Origins of Flamenco

Flamenco is a form of Spanish musical dance. The culture behind flamenco is as complex as the countries history. If in Southern Spain during a feria, you will see many men and women dressed in ‘flamenco’ dresses walking past. Even though the art of flamenco is practiced all over Spain it is essentially an Andalusian tradition. However, other provinces of Spain, mainly Extremadura and Murcia, have aided its development, and have indeed created their own versions of the flamboyant dance. Not much is known about the exact origin of flamenco, however it is generally acknowledged that the Spanish, Islamic, Sephardic (jewish), and Gypsy (Gitano) cultures that existed in Andalusia prior to and after the Re-conquest had a large part in its birth, together with a few Latin American and especially Cuban influences.
 
Lower Andalusia especially the areas of Seville, Cádiz and parts of Málaga were the centres of the subculture that grew when flamenco first blossomed. This quickly spread and enveloped the rest of Andalusia, borrowing and transforming many local dances into various forms of flamenco. Other traditional music was later converted as the style of flamenco spread, the Castilian traditional music to name but one. These were both influenced, became influences by, the traditional flamenco styles.
 
The progression of flamencos development can be tracked through its development in history, however due to Spain’s turbulent past, much of the exact details have been lost.
 
As mentioned above, flamenco began in the southern regions of Spain, so because of this it was very much a working class art form, this restricted its appeal within the noble upper classes of the time. The flamenco style reflects this in much of development. The people expressed their struggles through the music and likewise their jubilation, pride and hope in times of victory.
 
The persecution of The Moors, the Gitanos and the Jews expelled by the Spanish Inquisition in 1492 are all parts of the dance as it is now known.
 
Fundamentally the Gitanos, being a very oral culture, used their folk songs as an accompaniment to the dance form. These songs were to be passed down the generations and repeated through the ages. This added a great deal, generally due to the fact that the non-gypsy Andalusian poorer classes, were illiterate at the time.
 
The appeal of flamenco is widespread, poets such as Félix Grande, Caballero Bonald or Ricardo Molina, have all expressed their enthusiasm, and with no formal musicology training. Any knowledge that could be formulated generally came from writings of 19th century folklorist Demófilo, notes by foreign travellers like George Borrow, a few accounts by other writers. Even flamencos humble beginnings could not avoid certain ethnic or racial bias. This changed during the 1980s, when flamenco slowly started to be included in widespread musical celebrations and exhibitions, a growing number of musicologists and historians began to carry out further research to formulate a strong history. New facts have been uncovered to shed light on the whole tradition.
 
Questions always go hand in hand with flamenco. The very name carries with it doubt regarding its origin. One answer to this question may have been supplied by a book written by George Borrow, "Zincali", in 1842, where he states that the word flemenc has strong ties with "Gypsy". As with any problematic question many disagree. In a book titled "Orígenes de lo flamenco y secreto del cante jondo", Blas Infante controversially argued that the word flamenco comes from Hispano-Arabic word fellahmengu, which means "expelled peasant". However there is a fundamental flaw with this theory, the word is first attested three centuries after the end of the Moorish reign. But Infante linked the term to the ethnic Andalusian Muslim faith, the Moriscos, who would have mixed with the Gypsy newcomers in order to avoid religious persecution. Alternative explanations of the terms origins include connections with Flanders, flamenco also means Flemish in Spanish, believed by Spanish people to be the origin of the Gypsies, or the flameante (arduous) execution by the performers.

The Re-conquest, its Influence Flamenco

The arrival of nomad Gypsies in 1425, the conquest of Granada, the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 and even the discovery of America, what do these have in common? Well apart from all occurring in the 15th century, they also had a big impact on the further development on the entire flamenco art form.
 
The re-conquest of Andalusia carried with it a strong Castilian culture into Andalusia, which must be considered a large influence in the musical folklore. Any influences coming from the middle-eastern cultures of Spain could have been excused for weakening when the Sephardi Jews and Moriscos were expelled. However, other cultures, namely the Gitanos, who came to the Iberian Peninsula during the 15th century had strong connections with the Morisco population, until their expulsion in the 16th century. These Gitanos were tolerated at first, being a constant fixture at the festivals held by the noble classes of the time, exhibiting their dance and music for the appreciative crowds. And authors such as George Borrow and Blas Infante, amongst others, wrote that many of the Moriscos join with the various tribes of the Gitanos and soon became undistinguishable. This has never been proven scientifically, however the Gypsies of Granada perform the Zambra to this day, and it is widely accepted that its origins are linked to the original Moorish Zambra.
 
The Spanish monarchy constantly tried to force the Gypsies to convert and abandon their language, customs and music. So much so that during the Reconquista any tolerance that was previously shown was stopped and the Gitano community was bundled off into ghettos. However strong a measure towards the Gypsies, this action helped the musical art form of flamenco retain its purity. These restrictions remained until the Leniency Edict of Charles III, which restored some of the freedoms to the Spanish Gypsies. A reintroduction of their music and dance began, and the Spanish population were able to enjoy the tradition once again. This all led to a great time of evolution for the art form that had been stagnant in its development for so long. Nomadic Gypsies, however, were still very much the outsiders, and were subjected to persecution, and this torrid time is very much reflected in the lyrics of "palos" like Seguiriyas, in which references to hunger, prison and discrimination abound.

18th Century

This was one of the most exciting times for the flamenco culture, with the start of the "flamenco fiesta". This festival was more than just a gathering where the art form could be practiced. These flamenco fiestas, sometimes lasting for days, developed an internal etiquette with complex sets of social rules, and the music that was played also followed guideline type rules. Many still argue that the culture of flamenco fiesta is, in essence, the basic principle of flamenco.
 
