World Music Memorial Fosforito
Antonio Fernández Díaz, known as Fosforito, died on 13 November 2025 in Málaga, Spain, at the age of 93. The singer, revered as one of the leading voices of cante jondo in the second half of the twentieth century, had been hospitalized following heart surgery and died from complications related to an infection.
Fosforito was born on 3 August 1932 in Puente Genil, Córdoba province, into a family deeply linked to flamenco. His career took off in 1956 when he won every category at the Concurso de Cante Jondo de Córdoba, the first edition of what is now the Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco, an achievement that has not been repeated.
Critics and historians widely describe him as a foundational figure of the so-called “natural school” of flamenco singing, thanks to an encyclopedic command of styles and a strict sense of rhythm that allowed him to recover forms few others performed. His work brought renewed attention to little-used palos (flamenco subgenres), including the zángano from his native Puente Genil, and helped keep numerous traditional styles in circulation.