The art of Flamenco...

10 Nov 2011

As I promised over the weekend, I'm going to share a little of what I know about Flamenco. I'm by no means an expert. This post contains what I've gleaned from my experiences. I've studied a little about Flamenco in one of my undergraduate Spanish classes and I've seen Flamenco "shows" (for lack of a better word) 5 or 6 times.

I'm really interested in writing about Flamenco because I think that it is a misunderstood art. I think there tend to be two stereotypical views about Flamenco: it's an ugly dance where people just stomp around and yell or it's just a dance for Gypsies.

Flamenco has its origins in the south of Spain in the region of Andulucía. Between the 8th and 15th century, Flamenco saw its greatest evolution and development. During this period of Arabic rule in Spain, there was a great mixing of Arabic, Jewish, and Christian cultures, and Flamenco was not unaffected. Arabic, Jewish, Christian, and Gypsy traditions influenced the instruments used and the style of music.

Today, it's very popular outside of Spain. People take Flamenco classes like you would for salsa, waltz, or tango. In fact, I know of a Flamenco school located in the Twin Cities.

It's also continuing to evolve. Flamenco is becoming more "pop." When I was in Spain two years ago, there was a show in Madrid called "Jazz Flamenco," which as it's name suggests was attempting to popularize and perhaps modernize Flamenco.    

Flamenco has three different components--cante (song), baile (dance), and guitarra (guitar). Here you can watch a clip that has cante and guitarra here and a baile by Carmen Amaya here.

There are various types of Flamenco. In my class, we discussed the cante jondo--the deep song. This type of Flamenco is much more serious and deals with themes such as death, pain, alienation, religion, etc. Spanish writer Federico Garcia Lorca was fascinated by the cante jondo and actually wrote a collection of poems entitled Cante jondo. For my class, I read some of his saetas poems--which focus on religious suffering and pain.


The cante jondo isn't "pretty." It's full of emotion and pain, and the song reflects that. Not every note is perfect, and sometimes there are spontaneous sounds. Instead, the most important part of cante jondo is staying true to that emotion and allowing it to guide the singer. Personally, I find this type of Flamenco more interesting than the staged shows for tourists. A good cantaor (singer) can give you goosebumps and make you want to cry.

Here's an example of a cante jondo.