For many years Soler was a dancer. He began his career at the age of fifteen, and in 1960, when he was 17, made his own group. Seeing him for the first time was to discover a world of compás, even for the most jaded flamenco fans. It wasn't that he danced, played or sang in compás. Manuel Soler was compás itself. His dancing was tight and clean, original, dry, intelligent, minimalist long before minimalism became fashionable, and extraordinarily flamenco. Despite his seriousness and unyielding respect for the art, a keen sense of humor was always very close to the surface ready to bubble up. He was one of the very few who knew how to renew and refresh flamenco without losing the essence.



Soler danced for U.S. president Lyndon Johnson, and at the height of Madrid's tablao era offered his art at Corral de la Pacheca, la Venta del Gato and Torres Bermejas. In 1996 his original work "Por aquí te quiero ver" was voted the best show of Seville's Bienal de Flamenco, and in the 2002 edition of the same festival he was awarded the Giraldillo for Best Accompaniment. His collaborations with other artists were numerous. In addition to a decade with Paco de Lucía, he also performed with Antonio Ruiz, Manuela Vargas, Juana Amaya, María Pagés, Israel Galván, Manolete, Lola Flores, Farruco, Matilde Coral, Camarón de la Isla, Manolo Sanlúcar and Enrique Morente among others, and he dances in one episode of the historic series Rito y Geografía del Baile. Over the last ten years he was in great demand at international festivals where he offered his intensive workshops in compás and percussion. The last great success was his participation in dancer Javier Barón's delightful work "Dime" where once again he had the audience wrapped around his little finger thanks to an amusing hand trick as well as ingenious percussion carried out on this occasion with a giant earthenware vessel....from the inside!



He wasn't the first person to introduce the Peruvian cajón into flamenco, but beyond any doubt was the one who popularized it, and now, twenty years later, few flamenco groups do without the cajón. No one has used it with greater taste and wisdom than him, and in the end he will be remembered for this facet which was just one of many of Manuel Soler.