Biography

Esther Merino (Badajoz 1984) is a young singer with a dazzling artistic background, forged in very different challenges, from the performances in Peñas flamencas and Festivals, to the singing competitions, in which she has won numerous awards, which prove her knowledge and mastery of the deepest flamenco tradition; tradition in which the influences of Antonio Mairena, Fosforito or Carmen Linares stand out, masters that tie her to a flamenco orthodoxy that does not prevent the brightness of her own way and her singular feeling of the "jondo" (deep).

Esther is a mature, elegant cantaora, who dominates the melodies, who wastes her presence and mastery in the rhythmic control and expressive intensity of her songs, with abundant vocal and interpretative resources of her flamenco feeling. For this reason he faces, with the security that gives the study and knowledge of the purest flamenco tradition, all kinds of songs with the rich register of his voice, offering in his performances an authentic repertoire of reference in the history of flamenco.

Her roots in Extremadura help her to interpret like few others the Tangos and Jaleos of her land, but her voice travels through the vast borderless territory of flamenco, as a universal art, with a personality and knowledge only characteristic of a cantaora capable and long as few others.

It is enough to listen to her singing Siguiriya, Soleá, Malagueñas, Tangos, Cantiñas and saetas; or to see her perform the cantes de levante, with a delicate and sentimental touch that softens them to the ears to say with notes the universal language of the cantes mineros; or to hear her singing Bulerías dominating the compass and remembering Paquera de Jerez, the great cantaora she admires so much, to understand the uniqueness and value of her flamenco art.

In her latest work, Mil y una Razones, she delights us in the liturgy of singing with the strength of her voice, accompanied by the guitars of Manuel Parrilla, Pedro Sierra and Juan Manuel Moreno, and the compás of Juan Diego Valencia and Luis de Perikín; revealing the learning gained in masters such as Paco Taranto, José de la Tomasa or Esperanza Fernández.

Her successes in recent years have done nothing but confirm her artistic flamenco quality, as a cantaora de fuste, in the international panorama of the 21st century.

Thus, in 2017, she was recognized, in the thirty-eighth International Flamenco Singing Festival of Lo Ferro, with the "Melón de Oro", as the most complete cantaora. And in 2022, she has been recognized with the Lámpara Minera at the Festival Internacional del Cante de las Minas de La Unión, the most internationally renowned award in the flamenco world.