That’s how he ended up back in Seville during its Exposición Iberoamericana, where he arrived as an artist of international renown. On the advice of United Artists’ legal office, he decided to leave America before being deported.Īntonio Triana con Argentinita y Pilar López However, when Triana started savouring the sweet taste of success, the American Immigration Agency noted that the emerging star Antonio Triana was no other than Antonio García Matos, the steward who a few years earlier had deserted his ship in New York. That success (enthusiastically applauded by one Antonio’s idols, Charles Chaplin) allowed him to secure a supporting role in “ La Mexicana”, the first short film in history to feature sound, where the song “ Cielito Lindo” was first recorded and where, incidentally, a young Xavier Cugat took part in the musical takes. With Lope Vélez, he was a protagonist in El Gaucho, a highly anticipated movie starred by Douglas Fairbanks, the premier of which was attended by the crème of Hollywood in the just-opened Chinese Theater of Sid Grauman. His rise to the top was meteoric, as within a few months he managed to make a name for himself in Los Angeles’ emerging mecca of film and dance. When he was touring in Texas, he learned about the death of one of his idols, heartthrob Rudolph Valentino, something which touched him deeply, prompting him to quit Molina’s company and head to Hollywood, where he always wanted to live. With the help of Juan, a barber from Málaga, he found lodging at Spanish Harlem, and after attending a reception for the Spanish painter Zuloaga, he found work in the company of Amelia Molina (who was also from Seville and trained by Otero), with whom he debuted in Broadway. That was at the end of 1924, many years before Lorca wrote about the inhuman soul of that megacity where Antonio threw himself in, without any schooling or even a basic knowledge of English, after deserting the ship where he worked as a steward. With the decline of the cafés cantantes and against his parents’ wishes, he enlisted as a steward in the Cabo Villano cargo ship, bound for New York, pursuing his dream: becoming a famous bailaor and movie star. The renowned flamencologist José Blas Vega wrote about his performance on the night when a young Niño Ricardo officially debuted in Seville. Later, he would perform with Frasquillo (La Quica’s husband, bailaor from Viso del Alcor) at the Novedades and the Kursaal cafes. Already famous in his neighbourhood for his cleverness, innate talent and irresistible grace, he soon achieved acclaim in Seville, where he was referred to as a child prodigy of baile, as attested in a poster advertising a performance in the Summer Theater, where Niño Medina was the main act. When he was just a child, Antonio inadvertently began his training in baile tutored by the celebrated maestro Otero, who partnered him with La Quica and named their debuting act “ the miniature couple of baile”. His life not only has enough artistic milestones to justify such honor, but it’s also rich in travelling adventures. There is not even any commemorative tile honoring him in Triana, the district where he grew up, taking its name to all corners of the world. Last March 31 was the 29th anniversary of the death of this almost-unknown Antonio Triana, who performed in the big temples of baile with Argentinita and his sister Pilar, or with the above-mentioned Carmen Amaya. Even in detailed flamenco books about those years or in biographies of important artists with whom he shared the stage, such as Carmen Amaya (with whom he took America by storm) or Pilar López, to name a few, barely mention him in passing. In Spain and within flamenco professional circles, few know anything about the career of Antonio García Matos, Antonio Triana, “partner of the stars”, who once achieved great artistic success and whose mortal remains rest in Hollywood’s Forest Lawn cemetery, next to the great stars of film. If any curious aficionado of baile flamenco and its history tries to search for “Antonio Triana” in Google or in any other search engine, they would barely find a few random images and some short biographies about him, often littered with errors.
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