Great Resources and more ways to enjoy Spain and flamenco:
Online magazines and stores:
Philly and NYC area info on flamenco
Spanish - only magazine of flamenco studies:
Local Doylestown Hispanic Info:
Books to enjoy (in English or translated):
South from Granada, Gerald Brenan (memoir)
Romancero gitano and Poema del cante jondo, Federico García Lorca (poetry)
Lives and Legends of Flamenco, D. E. Pohren (collected biographies)
The New Spaniards, John Hooper (sociology, history)
What is a flamenco performance like?Flamenco can be performed by any number of people, in many different combinations. It is all based around the song and long before the invention of the guitar, the inspiration to dance, there existed only the voice, accompanied by palmas (hand clapping) or other basic percussion. The guitar became a common accompaniment in the mid 19th century, around the same time that dance became a popular addition.
Photo: Guitarist Diego del Gastor, Morón
Flamenco shows as we know them today can be anything from a replication of 19th century tablaos with performers sitting in a row on wooden chairs and taking turns at song, dance, and music solos, to complex presentations of lighting, sound, and choreographies.
In addition to the guitar, a cajón (Latin American box drum), African drums, wind instruments, or Indian instruments have been common accompaniments in recent decades.
click here for an intro to flamenco rhythm
Where does Flamenco come from?
Spain with Andalucía highlighted in the south
Flamenco is an amalgamation of many cultures that, by chance, politics, and in some cases determination, all existed and at times coexisted in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, what is now the region of Spain known as Andalucía. Flamenco has roots in Indian music, which is considered by many to be the origin of the world's gypsies, now a presence all over the world, and it also has roots in Arab music, as well as traditional peninsular music, such as the romance and seguidilla. The phrase "traditional peninsular" is even difficult to pin down, in a region where Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions and cultures have all played integral parts since early in the 8th century in what would now be identified as "Spanish culture".
click here for more details on history
Who does flamenco?
In the 21st century, anyone and everyone can do flamenco. It is popular particularly in Japan, in most English-speaking countries, and also in many areas of Latin America.
The gitanos (gypsies) of Andalucía have been considered the originators of flamenco and it continues to be a hot debate in many circles as to the levels of contribution of both gitano and payo (non-gypsy) artists. Many of today's most famous and popular artists in Spain are not gypsy at all, but it does not prevent them from living and breathing flamenco, frequently from birth.
Emma Ferguson leading a workshop for undergraduates studying abroad
Flamenco is for those who have something to say and seek a way to say it. It is for those who seek to unite all their emotions in one body and find something to do with it. It is for people who are willing to use a new voice.
What does flamenco mean?
Flamenco most certainly has nothing to do with pink tropical birds, but no academics or performers would be able to tell you scientifically what the word really means, why it is used, and in our opinion, it quite frankly doesn't matter where it comes from.
Singer José Mercé
What it means is a way of life, a way of thinking, that goes far beyond an art form that we learn in class. The first forms of flamenco singing right on down to today's top selling flamenco artists talk about the basic pieces of human life in their verses: family, love in all forms, our sadness and losses, and also our moments of play and pure joy.
Flamenco hooks us so easily because it represents something strong within every human being, something that does not back down, does not waver. Once you begin, you find you cannot back down either.
click here to read poetry, letras and more
