Cultural origins There are hypotheses that point to the influence on flamenco of types of dance from the Indian subcontinent; the place of origin of the
Romani people. These Roma migrants also brought bells, and an extensive repertoire of songs and dances. Upon arrival to Andalusia in the 15th century, they were exposed to the rich Arab-Andalusian music culture, itself a hybrid of Spanish music tradition going back to the 8th century with the establishment of
Al-Andalus, which brought in traditions and music from the
Arabian Peninsula,
Northern Africa and
Sephardic features. Some of the instruments associated with flamenco and Spanish folklore in different regions today, are the wooden
castanets and
tambourines, both believed to originate during the Al Andalus period. This centuries-long period of cultural intermingling, formed the roots of flamenco song and dance genres. It is believed that the flamenco genre emerged at the end of the 18th century in cities and agrarian towns of Baja Andalusia, highlighting
Jerez de la Frontera as the first written vestige of this art, although there is practically no data related to those dates and the manifestations of this time are more typical of the
bolero school than of flamenco. It appeared as a modern art form from the convergence of the urban
subaltern groups, gitano communities, and
journeyman of Andalusia that formed the marginalized flamenco artistic working class who established flamenco as a singular art form, marked from the beginning by the gitano brand.
Casticismo During the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, a number of factors led to the rise in Spain of a phenomenon known as "Costumbrismo Andaluz" or "Andalusian Mannerism". In 1783
Carlos III promulgated a pragmatics that regulated the social situation of the . This was a momentous event in the history of Spanish gitanos who, after centuries of marginalization and persecution, saw their legal situation improve substantially. After the
Spanish War of Independence (1808–1812), a feeling of racial pride developed in the Spanish conscience, in opposition to the "gallified"
afrancesados - Spaniards who were influenced by French culture and the idea of the enlightenment. In this context, gitanos were seen as an ideal embodiment of
Spanish culture and the emergence of the
bullfighting schools of
Ronda and
Seville, the rise of the Bandidos and Vaqueros led to a taste for Andalusian romantic culture which triumphed in the Madrid court. At this time there is evidence of disagreements due to the introduction of innovations in art.
The cantante cafés In 1881
Silverio Franconetti opened the first flamenco singer café in Seville. In Silverio's café the cantaores were in a very competitive environment, which allowed the emergence of the professional cantaor and served as a crucible where flamenco art was configured. Locals learned the cantes, while reinterpreting the Andalusian folk songs in their own style, expanding the repertoire. Likewise, the taste of the public contributed to configure the flamenco genre, unifying its technique and its theme.
Antiflamencoism in the "Generation of '98" Flamenquismo, defined by the Royal Spanish Academy as a "fondness for flamenco art and customs", is a conceptual catch-all where flamenco singing and a fondness for bullfighting, among other traditional Spanish elements, fit. These customs were strongly attacked by the
generation of 98, all of its members being "anti-flamenco", with the exception of the Machado brothers, Manuel and Antonio. Being Sevillians and sons of the folklorist Demófilo Machado, the brothers had a more complex view of the matter. The greatest standard bearer of anti-flamenquism was the
Madrid writer Eugenio Noel, who, in his youth, had been a militant
casticista. Noel attributed to flamenco and bullfighting the origin of the ills of Spain which he saw as manifestations of the country's
Oriental character which hindered economic and social development. These considerations caused an insurmountable rift to be established for decades between flamenco and most "intellectuals" of the time.
Flamenco colors The traditional colors associated with flamenco are red, white and gold.
Flamenca opera Between 1920 and 1955, flamenco shows began to be held in bullrings and theaters, under the name "flamenco opera". This denomination was an economic strategy of the promoters, since opera only paid 3% while variety shows paid 10%. At this time, flamenco shows spread throughout Spain and the main cities of the world. The great social and commercial success achieved by flamenco at this time eliminated some of the oldest and most sober styles from the stage, in favor of lighter airs, such as
cantiñas, los
cantes de ida y vuelta and
fandangos, of which many personal versions were created. The purist critics attacked this lightness of the cantes, as well as the use of falsete and the
gaitero style. In the line of purism, the poet
Federico García Lorca and the composer
Manuel de Falla had the idea of concurso de cante jondo in
Granada in 1922. Both artists conceived of flamenco as folklore, not as a scenic artistic genre; for this reason, they were concerned, since they believed that the massive triumph of flamenco would end its purest and deepest roots. To remedy this, they organized a cante jondo contest in which only amateurs could participate and in which festive cantes (such as cantiñas) were excluded, which Falla and Lorca did not consider jondos, but flamencos. The jury was chaired by Antonio Chacón, who at that time was the leading figure in cante. The winners were "El Tenazas", a retired professional cantaor from Morón de la Frontera, and Manuel Ortega, an eight-year-old boy from Seville who would go down in flamenco history as Manolo Caracol. The contest turned out to be a failure due to the scant echo it had and because Lorca and Falla did not know how to understand the professional character that flamenco already had at that time, striving in vain to seek a purity that never existed in an art that was characterized by mixture and the personal innovation of its creators. Apart from this failure, with the
