Tomás el Nitri
Full name
Place of birth
Biography
His real name was Tomás de Vargas Suárez de la Cera He was probably born in El Puerto de Santa María in 1850, although some scholars fix his place of birth as being in Arcos de la Frontera He died in Cádiz, whilst still young in the 1880s He was El Fillo´s student, as this gypsy was one of the grandson of one of El Fillo´s sisters His rivalry with Silverio Franconetti was infamous, before whom he refused to sing, although he had also been El Fillo´s pupil Some say that his refusal was due to Tomás´ fear of Silvero, other more fundamentalists affirm that El Nitri did everything possible so as not bequeath him even one gypsy song It seems that before being a singer he was a dancer, he was the first to receive the Gold Key of Song, which was handed to him by a group of his followers, leaded by the general Sánchez Mira, during a party whose location is uncertain: there are those that say it was in Jerez and those who say it was in the Café Sin Techo in Málaga However it happened, El Nitri went down in history for this and moreover for the authority of one of the styles of 'seguiriyas´ which continues intact
