Diego el Cigala

Diego Ramón Jiménez Salazar (born in Madrid on December 27, 1968), also known as Diego El Cigala, is a Spanish flamenco singer of Romani and Andalusian origins. He started singing in peñas and tablaos at a very young age, earning the nickname “El Cigala” (The Cicada) due to the power of his voice. Undebel (1997), his studio debut, was produced by David Amaya and featured legendary flamenco guitarists Tomatito and Paquete. El Cigala collaborated with producer Javier Limón on Entre vareta y canasta (2000) and Corren tiempos de alegría (2001), which featured jazz musicians Bebo Valdés and Jerry González. The latter received a nomination for Best Flamenco Album at the Latin Grammys that year. The singer teamed up once again with Bebo Valdés for the award-winning Lágrimas Negras (2003), a huge commercial success that masterfully blended flamenco and latin jazz. The LP was named Album of the Year by The New York Times and won several awards, most notably a Grammy in the Best Tropical Album of the Year category in 2004. Conceived as a tribute to the late Spanish painter, Picasso en mis ojos (2005) signaled El Cigala’s return to flamenco. Featuring the guitars of Paco de Lucía and Tomatito, it was certified gold in Spain and Venezuela and won the Best Flamenco Album award at the Latin Grammys. At the turn of the decade, the cantaor released Cigala &Tango (2010) and Romance de la luna tucumana (2013), which reinterpreted songs of the Argentine repertoire through his unique lens. El Cigala’s infatuation with Latin music continued with the salsa-inspired Indestructible (2016) and Cigala canta a México (2020), an album of boleros and rancheras.