Generation of '27, whose most eminent members were Andalusians and therefore knew the genre first-hand, the recognition of flamenco by intellectuals began. At that time, there were already flamenco recordings related to Christmas, which can be divided into two groups: the traditional flamenco carol and flamenco songs that adapt their lyrics to the Christmas theme. These cantes have been maintained to this day, the Zambomba Jerezana being spatially representative, declared an Asset of Intangible Cultural Interest by the Junta de Andalucía in December 2015. During the
Spanish Civil War, a large number of singers were exiled or died defending the
Republic and the humiliations to which they were being subjected by the National Party:
Bando Nacional:
Corruco de Algeciras,
Chaconcito,
El Carbonerillo,
El Chato De Las Ventas,
Vallejito,
Rita la Cantaora,
Angelillo,
Guerrita are some of them. In the postwar period and the first years of the
Franco regime, the world of flamenco was viewed with suspicion, as the authorities were not clear that this genre contributed to the national conscience. However, the regime soon ended up adopting flamenco as one of the quintessential Spanish cultural manifestations. The singers who have survived the war go from stars to almost outcasts, singing for the young men in the private rooms of the brothels in the center of Seville where they have to adapt to the whims of aristocrats, soldiers and businessmen who have become rich. In short, the period of the flamenco opera was open to creativity and comprised most of the flamenco repertoire. It was the Golden Age of this genre, with figures such as
Antonio Chacón, ,
Manuel Torre,
La Niña de los Peines,
Pepe Marchena and
Manolo Caracol.
Academic study Starting in the 1950s, abundant anthropological and musicological studies on flamenco began to be published. In 1954 Hispavox published the first
Antología del Cante Flamenco, a sound recording that was a great shock to its time, dominated by orchestrated cante and, consequently, mystified. In 1955, the Argentine intellectual Anselmo González Climent published an essay called
Flamencología, whose title he baptized the "set of knowledge, techniques, etc., on flamenco singing and dancing." This book dignified the study of flamenco by applying the academic methodology of musicology to it and served as the basis for subsequent studies on this genre. As a result, in 1956 the National Contest of Cante Jondo de Córdoba was organized and in 1958 the first flamencology chair was founded in Jerez de la Frontera, the oldest academic institution dedicated to the study, research, conservation, promotion and defense of the flamenco art. Likewise, in 1963 the Cordovan poet Ricardo Molina and the Sevillian cantaor
Antonio Mairena published Alalimón Mundo y Formas del
Cante flamenco, which has become a must-have reference work. For a long time the Mairenistas postulates were considered practically unquestionable, until they found an answer in other authors who elaborated the "Andalusian thesis", which defended that flamenco was a genuinely Andalusian product, since it had been developed entirely in this region and because its styles basic ones derived from the folklore of Andalusia. They also maintained that the Andalusian gitanos had contributed decisively to their formation, highlighting the exceptional nature of flamenco among gypsy music and dances from other parts of Spain and Europe. The unification of the gitanos and Andalusian thesis has ended up being the most accepted today. In short, between the 1950s and 1970s, flamenco went from being a mere show to also becoming an object of study.
Flamenco protest during the Franco regime Flamenco became one of the symbols of Spanish national identity during the
Franco regime, since the regime knew how to appropriate a folklore traditionally associated with Andalusia to promote national unity and attract tourism, constituting what was called national-flamenquismo. Hence, flamenco had long been seen as a reactionary or retrograde element. In the mid-60s and until the transition, cantadores who opposed the regime began to appear with the use of protest lyrics. These include: José Menese and lyricist Francisco Moreno Galván,
Enrique Morente, Manuel Gerena,
El Lebrijano,
El Cabrero,
Lole y Manuel, el Piki or Luis Marín, among many others. In contrast to this conservatism with which it was associated during the Franco regime, flamenco suffered the influence of the wave of activism that also shook the university against the repression of the regime when university students came into contact with this art in the recitals that were held, for example, at the Colegio Mayor de San Juan Evangelista: "flamenco amateurs and professionals got involved with performances of a manifestly political nature. It was a kind of flamenco protest charged with protest, which meant censorship and repression for the flamenco activists". As the political transition progressed, the demands were deflated as flamenco inserted itself within the flows of globalized art. At the same time, this art was institutionalized until it reached the point that the
Junta de Andalucía was attributed in 2007 "exclusive competence in matters of knowledge, conservation, research, training, promotion and dissemination".
