Arte y Pureza

Ethan Margolis

Born in Santa Cruz, California in 1978, Ethan comes from an entire family of musicians. It is this source that has provided him with a profound love and dedication for the creation and performance of musical art. Margolis was attracted to flamenco due to its pure essence and its ability to transmit raw, human emotion.

Since his arrival in Seville in the year 2000, Margolis has made a name for himself in an intimate world of legendary artists. His maestro of the guitar, Antonio Moya, the famed guitarist from Utrera and only disciple of Pedro Bacán, most recently won the award for best cante accompanist in Spain. Moya and Margolis have worked extensively together in Andalucía, Spain as well as in Margolis´s recent production of Arte y Pureza.

In January of 2006, Margolis directed, produced, and played in Arte y Pureza, a performance tour dedicated to the preservation of pure flamenco from the streets and homes of Andalucía. The show was met with sold out theaters throughout the USA including a packed 1200 seat auditorium in the prestigious Chicago Flamenco Festival 2006. Ethan has accompanied many of Spain´s maestro gypsy singers since his arrival in Seville. Some of them include Miguel Funi, Inés Bacán, Curro Fernández, El Lebrijano and Manuel de Paula. He recently produced and played guitar on Miguel Funi’s cd “Aires Gitanos.”

Today, Margolis is one of the few young guitarists who view it as their obligation to study, understand, and defend the roots of "cante gitano andaluz" within flamenco (singer Antonio Mairena referred to the pure singing of the gypsies as cante gitano so as to separate it from the generalizations that are so often made within flamenco ). Ethan´s accompaniment on the guitar is characterized by an extraordinary awareness of the details within gypsy singing. His musical background has given him a sensitivity towards music that applies to his playing and his teaching.

photo by Elazar Harel