Pedro Bacan

Pedro Bacán (Pedro Peña Peña) was born in Lebrija, Seville, in 1951, and like most gypsies from this part of Andalucía, flamenco was a natural ingredient in the process of growing up.

He was born into one of the most illustrious flamenco clans of the last two centuries. He is the great grandson of the legendary singer El Pinini, son of cantaor, Bastian Bacán, and nephew of La Perrata, another heavy weight singer from the land of pottery and flamenco. His sister just happens to be Inés Bacán, one of the most relevant singers of the deep ancient styles of Lebrija.

Pedro Bacáns life was to end at the height of his musical career, in a car accident in Utrera in 1997, but he left behind a legacy that to this day has not yet been matched. He devoted much of his professional life to re-inventing and preserving the traditional flamenco way of life that he had experienced in his home as a child.

Bacán produced a show by the name of "Le Clan Des Pinini´s", in which most of the performers were family members, many of whom had never performed professionally in front of an audience. Many of these people had no intention of becoming artistes. They simply performed flamenco as part of their every day life.

But Pedro Bacán, determined to recreate the traditional style and feeling of Lebrija, managed to persuade them into participating with him in his shows.

He also dedicated much of his time to directing his sister Inés Bacán`s career, and together they performed all over Andalucía as well as recording the excellent Cd "De Viva Voz" on which they both displayed their mastery of the Lebrija flamenco tradition. And he accompanied many other family members with his guitar including his uncles, El Perrate and Miguel El Funi, and his cousin, El Lebrijano, who was in the car with Pedro Bacán on that fatal night in 1997.

He recorded a few albums including "Aluricán" and "Marisma" (a live recording made during the ninth Bienal de flamenco in Seville in 1996), as well as the much acclaimed "Le Clan des Pinini", which includes soleá, bulerias, and romances, all styles popular with the gypsies of this region.

In 1980 Pedro Bacán was awarded the "Jerez Cátedra de flamenco" national prize for the guitar, and in 1983 he was also honoured by the "Musicology department" of the University of Washington.

He later produced another show "Nuestra Historia del Sur", which premiered at the 1990 edition of the Flamenco Bienal in Seville (the city's biannual flamenco festival). That same year he recorded four recordings with the name of " Noches Gitanas en Lebrija", which again was a joint effort with his family members.

Pedro Bacán took on the task of recreating his family's tradition and he promoted the gypsy "family flamenco" to such a degree that without his efforts many of the old Lebrija styles of flamenco would probably be lost and forgotten in time.

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