Manolo Franco

Manuel Franco Barón was born in Seville in 1960 and seems to have been born with a guitar in his hand. He made his first attempts on the instrument at Matilde Coral’s academy, where he soon attracted attention. Even as a child, he accompanied greats such as Antonio Mairena, Naranjito de Triana, Calixto Sánchez and others.

In 1979, he won the National Guitar Prize from Radio Sevilla, which catapulted him onto the big stages. His greatest triumph, however, was winning the “Giraldillo del Toque”, which was awarded to him unanimously by the jury in 1984 and took into account the three aspects of accompanying singing, dancing and solo playing. Paco de Lucía, Manolo Sanlúcar, Serranito and Juan Habichuela made up this legendary jury.

Since then he has accompanied the great cantaores and even took part in Naranjito’s farewell concert in Seville. As a soloist he has recorded important albums such as ‘Aljibe’.

Paco de Lucía said: “Manolo Franco is bursting with inspiration. He has an effervescent guitar playing and is full of new ideas. Everything he produces demonstrates his technical perfection. He shows an obsession with flamenco music and everything that is typical of flamenco.”