Overview
- The artist died in Madrid on September 30 after a long illness, according to regional and national outlets.
- His hometown of Esparragosa de Lares declared three days of official mourning and offered the town hall for a possible public vigil pending the family’s wishes.
- Across more than five decades he blended folk, jazz, pop and experimentation, published poetry, released a farewell album in 2021 and gave a final concert at Madrid’s Sala Galileo Galilei in 2022.
- His songs elevated Extremadura’s rural memory and emigration and helped define Spain’s canción protesta in the late Franco era and the Transition.
- He earned the Medalla de Extremadura, the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes and a Goya for Tu bosque animado, as peers including Ismael Serrano and Miguel Ángel Gómez Naharro shared tributes.