Chicho Sánchez Ferlosio

• Background — person • Name — Chicho Sánchez Ferlosio • Birth Name — José Antonio Sánchez Ferlosio • Born — 8 April 1940 • Birthplace — Madrid, Spain • Died — 30 June 2003 • Place of death — Madrid, Spain • Genre — Spanish folk • Occupation — Singer-songwriter • Instrument — Voice, classical guitar • Years Active — 1961–2003

José Antonio Sánchez Ferlosio, later known by the nickname "Chicho", was born in 1940. He was the third son of the Falangist leader Rafael Sánchez Mazas, and the younger brother of Miguel Sánchez-MazasMiguel, Rafael and Gabriela Sánchez Ferlosio. After growing up in Francoist Spain, a regime which his own father had helped to establish, Sánchez turned against the regime and became a staunch anti-Francoist activist. By the 1960s, Sánchez had become a popular singer-songwriter of the anti-Francoist opposition. In 1961, he met a group of Italian anti-fascist musicians known as Cantacronache, with which he travelled around Spain collecting anti-Francoist poems and songs. Two years later, in 1963, he released the album Canciones de la resistencia española (Songs of the Spanish Resistance), which he published clandestinely in Sweden. To evade Francoist censorship, Sánchez often presented the political content of his songs indirectly, as was the case with his 1964 song "Gallo rojo, gallo negro" (Red Rooster, Black Rooster). Sánchez popularised the song "La Huelga" (The Strike), written by Chilean singer-songwriter Roberto Alarcón, among Spanish listeners. He also inspired the Catalan Nova Cançó movement, which sought to rehabilitate regional cultures that were marginalised by the centralisation of the Francoist regime. In 1965, Sánchez joined the Communist Party of Spain (Marxist–Leninist) (PCE-ML), but he quickly became disillusioned with Marxism-Leninism after visiting People's Republic of Albania and observing the political repression taking place there. He soon left the communist party and became an anarchist. Inspired by the anarchist philosophy of Agustín García Calvo, Sánchez became intensely critical of institutions such as the state, capitalism and the Catholic Church. He later joined the National Confederation of Labour (CNT), an anarchist trade union centre. His music remained popular following the Spanish transition to democracy, taking a place among the counterculture that emerged during the 1970s. Later in his life, Sánchez was interviewed in a park in Madrid for the 2003 film Soldiers of Salamina, in which the protagonist investigated the unsuccessful attempt by Spanish republicans to execute his father. Sánchez died that same year, in 2003.

Chicho Sánchez Ferlosio was recorded at birth as José Antonio Julio Onésimo Sánchez Ferlosio. The authorities additionally record the headings Chicho Sanchez Ferlosio and José Antonio Julio Onésimo Sánchez Ferlosio. His recorded language was Spanish. He was the child of Rafael Sánchez Mazas.

Chicho Sánchez Ferlosio is recorded as singer-songwriter, writer, anarcho-syndicalist, poet and musician.