Pastora Pavón, "La Niña de los Peines"
An approach to the figure of this legendary flamenco singer (cantaora), whose sound recordings are protected in Andalusia as an Asset of Cultural Interest
Pastora Pavón Cruz, known as "La Niña de los Peines", is one of the most important voices in the history of flamenco and one of the few who have the privilege of unanimous recognition from the flamenco world.
Born in Seville in 1890 and deceased in the same city in 1969, she is considered one of the most complete cantaoras in the history of this art. Endowed with a great personality and an art full of faculties, she possessed, above all, a highly personal style.
Her artistic nickname, "La Niña de los Peines" (The Girl of the Combs), arose from a lyric she sang in her first stage appearances. There are several versions, one of them being: Péinate tú con mis peines / mis peines son de canela, / quien con mis peines se peina / canela fina se lleva. (Comb your hair with my combs / my combs are made of cinnamon, / whoever combs with my combs / takes fine cinnamon away.)
Goddess of gypsy song
Her official debut was in Madrid in 1901. In 1903, she was contracted for several years to perform in the famous tavern 'La Primera de Jerez'. Her fame grew rapidly, and in 1910 she began to record her first albums. She posed for painters Ignacio Zuloaga and Julio Romero de Torres.
In 1922, she performed as a guest artist in the famous Concurso de Cante Jondo (Deep Song Contest) in Granada, encouraged by intellectuals such as the composer Manuel de Falla and the poet Federico García Lorca, who deeply admired her.
"She played with her shadow voice, with her melted tin voice, with her moss-covered voice," said the Grenadine poet Federico García Lorca about the cantaora, who in this 1935 poster from the Manuel Cerrejón archive is defined as "the goddess of gypsy song."
Her status as a woman
Pastora's status as a woman—like her identities as a Gypsy, flamenco artist, and singer—didn't allow for the anticipation of the professional success she would achieve, particularly in an art form and environment as masculinized as flamenco was in her era. Her excellence and talent made all the difference.
Female artists of that era lived trapped by continuous suspicion about their moral virtuosity and by conventionalisms from which only a few managed to escape. In this poster from the Manuel Cerrejón archive, she appears as the central figure.
Relevance
The significance of Pastora Pavón, "La Niña de los Peines", in the history of flamenco cannot be viewed from a single perspective. Her relevance makes it essential to consider her from multiple dimensions.
These dimensions include her professional career, her learning models, the regional and personal inter-influences of the styles she developed, her vocal and technical qualities, her encyclopedic knowledge, and her role as a female and gypsy figure in flamenco.
Pastora traveled throughout Spain, sharing the stage with the most famous flamenco artists of the time. She married José Torres Garzón, a cantaor artistically known as Pepe Pinto (1903-1969).
In the posters of her performances, she was admiringly described, a testament to her prestige. Her long artistic career is notable for her prolific discography, all of it of great quality and diversity of styles.
Sound Recordings
Her first recordings were made on 78 rpm shellac discs and span about forty years (1910-1950), practically the same duration as her artistic activity, which extended until the 1950s, when she definitively retired.
These sound recordings located in Andalusia were declared an Asset of Cultural Interest in 1999, under the category of Documentary Heritage, enjoying the protection that the law grants to first-magnitude Andalusian material heritage.
These recordings are more than just a collection of songs; they are significant assets of Andalusian, Spanish, and universal Historical Heritage. Many of them are preserved at the Andalusian Flamenco Documentation Center and the Andalusian Music Documentation Center.
La Niña de los Peines in her maturityOriginal Source: Centro Andaluz de Documentación del Flamenco (CADF)
The cantaor Calixto Sánchez says of her: "Pastora's voice can be defined as a natural voice, without artificiality, feminine, without false nasal or throat support and without harshness. It's like a rosary of bubbles that flows naturally in perfect, round curls."
Posters are the property of Manuel Cerrejón's archive. Photos belong to the Andalusian Center for Flamenco Documentation (Ministry of Culture and Sport of the Junta de Andalucía).
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