Granada, Manuel de Falla & Federico

Manuel de Falla, musician, originally from Cadiz, visited Granada first in 1914...he felt in love with the city. 1919 his mother died in Cadiz, so it was the time for him & his sister, not having more duties in Cadiz, to move to that wonderful city they had met once in 1914. He looked for a house close to the Alhambra, a nice small, quiet carmen where he could work in his compositions.

Falla by that time was a very famous music componist... Everybody in Granada knew he had moved to live in Granada. As soon as Federico knew it, went to visit Don Manuel with another friend (a young painter). They knocked in his door & as Don Manuel opened, Feserico said something like "We want to be your friends, I´m only interested in poetry & music & my friend here is just the same as I, only he interested in painting"... Federico & Don Manuel became very good friends (Don Manuel was 30 years older than F.)... Federico went very often to visit Don Manuel & the opposite happened too.

They organized 1922 the fist flamenco song contest ever in the history of Spain, they worked together on little opers & other pieces. Their friendship never ended & as well as by Fernando de los Rios, the two families became very good friends...and in both cases, the first contact had been made by Federico. 16th of August 1936, as Don Manuel knew Federico was arrested by the facist army at the beginning of the Civil War, went there trying to safe his friend...he was told it was already too late, Federico was already fussilated... but it was a lie, Federico was still inside, Don Manuel couldn´t do anything for his friend.

Don Manuel went into exile to Argentina during the Civil war. He died 1946 in Argentina