Even the greatest artists sometimes dream of being something else. Juan Diegoone of the most respected names in Spanish cinema, I dreamed of being a flamenco singer. It is told by those who knew him best, among them, his goddaughter Estrella Morente, in the new Imprescindibles documentary, Juan Diego, an actor to the beat (2023). A tribute to a performing animal that reviews his professional and life career, rescuing passions like his for flamenco. Faithful to his Sevillian roots, the actor who overwhelmed the public with Mr. Iván in The holy innocents and seduced Paris Timbuktuhe let himself be carried away by fandangos and bulerías, whenever he could.
One of his great friends, actor Juan Echanove, makes it very clear: “If Juan had had a voice, he would have been a flamenco singer”. The truth is that Juan Diego Ruiz Moreno – an actor so great that he did not need surnames – used to tell his friends that he had never forgotten the music of the bell ringers from his town, Bormujos (Seville), soundtrack of his childhood. He listened to, admired and enjoyed Andalusian music and flamenco, but his voice, so powerful on the big screen, so projected into stage interpretation, was not suitable for singing.
His great friendship with Enrique Morente
When he went to live in Madrid, Juan Diego was left without his magical music, as Machado would say. Only when he returned to Seville, from time to time, to go to see a show did he reconnect with the sounds of it. Although in Madrid he had a temple to go to from time to time, The Candela. That old bastion of flamenco, in the heart of Lavapiés, where the actor experienced miraculous meetings with Paco de Lucía, Camarón or his great friend and compadre, Enrique Morente. Both shared their Andalusian origin, but also a rebellious view of the world and their passion for poetry.
His greatest approach to flamenco came from Morente. He collaborated with him on the album Flamenco Massin which the Sevillian actor lent his voice to recite the verses of the Ode to the Ascension, by Fray Luis de León, in his Saint. Years later, her voice would be used to talk about another of the greats in the documentary Island shrimp, flamenco and revolution.
Juan Diego in ‘The Holy Innocents’
Since 1976, the actor also became the godfather of the singer’s eldest daughter, Estrella Morente. A baptism that was celebrated in style in Granada and lasted three days. “My godfather was very flamenco,” says the eldest Morente in Juan Diego, an actor to the beat. It was Estrella who starred in one of the most emotional moments at Juan Diego’s funeral, in April 2022, when she started singing in his honor.
The only time he sang on the big screen
It was not until the end of his days, during his last film role, that life offered him the opportunity to start singing in front of a camera. It happened in The CoverSecún de la Rosa’s directorial debut in 2021, where the actor can be seen singing The bell ringers, from The Girl from Puebla. “He included a lot of flamenco, many references from his land, the man he was and his heritage.”, says the director.
The actor Juan Diego
During filming, they learned that Ballad for the loneliness of my guitar, a song performed by Marisol, was one of her favorite songs and Secún de la Rosa decided to put it at the end of the film in a moving tribute. In that final scene, with Alex Moner, there is a moment where she says “I have liked this song all my life”. The phrase was not in the script, but the moment was immortalized forever.
2023-11-05 19:56:48
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