Marina Heredia Ríos, the daughter of the flamenco singer Jaime El Parrón, was born in Granada on the 10th April 1980, with the art of flamenco in her blood she began singing from her tender infancy and has been working relentlessly ever since. All her efforts and dedication paid off when she was awarded the prize Andalucía Joven a las Artes (Andalusia Youth for the Arts) for being an example of work and talent, and contributing to the diffusion of Andalusian flamenco throughout the world.
Since Marina’s first recording experience at the age of thirteen, making a flamenco CD for children called Malgre la Nuit, her artistic career began to take on a dizzying rhythm, continuing to make a new children’s CD, this time for World Music, being the representative for showing flamenco to the world.
Her artistic commitments grew year by year. At fifteen, she collaborated as a singer in a group formed by Miguel Ángel Cortés and performed in various flamenco programmes. This was when her international tours began and she performed with the flamenco dancer La China in Switzerland, France, Portugal, Spain and the London presentation of El Legado Andalusí (the Andalusian Legacy). In her search for new ways of understanding the flamenco of her roots, Marina has been experimenting with her musical ideas and shared the stage with gipsy performers from both Hungary and Pakistan in the Festival Madrid Sur.
Just a year later, she received critical acclaim for her performance on the stage of Espárrago 98 and began performing with well-established artists such as the dancer Maria Pagès or the master guitarist José María Gallardo. In the X Seville Flamenco Biennial, she was applauded triumphantly for her performance with Eva Yerbabuena in the Lope de Vega Theatre.
With a growing reputation as one of the important young voices of flamenco, Marina took part in the programme Flamenco Adventure in the late night concerts of the International Festival of Music and Dance in Granada. In this same year, she also took part in the tribute concert for Camarón De La Isla in San Fernando, Cadiz.
But once again Marina’s most flamenco side opened up to other kinds of music when she was involved with the opera De Amore by the composer Mauricio Sotelo and produced by the Munich Biennial and Madrid’s Zarzuela Theatre, premiering in the prestigious Cari Orffdel auditorium in Munich. Later this year, she performed in the concert Modus Novus again by Mauricio Sotelo for the Injuve 99 programme for young composers in the Fine Arts Circle, Madrid.
Since the turn of the millennium Marina’s career has gone from strength to strength, appearing on main stages in Spain, France and Portugal.
She has graced with her presence all the major Spanish festivals from Barcelona’s El Grec to Seville’s Flamenco Biennial, passing through Madrid’s Autumn Festival, and the festivals of Jerez, Ronda and of course the well-established International Festival of Music and Dance of Granada. Moreover, Marina has appeared in international festivals such as De Single of Amberes, Strasbourg or the Nimes Flamenco Week. In 2002, she made her New York debut in the New York Flamenco Festival, where she also illustrated a conference by the critic and flamenco expert Ángel Álvarez Caballero.
Numerous foreign institutions have chosen her to demonstrate the art of flamenco, such as the Arab World Institute in Paris or the Andalusian Legacy, for whom she has been on tour a few times. Marina sang for the Prince of Asturias during his 2002 visit to Granada and collaborated in the recording of the Andalusian Anthem published by the Regional Administration of Andalusia with illustrious artists such as Paco de Lucia, José Mercé or Enrique Morente.
In 2001, her shining career became a recording reality when she made her first solo album Me Duele, Me Duele, produced by Pepe de Lucia, Marina sings to the accompaniment by José Mª Cañizares and other great flamenco voices of today. That same year, she contributed in recording collaborations with Hougui B along with José Mercé creating a particular flamenco. Her interest in other artistic disciplines has led her to work with the dancer and choreographer Blanca Li in France and played a co-starring role along side her father El Parrón in a documentary directed by Dominique Bel about the transmission of flamenco in the family.
This same restlessness brings her to poetry, which is especially present in her record La voz del agua (The voice of water), and clearly demonstrated in her performances both at the VII Women Poets meeting in 2002 and in the International Solidarity Poetry Festival of Granada in 2005. Even more recently her voice could be heard once again in the Beneficial Festival Flamenco Pa’tós (Flamenco for Everyone) organised by Gomaespuma. Her poetic inclinations also brought her onto the stage in a UNESCO gala in Seville in solidarity with Afghan women.
In 2006, she opened the Seville Flamenco Biennial in the famous Lope de Vega Theatre, but the most important work of this year was the recording of La voz del agua (The voice of water), her second solo album, under her own label.
Her success is such that her presence is being demanded on all the main stages. In Andalusia, Marina is already legendary, an enchanting voice from Granada from an artist with great hope and a tremendous talent to go forth and show her art to the entire world.
Their success has grown so much that his presence in the main sites is increasingly sought. Winner of many prizes which include the traditional and prestigious Trofeo de la Peña El Taranto, its importance in Andalusia Granada latent already no shortage of enthusiasm and has plenty of art and talent to demonstrate their art in the world.
In 2009, Marina Heredia has the honor of being the first woman to perform at the Flemish National Auditorium of Spain.
During that same year he made various performances in Zamora, Madrid, where he participated in the Festival Caja Madrid "in February.
Continues its representation in Cuevas del Becerro (Manager), Almeria, Malaga and Alhaurin de la Torre (Málaga).
Returns to the capital of Spain to participate in the Festival "Suma Flamenca" and "Flamenco pa'tos."
In the July premiere in Granada, the Sacromonte Abbey, his show "Song of the Sacromonte, with great critical and commercial success.
Continues his tour of Moguer (Huelva), Casabermeja (Málaga), Herrera (Sevilla), Vejer de la Frontera (Cádiz) and Ogíjares (Granada).
Marina Heredia in September is "El Amor Brujo" by Manuel de Falla in Zurich (Switzerland).
In December flies to Montevideo (Uruguay) to represent the new "El Amor Brujo" by Manuel de Falla.
