle to the grandsons and granddaughters, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren of all those who left their mark and their knowledge where flamenco lived its splendour, on the Alameda de Hércules.