Over two mesmerising nights, the Concurso treated a packed audience of 4,000 to a historic musical extravaganza in an atmosphere brimming with soul and spontaneity. Memorable performers and prize-winners included Diego "El Tenazas" Bermúdez, a septuagenarian Roma man who had retired from singing 30 years earlier after suffering a punctured lung in a knife fight. Diminutive and hunched, he limped on to the stage after having allegedly walked 62 miles (100km) from his home in Puente Genil to attend the contest and proceeded to hold the audience spellbound with a rendition of a caña (an ancient song with religious overtones) sung in a fresh, almost youthful voice.
