Manolo Franco Barón was born in Seville on July 14th 1960 and it very well might be possible that he entered the world with his arms firmly clasped around a guitar.

In 1984, his extraordinary talent and musical vocation resulted in his winning the trophy “Geraldillo del toque” at the biennial of Seville, while at that time he was only 24 and competed with the real maestros of guitar. This price was acknowledged to him by a jury full of grand names, among which none other than Juan Carmona Habuchuela, Mario Escudero Serranito, Manolo Sanlucar and Paco de Lucia. This jury took the three facets of guitarplaying into consideration: the accompaniment of song and dance and the solo. Manolo was impressively good in all three.

Even though many things –with reason- are said about this fabulous guitar-player, we mostly remember what Paco de Lucia told us about him. His opinion by the way now already represents the general feeling: “Manolo Franco bubbles over with inspiration, plays the guitar in a most sparkling way and is full of refreshing ideas. Everything he acts out, proves his total technical perfection. He furthermore shows proof of an obsession for flamenco music and all that is characteristic for it. This magisterial control does not escape him at any time. Serranito described him as “a great interpreter and a great innovator of guitar.” Manolo Franco also was the favourite guitar player of Antonio Mairena. These days, he is the steady guitar player of Calixto Sanchez; a singer with whom he accords perfectly.