Niña Pastori

Niña Pastori is a Spanish flamenco singer (cantaora). She was born María Rosa García García in San Fernando (Cádiz) on 15 January 1978. The youngest of five siblings and only daughter of a military man (José) and flamenco singer 'La Pastori', she started her artistic career at a young age. At the age of six she accompanied her mother in the flamenco tablaos of "Barrio de la Pastora", and a year later won a contest in San Fernando. Her initial name was "La niña de la Pastori", but she later changed it to "Niña Pastori".

Biography

Among her first mentors was Camarón de la Isla, also from San Fernando (Cádiz), whose purist flamenco style she followed in her early years. Later she added a more commercial, pop tone to her image and style without losing her flamenco roots, and artists Paco Ortega and Alejandro Sanz helped her produce her first album, Entre dos puertos (Between Two Ports), when she was seventeen. The single Tú me camelas was a hit in Spain in summer 1996.

Her second album, Eres luz (You Are Light, 1998) confirmed her success, with songs again by Paco Ortega and Alejandro Sanz, Parrita, Manuel Malou and her brother Paco. In 2000, she published her third album, Cañaílla, produced by Alejandro Sanz and Josemi Carmona of the flamenco group Ketama; it is dedicated to her home town and more flamenco than the previous works. Her album María (2002) evolved to a more personal style, taking part in the lyrics and composition of some of her songs, a trend that she continued in No hay quinto malo, her fifth album (2004).