Manitas de Plata

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Manitas de Plata (Little Hands of Silver), or Ricardo Baliardo by his real name, was in the 1960s one of the most renowned flamenco guitarists in the world, and continues to be highly esteemed by aficionados of flamenco.




Life
He was born on August 7, 1921, in a Manouche Gipsy Gitano caravan in Sète in southern France, into the extended family to which the members of the flamenco band, the Gipsy Kings, also belong. He became famous by playing each year at the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer Gipsy pilgrimage in Camargue, where he was recorded live by Deben Bhattacharya.

Manitas de Plata only agreed to play in public ten years after the death of Django Reinhardt, unanimously considered the king of gipsy guitarists. One of his recording earned him a letter by Jean Cocteau acclaiming him as a creator .

Upon hearing him play at Arles in 1964, Pablo Picasso is said to have exlaimed "that man is of greater worth than I am!" and proceeded to draw on the guitar .

But Manitas de Plata became really famous only after a photography exhibition in New York, organized by his friend Lucien Clergue. There, he recorded his first official album in the chapel of Arles. An American manager organized him a concert in Carnegie Hall in New York in December 1965 .

In New York, Manitas de Plata, who was illiterate, represented Europe at the yearly gala of the United Nations. His countryman Salvador Dali, also from Catalonia, demanded for a special authorization to assist the gala, in order to testify that a Gipsy, Catalan as him, had made the Catalan language enter the UN .
Since 1967 Manitas de Plata has been touring the whole world and recording discs. He played with Paco de Lucia or with the dancer Nina Corti . In 1968 he played at the Royal Variety Performance in London.


Albums
(note: this is likely an incomplete list)

Flamenco Guitar (1965 Classics Record Library # SRL 8643)
Flamenco Guitar (Phillips BL7786)

Manitas de Plata et les siens (1967, Columbia Records #FL 363)
The Art of the Guitar (1968, Everest Records #SDBR 3201)
La guitare d'or de Manitas(1970, Columbia Records # S 63915)
Hommages(1973, Embassy Records # S EMB 31003)
Feria Gitane (1994)
Olé (1994)
Excitement of Manitas De Plata (1973, RCA Camden #CDS 1139)
Manitas de Plata at Carnegie Hall (1995)
Flaming Flamenco (1997)
Manitas de Plata (1998)
Camargue de Manitas (1999)
Guitare D'Or Manitas de Plata (1999)
Flores de mi corazon (1999, Troubadour Records)
Guitarra Flamenco (2001)
Manitas de Plata et los Plateros (2004)

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