Family J
Montoya
Ramón Montoya
Calé / Gitano — Madrid
Style: Flamenco
Ramón Montoya made the flamenco guitar a solo voice. Gitano cattle-trading family in Madrid. Uncle of Carlos Montoya.
Ramón Montoya (2 November 1879 – 20 July 1949, Madrid) was born into a Gitano family of cattle traders and bought his first guitar from that work. He played the cafés de cante before twenty.
From 1912 he partnered Antonio Chacón for more than a decade. Both sat the Concurso de Cante Jondo in Granada, 1922. In traditional flamenco the guitar sat behind cante and baile. Montoya’s playing often overpowered the singer. He then took the logical step: solo concert guitar. Later solo careers — Sabicas, Paco de Lucía — stand on that chair.
Carlos Montoya (1903–1993), his nephew, took that solo guitar abroad. This is a Calé toque family. Restaurant violin and gypsy jazz are other traditions.
Lineage
Birth and death on a vertical line — generation by generation. Places are listed where we could find them.
Generation 1
Ramón Montoya
Guitar, toque · 1879–1949
Born 2 November 1879 · Madrid, Spain — Died 20 July 1949 · Madrid, Spain
Gitano toque. Took the flamenco guitar out of the back chair and onto the concert stand.
Generation 2
Carlos Montoya
Guitar, nephew · 1903–1993
Born 13 December 1903 · Madrid, Spain — Died 3 March 1993 · Wainscott, New York, United States
Nephew of Ramón. Solo flamenco guitar abroad.
Orchestra years
When the band was founded, when it split, when a new generation took the stand.
1912
New orchestra
Toque beside cante
Ramón Montoya with Antonio Chacón
More than a decade. Forms of the cantes take their public shape.
1922
Generation joins
Granada concurso
Concurso de Cante Jondo
Montoya and Chacón at the Concurso. Guitar stepping toward the concert stand.
Neighbours
Same country or city, but a different way of playing.
- Amaya — Calé / Gitano — Barcelona
- Pavón — Calé / Gitano — Seville
- Habichuela / Carmona — Calé / Gitano — Granada
- Monje Cruz — Calé / Gitano — San Fernando, Cádiz