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Diego Ramón Jiménez Salazar, known as El Cigala, is a famous Dominican-Spanish Romani Flamenco singer. As he himself has said, the nickname was given to him by three guitar players, Los Losada, for being very thin, not by Camarón de la Isla as commonly believed.
One of his great albums is 2003's "Lágrimas Negras", a cooperation with then 85 year old Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés. The easy fusion of Cuban rhythms and flamenco vocals made this record an international success.
Born into a family of Spanish Gypsy artists and intellectuals in Madrid, El Cigala started singing in flamenco peñas and tablaos, until his excellent meter and ability to mark the rhythm caught the attention of world-class bailaores like Mario Maya, FaÃco, Farruco, El Güito, Manuela Carrasco, Cristóbal Reyes, Carmen Cortés, JoaquÃn Cortés and he began touring as part of their companies. By the late nineties, having collaborated on recordings by Camarón, Tomatito, Gerardo Núñez and Vicente Amigo, he was ready to record his own CD. With the success of "Undebel" he launched his career as solo singer. He has now recorded 8 CDs and has won two Grammys and 5 Latin Grammy nominations.
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