Diego del Gastor
Full name
Date of birth
Place of birth
Biography
Diego Amaya Flores was born on the 15th of March 1908 at number 8 of calle Ronda in Arriate in Málaga and died in Morón de la Frontera the 7th of July 1973. As a child he also lived in Ronda and in El Gastor, a village from where his artistic name comes from, due to his fathers work, who was a horse trader.
His brother José and Pepe Naranjo, were his teachers, although Diego always confessed being a staunch follower of Ramón Montoya, Pepe Naranjo and above all of Niño Ricardo. He took musical theory classes but his great virtue was his rhythm. Hedeveloped a completely different form of playing, probably inheritedfrom Paco el de Lucena.
The skill of his thumb and the sobriety of his "falsetas" soon impressed on singers such as Antonio Mairena and moreover, Fernanda de Utrera, who he usually accompanied. His relationship with the Americans in the Morón base was very important, as it is thanks to this that he met Donn E Pohren, an American guitarist from who Diego took some pointers which he incorporated into his playing style. Along with his brother-in-law Joselero, Diego del Gastor is still is the most referent flamenco artist from Morón.
Discography
Soloist:
"Misterios de la guitarra flamenca" (Ariola 10521-A)
Diego del Gastor "Evocaciones" (Pasarela ADM-174, 1990)
Diego del Gastor. "El eco de unos toques" (book + CD, El Flamenco Vive - ISBN: 978-84-933102-1-9, 2004)
Diego del Gastor (1908-2008) Flamenco y Universidad Vol. IV (Ediciones Marita, 2009)
Accompanying Flamenco singers:
Unpublished Flamenco songs by Juan Talega (Coliseum, 1991)
Fernanda y Bernarda de Utrera: unpublished Flamenco songs (book + CDs, Provincial Government of Seville, 1999)
Alcalá de Guadaíra in the history of Flamenco (Ediciones Marita, 2007)
Further information
He took part in the recording of the“Anthology of Flamenco singing” and in the Spanish TV programme “Ritesand Geography of Flamenco”), with his guitar playing as the theme music.
In 1973, the year of his death, the Faculty of Flamencology and Andalusian Folklore Studies of Jerez de la Frontera, awarded him the NationalFlamenco Prize, in the teaching category.