Flamenco fusion In the 1970s, there were airs of social and political change in Spain, and Spanish society was already quite influenced by various musical styles from the rest of Europe and the United States. There were also numerous singers who had grown up listening to
Antonio Mairena,
Pepe Marchena and
Manolo Caracol. The combination of both factors led to a revolutionary period called flamenco fusion. The singer
Rocío Jurado internationalized flamenco at the beginning of the 70s, replacing the bata de cola with evening dresses. Her facet in the "Fandangos de Huelva" and in the Alegrías was recognized internationally for her perfect voice
tessitura in these genres. She used to be accompanied in her concerts by guitarists Enrique de Melchor and
Tomatito, not only at the national level but in countries like Colombia, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. The musical representative José Antonio Pulpón was a decisive character in that fusion, as he urged the cantaor Agujetas to collaborate with the Sevillian Andalusian rock group "
Pata Negra", the most revolutionary couple since Antonio Chacón and
Ramón Montoya, initiating a new path for flamenco. It also fostered the artistic union between the virtuoso guitarist from Algeciras
Paco de Lucía and the long-standing singer from the island
Camarón de la Isla, who gave a creative impulse to flamenco that would mean its definitive break with Mairena's conservatism. When both artists undertook their solo careers, Camarón became a mythical cantaor for his art and personality, with a legion of followers, while Paco de Lucía reconfigured the entire musical world of flamenco, opening up to new influences, such as Brazilian music, Arabic and jazz and introducing new musical instruments such as the Peruvian cajon, the transverse flute, etc. Other leading performers in this process of formal flamenco renewal were
Juan Peña El Lebrijano, who married flamenco with Andalusian music, and
Enrique Morente, who throughout his long artistic career has oscillated between the purism of his first recordings and the crossbreeding with rock, or
Remedios Amaya from
Triana, cultivator of a unique style of
tangos from Extremadura, and a wedge of purity in her cante make her part of this select group of established artists. Other singers with their own style include
Cancanilla de Marbella. In 2011 this style became known in India thanks to
María del Mar Fernández, who acts in the video clip of the film You Live Once, entitled Señorita. The film was seen by more than 73 million viewers.
New flamenco In the 1980s a new generation of flamenco artists emerged who had been influenced by the mythical cantaor Camarón, Paco de Lucía, Morente, etc. These artists were interested in popular urban music, which in those years was renewing the Spanish music scene, it was the time of the
Movida madrileña. Among them are "
Pata Negra", who fused flamenco with blues and rock,
Ketama, of pop and Cuban inspiration and Ray Heredia, creator of his own musical universe where flamenco occupies a central place. Also the recording company Nuevos Medios released many musicians under the label nuevo flamenco and this denomination has grouped musicians very different from each other like
Rosario Flores, daughter of
Lola Flores, or the renowned singer
Malú, niece of Paco de Lucía and daughter of Pepe de Lucía, who despite sympathizing with flamenco and keeping it in her discography has continued with her personal style. However, the fact that many of the interpreters of this new music are also renowned cantaores, in the case of
José Mercé,
El Cigala, and others, has led to labeling everything they perform as flamenco, although the genre of their songs differs quite a bit from the classic flamenco. This has generated very different feelings, both for and against. Other contemporary artists of that moment were O'Funkillo and
Ojos de Brujo, Arcángel,
Miguel Poveda,
Mayte Martín, Marina Heredia,
Estrella Morente or Manuel Lombo, etc. But the discussion between the difference of flamenco and
new flamenco in Spain has just gained strength during since 2019 due to the success of new flamenco attracting the taste of the youngest Spanish fans but also in the international musical scene emphasizing the problem of how should we call this new musical genre mixed with flamenco. One of the artists who has reinvented flamenco is
Rosalía, an indisputable name on the international music scene. "Pienso en tu mirá", "Di mi nombre" or the song that catapulted her to fame, "Malamente", are a combination of styles that includes a flamenco/south Spain traditional musical base. Rosalía has broken the limits of this musical genre by embracing other urban rhythms, but has also created a lot of controversy about which genre is she using. The
Catalan artist has been awarded several
Latin Grammy Awards and
MTV Video Music Awards, which also, at just 30 years old, garners more than 40 million monthly listeners on
Spotify. But it is not the only successful case, the Granada-born
Dellafuente,
C. Tangana,
MAKA, RVFV, Demarco Flamenco,
Maria Àrnal and Marcel Bagés, El Niño de Elche,
Sílvia Pérez Cruz; Califato 3/4, Juanito Makandé, Soledad Morente,
María José Llergo o
Fuel Fandango are only a few of the new spanish musical scene that includes flamenco in their music. It seems that the Spanish music scene is experiencing a change in its music and new rhythms are re-emerging together with new artists who are experimenting to cover a wider audience that wants to maintain the closeness that flamenco has transmitted for decades.
Flamenco culture overseas The state of New Mexico, located in the southwest of the United States, maintains a strong identity with flamenco culture. The
University of New Mexico located in
Albuquerque offers a graduate degree program in flamenco. Flamenco performances are widespread in the Albuquerque and
Santa Fe communities, with the National institute of Flamenco sponsoring an annual festival, as well as a variety of professional flamenco performances offered at various locales. Emmy Grimm, known by her stage name La Emi is a professional flamenco dancer and native to New Mexico who performs as well as teaches flamenco in Santa Fe. She continues studying her art by traveling to Spain to work intensively with Carmela Greco and La Popi, as well as José Galván, Juana Amaya, Yolanda Heredia, Ivan Vargas Heredia, Torombo and Rocio Alcaide Ruiz. == Main
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