Mayte Martin during IV Dutch Flamenco Biennale 2013

Cantaora, guitarist and composer Mayte Martín (Barcelona, 1965) has often been called 'the best singer of her generation'. Her refined singing and her musical intuition have made her an icon of humanity. Even on her first album from 1994, 'Muy-Frágil', she showed that her greatest strength lies in her deepest vulnerability. Her singing is like her appearance: pure and unadorned. Mayte Martín updates the classical flamenco repertoire with wonderful creativity. But she also excels at the styles in which Spain and South America are intertwined - the Idas y Vueltas. For many years, the genre was considered inferior, as 'not true flamenco', until Martín revived it and gave it a new allure. With her boléro-like melodies to poems by Manuel Alcántara on her latest CD from 2009, the Catalonian singer pierced listeners to the heart. 'Martín made the audience float on her voice of silk and honey,' one critic wrote.