An introduction the Polo and Caña is illustrated with literary references, amongst the first ever references to flamenco. There is also video and the featured artists are Curro Lucena with Manolo Franco and Arcángel with Miguel Cortés.
Flamenco Joven is for me characterized by a move away from a music that is rooted in folklore. By rooted in folklore, I mean rooted in a particular folk dogma, fossilized and frozen in a time and context that is not the here and now.
Flamenco Joven appears to have changed all that,
The first Bienial was celebrated in 1980, twenty years ago. It is the most prestigious and largest flamenco festival in the world.
In 1994, it lasted 18 days and consisted of over 30 performances, costing over 100.000.000 (£500.000) according to El Pais (10/09/94).
I attended many flamenco competitions during time accompanying Gabriel Cabrera on his work schedule as flamenco guitarist.
Initially, my first impression was that a whole series of influences tend to water down the authenticity of competitions, such as small non-representative turn-outs, local favoritism, private business interests, possible inadequacy of judges and the very idea of flamenco [...]
In 1955 Flamencologia was published by the Argentine Anselmo Gonzalez Climent. Before this there is hardly any book on the subject in existence. With the exception of XIX century travellers such as Richard Ford and George Borrows, the only books published before 1955 were: Colección de cantes flamencos by Demofilo (1881) and Arte y artistas [...]
Literally translated, the peñas flamencas are flamenco clubs. However, they are much more than that. Their aim is to promote flamenco and to educate those who are interested in learning more.
Similar to the older Cafe Cantantes, the tablaos are establishments which first flourished in the 1950s. All offer drinks and many now double up as restaurants.
The first ever was La Zambra and even twenty years after its closure, La Zambra remains famous for having offered the most “pure” and authentic flamenco.
“Flamenquismo” is defined by the Real Academia Española as a love for flamenco customs. This term covers both flamenco and a love of bullfighting or other activity considered “typically Spanish”. These traditions were sharply criticized by the group of writers and intellectuals known as the Generación del 98. Exceptions to the general criticism of the [...]
The cafés cantantes were places where the spectators could drink whilst they enjoyed the flamenco shows. These places were most popular between approximately the middle of the 19th century to the second decade of the twentieth.
Do you stay in your safe zone when practising?
“The essence of deliberate practice is continually stretching an individual just beyond his or her current abilities. That may sound obvious, but most of us don’t do it in the activities we think of as practice.
2011 Guernika