Flamenco is one of the greatest musical forms of Europe.

                                       The roots of flamenco have evolved in southern Spain from
                                       many sources: Morocco, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Greece,
                                       and other parts of the Near and Far East. How exactly
                                       they came together as flamenco is a subject of great
                                       debate and a very interesting story.

                                       The gypsies from the south of Spain created this music
                                       day by day since their arrival to Spain in the 15th century.
                                       Inside and outside of flamenco it is widely accepted that
                                       they came from a northern region of India, (this territory
                                       called Sid belongs to Pakistan nowadays) wich they left in
                                       several waves of migrants because of invasions and wars
                                       with foreign conquers. The tribes of Sind moved to Egypt
                                       and stayed in Giptanos until they were thrown out, and this
                                       time their first new destination was Checoslovaquia in
                                       Europe, but they knew that they were not going to be
                                       welcomed anywhere because of their number so they
                                       decided to divide themselves in three groups that moved to
                                       different parts of Europe. The first document to register the
                                       arrival of gypsies to Spain is from 1447.
 
 

 
                Carmen Amaya, dancer & singer.
                (1913-1963)
                                              Those known as Gypsies called themselves "Ruma -Calk",
                                              ( it means man from the plains or runner from the plains)
                                              and spoke "Calo" (from the indian dialect Maharata); until
                                              the end of this century they used to be nomads, crafstmen
                                              and shepherds.

                                              The gypsies have always lived as a nomad culture and
                                              when it comes to music they are acostumed to take the
                                              local music and make their own versions from it. Music is
                                              very important in their celebrations and everyday life. All
                                              they need to start to make music is a voice, and they soon
                                              start to add rythms with their hands and feet. They have
                                              always liked embelishments, improvisation and virtuosity
                                              and in Andalucía they found a rich ground for their
                                              musicality, fertilized by hundreds of years of high culture,
                                              where not only Morish, but also Judish, Catholic and local
                                              musical influences mixed.

                                              The Mores had occupied Spain, and particularly the south,
                                              for about 800 years, science, economy and culture
                                              flurished in a rich mixture of cultures. During this time the
                                              predecessor of the flamenco guitar was introduced and
                                              developped. It is believed that the word "flamenco" is a
                                              mis-pronunciation of the Arabic words "felag" (peasant)
                                              and "mengu" (fugitive). It is known that flamenco began to
                                              be used as a synonimous for "Andalucian gypsy" in the
                                              18th century.
 

                     It was around the time Gypsies arrived to Spain, that
                     Columbus set out to the west to stablish a new route to
                     the Indies and discovered an unknown continent (guess
                     what). They came at a bad time because by then the
                     Catholic Kings were trying to take Mores out. The city of
                     Granada in the southern region of Andalucía was the last
                     to fall (1492) and after that, due to the constant influence of
                     the church, the persecution of the "non-catholic" went on
                     for more than two centuries.

                     The Catholic Kings wanted everybody to behave like
                     spanish catholics, and the gypsies had their own nomad
                     customs and a language, Caló, mixed with spanish
                     vocabulary so they were forbbiden to speak it and forced to
                     have a permanent address and a permanent job.
                     Nowadays a lot of Caló words are used in the spanish
                     language, specially in the south of Spain.

                     In the following century they worked and died in large
                     numbers in the mines, lived in caves in the mountains,
                     where hundreds of Jews, Muslims and "pagan" gypsies
                     had taken refuge from the forced conversions and
                     clearances effected by the Catholic kings and the Church,
                     so they had to have celebrations in secret even when they
                     were being invited to the parties of the rich to perform their
                     music. Often the songs where about the injustice done to
                     them by the very same upperclass that couldn't
                     understand what the Gypsies where singing about. The
                     main flamenco centres and families are still found today in
                     quarters and towns of gypsy and refugee origin, such as
                     Alcalá, Utrera, Jerez, Cádiz, and the Triana barrio of
                     Sevilla.

                     As time passed, the laws lightened up a little, the Gypsies
                     sort of adapted, and more people began to take interest in
                     their music. At some point, after a good mixing of musical
                     backgrounds, the locals started to adopte and to interprete
                     some of this music, since then there has been a peculiar
                     feedback between classical guitarists and flamenco
                     players in Spain.

                     The first flamenco score was found in an italian opera (
                     "The lucky Mask".Neri, 18th century) and it can be said
                     that at the end of the 19th century, flamenco had settled in
                     the form known and performed today, but this has to be
                     understood knowing that flamenco is a music that have
                     thrived day by day in live performances since its first
                     steps.

