Tony Bryant

  Seville has numerous different barrios just waiting to be discovered, but some of the lesser known districts often get overlooked by visitors who head straight to the tourist hotspots of Santa Cruz and Triana. One of these is the Barrio de La Macarena. Located to the north of the city centre, La Macarena is enclosed by the best-preserved section of the ancient city walls. This stretch of the Almohad fortification connects two of the three remaining gates that allowed access to the city. The horse-shoe arched Puerta de Córdoba is adjacent to the San Hermenegildo Church, a 17th century temple dedicated to Saint Hermenegildo. Local legend claims that the saint was beheaded in front of the Puerta de Córdoba after rebelling against his father, the Visigoth King, Liuvigild, in 585. The monumental Puerta de la Macarena is next to the Basilica Santa María de la Esperanza, the temple that houses one of Seville’s most worshipped images of the Virgin, La Macarena. Although all sacred ima...

Back in 2004, or somewhere around that time, I decided to start researching a book about the family tree of an old flamenco singer called El Pinini. Not much had been written about this man because little information existed at that time, other than time-worn tales and stories that had been passed down through the ranks of the family. The research was by no means easy and there were times when I almost gave up on the task, but being 'extremely British' in my attitude towards difficult projects, I decided to take a deep breath and carry on. That deep breath would continue for around seven years, as I painstakingly pieced together this mammoth Gypsy lineage. The book was published in 2011 by  Flamenco Sapiens ,  the Seville based publisher that had produced my first book -  Flamenco; an Englishman’s passion . Two years later, the Spanish version of the book was published under the title of  Herecia del Tiempo.  The presentation of this edition took place in Sevi...