Emilio Cao (born in 1953) was a Spanish Galician folk musician, singer-songwriter, and composer from Santiago de Compostela. Cao was the first musician to recover the Celtic harp in Galicia since the Middle Ages. He performed with the groups Brétema and N.H.U. before composing his first songs while accompanying the collective Voces Ceibes. After performing across Europe in the mid-1970s, Cao released his debut album, Fonte do Araño, in 1977. His subsequent recordings included Lenda da pedra do destiño (1979), No manto da auga (1981), and Amiga Alba e Delgada (1986). Cao collaborated with artists Alan Stivell and John Renbourn, and musicalized poems by Rosalía de Castro and Manuel Antonio, dedicating the album Cartas Mariñas (1992) to the latter. In 2024, he received the honorary “Martín Códax” Music Award. Emilio Cao died in Santiago de Compostela on May 25, 2025.