                     (continue in next page)

                                                                Enrique "el Mellizo", cantaor.
                                                                (1848-1906)

 
 

 
 

           Painted by Emilio Alarcón
 

                                           The three main instruments in flamenco are singing, dance
                                           and guitar. Everything started with only singing, with some
                                           handclapping known as "palmas" and the guitar came
                                           later. The extensive use of footwork common today is a
                                           development of this century. There are songs that are done
                                           without dancing, and even a few dances that are done
                                           without singing. Also, any form that can incorporate dance,
                                           can also be done without dance. Finally there are some
                                           songs that are done without any accompaniment, a
                                           cappela.

                                           Flamenco today has many faces: there have been many
                                           developments, and there are many ways flamenco can be
                                           performed. In modern flamenco some more instruments
                                           used commonly are bass guitar (usually fretless) and
                                           "cajón", a rich variety of percussive sounds can be
                                           produced with this instrument, it is box made of wod with a
                                           loose front panel that is played while sitting on it, it is not
                                           tunable and it hasn´t got a special pitch (the original
                                           instrument is slightly different, it was brought from Perú by
                                           Paco de Lucía and his group ).

                                           In new flamenco, flute, sax and a lot of percussion
                                           instruments are being used. Occasionally strings can be
                                           heard (a complete orchestra sometimes) or even
                                           something exotic, like citar (Middle East string intrument)
                                           darbuka, djembe (percussion instruments from India),
                                           bongos and congas (from south america). Extremes in this
                                           respect are metal-strings, electric guitars, synthesizers
                                           and drums.

 
                                        The result of the need of the flamenco guitarists to
                                        demonstrate their ability and creativety is instrumental
                                        flamenco. In flamenco solo guitar, singing and dancing are
                                        used in service of the guitar when in normal circumstances
                                        the guitar is restricted to the service of the voice or the
                                        dancing . As time passed guitarists found themselves
                                        filling in when the singer had to take a break, and started
                                        to make fast and complex melodical phrases, called
                                        falsetas, each "tocaor" likes having a repertory of falsetas
                                        of his own. The technics in flamenco guitar have been
                                        evolving and improving day after day and the skill and
                                        virtuosity developed by most of the flamenco takes them to
                                        one of the highest standards in the world of guitar.

                                        (continue in next page)
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

                   Sabicas (1912-1950)
 

                                        Something esential in flamenco is the way the rhythm is
                                        felt and done. Western music is often felt from beat to
                                        beat, with usually two, three or four counts and one beat
                                        per measure. Flamenco is felt from measure to measure,
                                        with up to twelve counts and several beats in a measure. In
                                        flamenco each measure is a rhythmical phrase with
                                        specific accents and sometimes with a "question-answer"
                                        structure, with surprising and challenging dialogues
                                        between the performers, in phrases that can run over
                                        several measures. The feeling of resolution at the end can
                                        be very strong.
                                        In western music the building up and resolving of tension is
                                        mostly done by melody, the rhythm alone is usually not
                                        very interesting. In flamenco the melodies are always
                                        linked to the rhythmical phrase. A song such as a "cante
                                        por solea" uses to be played at a 3/4 rhythm, but there
                                        can be phrases divided into different measures, and then
                                        fragmentally subdivided again.. The resulting complexity
                                        and the variations between similar phrases constantly
                                        avoids repetition, contributing to the climactic and
                                        structure of each song.
 
 

 

                                  The different styles or "palos" of flamenco are grouped in
                                  "families" according to more or less common structures,
                                  melodies and themes. The palos have names like soleares
                                  (from the spanish word "soledad" that means loneliness),
                                  tonás, siguiriyas (or seguirillas), tangos,bulerías and
                                  fandangos, but the variations are endless and often referred
                                  to their place of origin for example: malagueñas (from
                                  Málaga) or fandangos de Huelva.
                                  The eldest palos are Romances, Gilianas and Alboreas. The
                                  Andaluz provinces of Cádiz, Sevilla, Málaga and Granada
                                  are responsible for most of the palos, although contributions
                                  came from other parts of Andalucía and from the bordering
                                  regions of Extremadura and Murcia. In all of these palos, the
                                  most common beat cycle is twelve - like the blues. Each
                                  piece is played juxtaposing a number of complete lyrical
                                  units called coplas.

                                  Their number varies depending on the atmosphere the
                                  cantaor ( singer) wishes to establish, the emotional tone the
                                  group wish to convey depending on the reaction of the
                                  audience.
 
 
 

                                  John Singer Sargent "EL JALEO" 1882