Flamenco - Flamenco Today

Flamenco Today

From flamenco's beginning in the 18th century most performers were professional. For most of the genuine life of flamenco, a folk art that has remarkably conserved an extraordinary level of conservatism within the caucus of european folk music, with its irredeemable rhythmic patterns and tones that mark its varied forms, or 'palos', flamenco has actually been the concern, like speech itself, of non-professionals in the countryside: goatherders, charcoal-burners, miners, and fishermen, for example. Further to this, it must be asserted that it is recognised by widely respected figures of its diffusion such as Pepe Arrebola, former President of the Peñas Flamencas de Andalusia, that it is the product of a certain competition between ´payos´or non-gypsies, and gypsies or 'Roma', each with their own distinctive style, just as it is widely recognised by musicology itself that the lack of field-work in flamencology can truly retrieve the level of what intensity the non-professional impact of flamenco was and no longer exists, in terms of a community-wide spread and profundity: nevertheless, the subject matter of the songs themselves should alert them that the authors of the lyrics were not much concerned with urban themes, and this in turn should remind them of the land itself being the 'author' of the music. Originally they learned from other performers in the manner of an apprenticeship, not in conservatories or dance schools. This lack of formal training led to interesting harmonic findings, with unusual unresolved dissonances. Examples of this are the use of minor 9th tonic chords or the use of the open 1st string as a kind of pedal tone. Today most guitarists undergo rigorous professional training and often can read and play music in other styles: many dancers take courses in ballet and contemporary dance as well as flamenco.

Flamenco occurs in four settings in the main - in the juerga, in small-scale cabaret, in concert venues and in the theatre, though a 'zambra' or spontaneous, and, for the most part 'Roma' celebration, can occur outside any place a tourist or 'expert on flamenco' would be likely to happen on it (and also quite without reference to musicologists in advance).

• The juerga is an informal, spontaneous gathering, rather like a jazz "jam session", that can include dancing, singing, palmas (hand clapping), or simply pounding in rhythm on an orange crate or table, adapting to local talent, instrumentation and mood. The cantaores (singers) are the heart and soul of the performance. A meeting place or grouping of Flamenco musicians or artists is called a peña flamenca.

• There are also tablaos, establishments that developed during the 1960s throughout Spain, replacing the café cantante, that may have their own company of performers for each show. Many internationally renowned artists, like the singer Miguel Poveda, started their careers in tablaos flamencos.

• The professional concert is more formal. A traditional concert has only a singer and one guitar while a dance concert usually includes two or three guitars, one or more singers singing solo in turn and one or more dancers. One of the singers may play the cajon, a wooden box drum played with the hands or else it may be played by a percussionist, and all performers will clap even if there are dedicated palmeros. The so-called Nuevo Flamenco or "new flamenco", popularized by artists such as Camarón de la Isla, may include flutes or saxophones, a piano or other keyboard, even the bass guitar and the electric guitar.

• Finally, the theatrical presentation of flamenco is now an extended and sophisticated performance in its own right, comparable to a ballet, by such ensembles as the Maria Pagèsand the famous Sara Baras Ballet Flamenco Company.