This will be the first in a series of short introductions to some of the well known castanet players. All of these short entries will be found on the page "Players" in the left menu! More exhaustive biographies will follow later!
EMMA MALERAS
Perhaps the most well known, and beloved, figure in the world of castanets today is Emma Maleras (i Gobern)! Born in 1919, she already as a young girl showed interest in spanish dance - one of her idols were the legendary Antonia Mercé/La Argentina - and she studied both classical and folklorical dances at a very high level.
Coming across the castanets in many varietes of dance, and frustrated at the lack of any real and serious castanet studies, she deviced not only a notation for the castanets, but a whole methodology of castanet studies, leading to her becoming a professor in castanets at the Institut del Teatre in 1973. Among her many pupils through the year, one can find such names as José de Udaeta and Consol Grau (both of whom you can read more about below)!
She apparently semiretired in the sixties, and the latest photos and videos I've seen of her seem to stem from the nineties, so if anyone has any information about here today please contact me - crotalogia@gmail.com!
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