Singer Gregorio Moya sweeps the Las Minas Cante Festival by winning four awards.

The 40-year-old La Mancha singer Gregorio Moya , from Argamasilla de Alba (Ciudad Real), not only won the 'Lámpara Minera' (Miner's Lamp) at the La Unión International Mines Cante Festival , the highest award worth 15,000 euros, presented to him by the mayor of the mining town, Joaquín Zapata, but also swept three other prizes: first prize for mineras, worth 6,000 euros, as well as the Group A prize, worth 3,000 euros, for his malagueñas singing; the prize for cartageneras, worth 3,000 euros, and the Group C prize, for his marianas, worth 2,000 euros, for his great performance, in which he was magnificently accompanied by guitarist Paco Cortés. Moya managed to convince the jury and received unanimous applause from the audience.

In the opening lines of 'Don Quixote' , it says, "Whose name I do not wish to remember." And Gregorio Moya did not want to remember the Cave of Medrano in Argamasilla. Moya will surely not forget this edition of Cante de las Minas, nor that beautiful rose by the realist painter Antonio López that illustrates the poster.

Moya, now a winner, came back on stage to sing "La Minera" again, but not without expressing his gratitude: "To the Festival and to all the fans who have come here. This is a dream for any fan like me. I want to thank all my colleagues; they are all great singers, both men and women, each in their own unique way. I want to dedicate the award to all my people, to my wife, to my family. I want to defend the award wherever I go and live up to it."

In the dance category, the first prize, the 'Desplante', went to Jerez-born dancer Salomé Ramírez Almagro for her taranto and soleá, with a prize of 6,000 euros. This marks the first time the 'Desplante' has been awarded to Jerez. The second prize for dance went to José María Viñas from Cádiz, with a prize of 2,000 euros.

The 'Bordón Minero', the highest guitar award, was not awarded this year. The only finalist in this category was Barcelona native Toni Abellán Sánchez, who took home the second prize of 2,000 euros.

The first prize for flamenco instrumentalist, awarded the "Filón" trophy and 6,000 euros, went to young José Carlos Esteban-Hanza Fernández from Almería. This 20-year-old pianist is the nephew of guitarist Tomatito and was accompanied by much of his family: Cristóbal Santiago and Antonio Torres "Pescaíto" on vocals, and Moisés Santiago on percussion. The second prize, worth 2,000 euros, went to the flute player from Extremadura, Ostalinda Suárez.

The prizes for the other finalists in the singing category went to José Plantón Heredia, "José del Calli," from Córdoba, for his Murcian singing, and Francisco Heredia, from Jaén, who won the tarantas award. All prizes are worth 3,000 euros.

The Special Jury Prize, worth 1,000 euros, for the best accompanying artist went to guitarist Paco Cortés, Gregorio Moya's accompanist. The new 'Mariano Conde' guitar prize, which includes a flamenco guitar from this prestigious luthier brand, went to young Samuel del Río Carmona, 'Samuel de Encarni', from Cádiz.

From early Friday morning, when the announcement was placed on the main door of the Cathedral of Cante and the three finalists who would compete for the "Lámpara Minera" on Saturday night were announced, an exciting and highly contested final was already anticipated, perhaps one of the most competitive in recent years.

The three singers already knew each other well from other competitions. With three different styles, the key would lie not only in the performance of the two mining songs, but also in the others. The tension and suspense remained high until the final moments, when the excellent presenter Ruth García Belmonte read out the cards with the names of the winners.

The jury was composed of dancer Eduardo Guerrero, instrumentalist Juan Parrilla, journalist Kyoko Shikaze, producer and guitarist José Manuel Gamboa, and flamencologist Paco Paredes.