Cante jondo is a vocal style in flamenco. An unspoiled form of Andalusian folk music, the name means deep song (Spanish hondo = "deep".) It is generally considered that the common traditional classification of flamenco music is divided into three groups of which the deepest, most serious forms are known as cante jondo. The name is spelt with a j as a form of eye-dialect because traditional Andalusian pronunciation has retained an aspirated h lost in other forms of Spanish.

In 1922 the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla led in the organization of the Concurso de Cante Jondo for Granada. Many classical musicians, cultural and literary figures, including the young poet Federico García Lorca, participated in the program. The result was the memorable series of flamenco performances held at the Alhambra during June.

Lorca had evidently used the title Poema del Cante Jondo for a 1921 collection of poems, although he did not publish it for ten years.

In 1931, Garcia Lorca presented a conference devoted to keeping the rich tradition of the Cante Jondo alive. The following is translated from the conference notes by Lorca:

Antonio Cruz García, known as Antonio Mairena (Mairena del Alcor, Seville Province, Spain, 1909 – Seville, 1983) was a famous flamenco singer. He led the movement towards the revival of traditional flamenco in the fifties and subsequent decades.

García was born in a Gypsy family of smiths and learned to sing in the family environment. An important personality of flamenco, he was the main leader of a movement of flamenco artists and intellectuals who tried to rescue a type of flamenco, which they considered to be pure or authentic. He rescued or recreated a high number of songs that had been almost lost, and also published several books and articles to divulge his views on flamenco and flamenco history. He considered himself as heir to the art of Manuel Torre, the most classic flamenco singer from Jerez, and also acknowledged the influence of other masters like Tomás Pavón or Joaquín el de la Paula.

He won several awards, the most important of which was the Llave de Oro del Cante (Gold Key of Flamenco Singing), which he obtained in the third Concurso de Córdoba (Contest of Córdoba). It is common belief that the contest was organized especially to grant him the award, and that the appearance of a contest was contrived to have a good excuse to grant him this honour, although some flamenco historians justify this on the grounds that he deserved the award for the service he had rendered to the art of flamenco (Álvarez Caballero 1995).

Enrique Morente Cotelo (25 December 1942 – 13 December 2010), known as Enrique Morente, was a flamenco singer and a controversial figure within the world of contemporary flamenco. After his orthodox beginnings, he plunged into experimentalism, writing new melodies for cante (flamenco singing) and jamming with musicians of all styles, without renouncing his roots in traditional flamenco singing, which he kept on cultivating. In spite of severe criticism from the most "purist" amongst the critics and public, he was perhaps the most influential contemporary flamenco singer, who not only innovated, but it could also can be said that he created tradition: some of his cantes have been performed by other singers such as Camarón de la Isla, Mayte Martín, Carmen Linares, Miguel Poveda, Segundo Falcón and Arcángel.

Enrique Morente, born in the traditional quarter of Albaicín in Granada, started to sing as a seise (a member of a group of children who sing, dance and play castanets on certain religious festivals) He started to feel attracted to flamenco singing as a child, and had the opportunity to learn at family gatherings and to listen to established figures from Granada like Cobitos, the family of the "Habichuelas", or Aurelio Sellés (Aurelio de Cádiz):

Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (Spanish pronunciation: [feðeˈɾiko ɣarˈθi.a ˈlorka]; 5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He may have been shot by anti-communist forces during the Spanish Civil War. In 2008, a Spanish judge opened an investigation into Lorca's death. The Garcia Lorca family eventually dropped objections to the excavation of a potential gravesite near Alfacar. However, no human remains were found.

Diego Ramón Jiménez Salazar, known as El Cigala (Spanish for 'Norway Lobster', a shellfish popular in Spain), is a famous Spanish Romani Flamenco singer. As he himself has said, the nickname was given to him by three guitar players, Los Losada, for being very thin, not by Camarón de la Isla as commonly believed.

One of his great albums is 2003's "Lágrimas Negras", a cooperation with then 85 year old Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés. The easy fusion of Cuban rhythms and flamenco vocals made this record an international success.

Born into a family of Spanish Gypsy artists and intellectuals in Madrid, El Cigala started singing in flamenco peñas (enthusiasts' clubs) and tablaos, until his excellent meter and ability to mark the rhythm caught the attention of world-class bailaores like Mario Maya, Faíco, Farruco, El Güito, Manuela Carrasco, Cristóbal Reyes, Carmen Cortés, Joaquín Cortés and he began touring as part of their companies. By the late nineties, having collaborated on recordings by Camarón, Tomatito, Gerardo Núñez and Vicente Amigo, he was ready to record his own CD. With the success of "Undebel" he launched his career as solo singer. He has now recorded 8 CDs and has won two Grammys and 5 Latin Grammy nominations.