Biography All Music GuideWikipedia All Music Guide: A Spanish
guitarist and composer, Carlos Montoya made a lasting
contribution to music between the 20s and 50s. He introduced the
flamenco style of music as a serious form of guitar music.
Traditionally flamenco music was used to accompany gypsy folk
dancers and singers but Carlos Montoya changed it into a main
genre of music. Carlos Montoya was born into a gypsy family in
Spain. His interest in music and the guitar began at an early
age. He began studying the guitar with his mother and a
neighboring barber, eventually learning from Pepe el Barbero, a
guitarist and teacher. Not only was he interested in playing the
guitar, Carlos Montoya wanted to learn the history of flamenco
music. Flamenco music came out of the Moorish invasion of Spain.
His uncle, Ramon Montoya, was a successful flamenco guitarist
also. Carlos Montoya started playing professionally at the age
of 14, playing for singers and dancers at the cafes in Madrid.
Two of the dancers he most often p