The Alhambra presents the book published as a tribute to Enrique Morente at the MACBA

Universo Morente is Enrique Morente (Granada 1942-Madrid, 2010). A book, an exhibition and a project to keep the memory and the work of this multitalented singer from Granada alive. This morning at the Barcelona Contemporary Art Museum (MACBA), the Director-General of the Council of the Alhambra and Generalife, María del Mar Villafranca, and Enrique Morente’s widow, the artist Aurora Carbonell, together with her children José Enrique and Soleá, and the book’s publisher Tito Ferreira presented the book/catalogue that summarizes the career of this ‘genius’. 

The book, published in Spanish and in English by the Council of the Alhambra and Generalife and TF Editores is a monographic work with 271 pages and over 800 images, which emerged from a project by Amaranta Ariño and the designer Andrés Mengs. The Morente family and the “Committee of Experts” formed by José Manuel Gamboa, Balbino Gutiérres, Pedro G.Romero and José Luis Ortíz also played an important role. The various “Morente planets” were handled by Miguel Mora, Miguel Espín, Antonio Pradel, María del Mar Villafranca and by Aurora Carbonell herself, who wrote the epilogue entitled ‘The boy singer with the angel face’.

“Enrique deserved this and a whole lot more. He taught me honesty. He was a genius with whom I lived side-by-side for 35 years. He was a creator and since he left us no one else has gone through the door that he opened”, said Morente’s widow at the presentation of the book. 

According to the Director of the Alhambra “Enrique Morente deserved this tribute. This book is undoubtedly the perfect means to get closer to one of the most important artists ever to come out of Andalusia”.

It is also a perfect handbook for those wishing to understand the Universo Morente exhibition, which is currently installed in the temporary exhibition room of the Granada Fine Arts Museum in the Palace of Charles V, and has been visited by a total of 29,570 people since it was inaugurated last October. As a complement to the exhibition and in order to display the artist’s cinematographic side, a series of films was organized at the Musical Documentation Centre of Andalusia which was enjoyed by 6,182 people.

According to Amaranta Ariño, the book is built around the framework of his “32 records, 27 of which were recorded between 1967 and 2010, plus the two posthumous albums that he recorded before his death and which Gamboa analyses individually. This study opens up various layers of the Morente Universe, establishing an itinerary that mixes music and images and lets the reader reconstruct his story”.

For more information, please visit www.alhambra-patronato.es