This was also the period in which flamenco as we all know it began. During the 18th century the 6 string single-coursed guitar overtook the traditional double-coursed 5 string guitar as the favoured musical accompaniment, and this was the time that Flamenco indeed became married to the 6 string guitar.

The Golden Age of Flamenco

During these years, flamenco experienced a "Golden Age" in its history. Music Cafés and Cafés Cantantes staged many regular ticketed public performances of the long aged art form. Many people believe that during this period flamenco developed into its definitive form. The dancers themselves became the main public attractions in those cafés and people travelled from miles around to get a chance to see them perform. They were not the only performers to gain recognition however, the popularity of the guitar players who supported the dancers in these shows grew, and many of the guitar players were celebrated performers in their own right. The art form of the flamenco guitar was born. Silverio Franconetti, a non-Gypsy of Italian descent, was a fundamental exponent of the newly formed art. He was regarded as the first singer to be able to sing all the palos well, and not just a few, which was the norm at the time. He later opened his own café cantante, and invited artists from all around Spain to perform along with himself. Many more of these venues followed throughout Andalusia and Spain over the coming years.
 
Demófilo, an outspoken voice, against the commercialisation of flamenco, saying that it was debasing the art form from its historical place in society. In times past the flamenco fiestas were crowded if more than 20 people were present. Also the fiestas never had a fixed time to begin or end. This gave no assurance to when or if a top performer would play, and certainly no guarantee of whether they would perform well. Alternatively the café cantante situation, with performers being contracted to play at set intervals, meant that the audience were always guaranteed to see the best of any individual. This led to the commercialism mentioned, where it was thought that the growth would be stunted to maintain a more popular form. However this was considered by many to of actually spawned a more competitive environment, and pushed people to develop more extravagant forms of the dance and music.
 
The 19th Century saw a rise in the popularity of the Gypsies and their flamenco styles throughout Europe, and as far as Russia. New music and operatic plays were being created based on the flamenco styles of the gypsy culture. The spectacle became a "must see" for anyone travelling through Europe.
 
Federico García Lorca and composer Manuel de Falla, organised the Concurso de Cante Jondo, in 1922. This was to be a folk festival trying to raise awareness in some of the more obsolete styles of flamenco. These were forms that were generally regarded as too bland to be performed in Café Cantantes. Even though this festival was well recieved the influence of fandango and other popular styles kept gaining momentum. While the more difficult forms, which Lorca was trying to promote, like Seguiriyas and, especially, Tonás were usually only performed at private parties.

The "Theatrical" period: 1892-1956

The "Theatrical" period of flamenco started only after the Concurso de Cante Jondo in 1922, known as the Etapa teatral or Ópera flamenca. The name Ópera flamenca was due to the custom, started by impresario Vedrines to call these shows opera, as opera performances enjoyed lower taxes. The cafés cantante entered a period of decadence and were gradually replaced by larger venues like theatres or bullrings. This led to an immense popularity of flamenco but, according to traditionalist critics, also caused it to fall victim to commercialism and economic interests. New types of flamenco shown were born, where flamenco was mixed with other music genres and theatre interludes portraying picturesque scenes by Gitanos and Andalusian’s.
 
The dominant palos of this era were the personal fandango, the cantes de ida y vuelta (songs of Latin American origin) and the song in bulería style. Personal fandangos were based on Huelva traditional styles with a free rhythm (as a cante libre) and with a high density of virtuouso variations. The song in bulería style (Canción por bulerías) adapted any popular or commercial song to the bulería rhythm. This period also saw the birth of a new genre, sometimes called copla andaluza (Andalusian couplet) or canción española (Spanish song), a type of ballads with influences from zarzuela, Andalusian folk songs, and flamenco, usually accompanied with orchestra, which enjoyed great popularity and was performed both by flamenco and non-flamenco artists. Owing to its links with flamenco shows, many people consider this genre as "flamenco".
 
The leading artist at the time was Pepe Marchena, who sang in a sweet falsetto voice, using spectacular vocal runs reminding of bel canto coloratura. A whole generation of singers was influenced by him and some of them, like Pepe Pinto, or Juan Valderrama also reached immense celebrity. Many classical flamenco singers who had grown with the café cantante fell into oblivion. Others, like Tomás Pavón or Aurelio Sellé, found refuge in private parties. The rest adapted (though often did not completely surrender) to the new tastes: they took part in those mass flamenco shows, but kept singing the old styles, although introducing some of the new ones in their repertoire: it is the case of La Niña de los Peines, Manolo Caracol, Manuel Vallejo, El Carbonerillo and many others.
 
This period has been considered by the most traditionalist critics as a time of complete commercial debasement. According to them, the opera flamenca became a "dictatorship" (Álvarez Caballero 1998), where bad personal fandangos and copla andaluza practically caused traditional flamenco to disappear. Other critics consider this view to be unbalanced (See Ríos Ruiz 1997:40-43): great figures of traditional cante like La Niña de los Peines or Manolo Caracol enjoyed great success, and palos like siguiriyas or soleá were never completely abandoned, not even by the most representative singers of the ópera flamenca style like Marchena or Valderrama.
 
Typical singers of the period like Marchena, Valderrama, Pepe Pinto or El Pena, have also been reappraised. Starting with singers like Luis de Córdoba, Enrique Morente or Mayte Martín, who recorded songs they created or made popular, a high number of singers started to rescue their repertoire, a CD in homage to Valderrama was recorded, and new generations of singers claim their influence. Critics like Antonio Ortega or Ortiz Nuevo have also vindicated the artists of the ópera flamenca period.
 
Today flamenco dancing and music can be seen at many of the festivals that are held throughout Andalucia. And many Spanish restaurants and bars will either have the music playing or will have live preformances