The Golden Keys of Cante

Five artists have been honored with this trophy: Tomás El Nitri, Manuel Vallejo, Antonio Mairena, José Monge ‘Camarón de la Isla’, and Antonio Fernández ‘Fosforito’. There is also a Golden Key of Dance, awarded in 1975 to Matilde Coral, making her the sole artist to possess it.

Juan Talega told Mairena that El Nitri received the Key from Tío Maero, a Gitano and a friend of Talega's father, in Carmona. During a family celebration, Tío Maero was so impressed by El Nitri's singing that he gave him the key to his farmhouse, declaring him the greatest cantaor he had ever heard.

...and it was Don Antonio Chacón himself, who had given him the Copa Pavón a year earlier, who decided, as a gesture of redress, to present the Second Golden Key of Cante to the Sevillian master, who received the gift from Manuel Torre.

This publication states that Mairena competed with El Platero de Alcalá, Fosforito, Chocolate, and Juan Varea, "all of them contracted in advance, as there was no spontaneous participation in the call made by the Cordoba City Council."

Antonio Mairena held it until his death, at which point its lifelong nature was accepted, because the second Key was awarded after El Nitri had already passed away (he died in 1877), and the third was given in 1962, with Manuel Vallejo having died in 1960.

The fact that the cantaor had already passed away led to criticism of this award from some flamenco circles, among other reasons, because it was given to an artist who could not represent the trophy in life.

Fosforito, the last recipient of the award, passed away on 13 November 2025. He was an encyclopaedic cantaor (flamenco singer) who, in his own words, gave flamenco 'his soul and heart in tiny pieces'.