Joaquín Fernández Franco, known as Joaquín el de la Paula, was a Gitano singer from Alcalá de Guadaíra credited with creating the 'Soleá de Alcalá,' one of flamenco's most revered soleá styles. He was never a professional performer and made no commercial recordings, but singers who heard him — above all Antonio Mairena, who named him a formative teacher — preserved and popularized his style after his death in 1933.