The quality of voice is of supreme importance in flamenco as it can imbue flamenco with one of its most important elements: “el quejio”. “El quejio” is perhaps best translated as a “cry of desperation” and often said to be one of the basic elements of the ”cante jondo”, that is, those palos which are the most profound and deep. Here is a breakdown of some of the major divisions of types of voice. Read More »

There are perhaps two things which immediately seem to come to people’s minds on the first hearing of flamenco: unusual melodic lines and the timbre of the singer’s voice. The crystalline tone developed and favoured in the conservatory or in many types of popular music is not usually the type of voice favoured in flamenco.

Due to mixing of various cultures, flamenco has, to Anglo-Saxon ears, strange and perhaps oriental sounds. Read More »

The only person to proclaim himself a flamenco singer (“cantaor”) in the census initiated by king Carlos III in 1783 was the gypsy Tio Luis el de la Juliana. This allows us to surmise that the “cante” did not begin to really develop until the end of the XVIII century; despite constant searching on the part of flamencologists, no document has been found which verifies the existence of “cante flamenco” before the second half of the XVIII century.

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How was Andalusia at the very beginnings of Flamenco?

Andalusia has always been a melting pot of cultures; Aegean, Asian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic colonizations have all played a part in its development and cultural richness. From the re-discovery of the New World in 1492, Andalusia experienced economic growth. These economic changes were not however reflected on social changes. The ports of Cádiz, Sevilla and Sanlúcar began to grown in importance as a direct result of the American colonies – these Andalusian ports represented a door to the Atlantic. Industry in Cádiz was non-existent; Jerez slowly began the elaboration of its famous wines and sherries. Inland villages and hamlets were agricultural, characterised by an almost non-existent economy.

When the cante first appeared in the late XVIII century, Spain’s Latin-American influence was in slow decline. Nevertheless, and despite increasing years of famine and a poor social use of wealth, the Andalusian population doubled between the XVII and XVIII centuries. This population was made up of nobles, clergy, bourgeoisie, artisans, ‘jornaleros’ (day workers), gypsies, foreigners and what was denominated by XVIII century commentators as the “badly assimilated jews, beggars and vagabonds. There was a migration from the countryside to the cities, imperceptible at firs, but which reached a peak in the mid XX century. Andalusia was also the destination of wares from northern Spain, including migrants; Galicians, Asturians, Catalans and Basques – it is not a rare thing to find extra-andalucian surnames amongst singers, for example Auerlio de Cadiz was christened Selles Nomdeden, and Silverio Franconetti’s father was an Italian living in Sevilla. How did this multi-cultural society live?

The irrational distribution of the land, local ‘caciques’, the growing wealth of the religious orders and passive inertia reduced the andalucian population into the most uncultured and poor of Spain. Spain was hadly considered cultured: in 1859 in the whole of Spain there were 56 public libraries (Memoria del flamenco, p.406). Testaments from both Spanish and foreign travellers tell us of the absolute misery many found themselves in.

Townsend wrote that in 1787, between Ecí­ja and Sevilla, the labourers went half naked, the shacks in which they lived were in ruins. The inns and boarding houses on the main road were in a deplorable state; bands of ragged beggars infested the villages. Not only day labourers, but artisans lived on the edge of famine, and even low ranking functionaries were begging on the streets of Sevilla; there was hardly any work, and what there was was poorly paid. A growing numbers of workers were out of work for half the year, reduced to begging or charity (taken and translated from Historia del cante flamenco, p.36)

The so called years of hunger increased with frequency. Ricardo Molina in “Misterios del Arte Flamenco” cites the following years: 1709. 1723, 1734, 1752, 1763, 1765, 1770, 1784, 1793, 1800, followed by 1803-4 which were particularly bad. In 1808 the War of Independence (Wikipedia in Spanish here) began and this curiously gave Andalusia no time to recover from the century before. The whole of the XIX century was marked by reforms, which though designed to improve land distribution, only made economic matters worse for the general populace. Increasing numbers of peasant rebellions were put down by armed troops – these rebellions and insurrections were the first signs of the participation of classes who had previously played no part in the political game.

The average wage of farmhands and ploughmen was between 75-85 centimos a day (100 centimos = 1 peseta), plus bread, oil, salt and garlic for meals. A kilo of beef was 2 pesetas, fish was 2,65 pesetas, work boots 10 pesetas (Misterio del arte flamenco, p.41).

Most workers were hired on a daily basis, work was seasonal, and this resulted in a workforce that for more than half the year was unemployed. Those who were fortunate to work for a whole season had to endure life in the “cortijos” – an Andalusian form of farmhouse, usually isolated from villages. A farm worker who stayed in a “cortijo” for the season would have been unable to see his family for a considerable length of time. The conditions of the workers’ lodgings could be described as rustic at best and miserable at worst. Many verses of flamenco reflect these hard times:-

Thus, Andalucia was not a region of luxuries, at least not for the lower strata of society – where flamenco came from.

The “Cafe Cantantes”

During the last fifty years of XIX century, some Inns began to pay singers and guitarrists to “perform” on a regular basis. These Inns and taverns provided early singers with new sources of income.

However, flamenco is not an art which is easily transferred to the stage. Like “blues” from the Mississippi Delta, flamenco was an expression of a hopeless people and this makes for a poor “stage show” of the type that is promoted by the mass media.People who pay for a “spectacle” expect to be entertained, to be taken away from the problems of life.

In order to keep this paying public, the owners of the “Cafes cantantes” insisted on putting a more easily digestible show. New flamenco forms were hastily invented to fill this need, whilst older forms, such as the “siguiriyas”, began to lose ground. By the end of the “Cafe cantante” period almost all that was sung were “fandanguillos”, that is, “small fandangos”, lacking in depth and emotion, a long cry from the original brutal forms that are generally thought be the origins of flamenco.

This period is nevertheless also referred to as the “Edad de Oro”, the Golden Age of flamenco. Many new “palos” became assimilated into flamenco, which now are considered fundamental “palos”.

New styles of voice also developed. The most “unflamenco”, but which was a commercial success is known as the “falsette” – an artificially high pitched style. What was gained in baroque beauty and melodic virtuosity was lost in depth and feeling. Nonetheless, although considered to be an unflamenco voice, this style, or school of voice, has many admirers due to the success of largely one person – Pepe Marchena, born in Sevilla at the turn of this century.

Due to the fact that nearly all the “cantes” interpreted during this period were the “fandangillos” and sung in the “falsette” voice, those who were faithfull to the “cantes de compás” had to either adapt to the new situation, or retire. There was no room for the rhythmic gypsy “cantes”, and when they were interpreted the all important “compás” was thrown out of the window. Many of these “cantes” were in danger of being forgotten.

The Civil War (1936-9) and the subsequent nationalist victory did nothing to help the state that flamenco had degenerated into. Early Spanish television and cinema producers were forced, due to censorship, to ignore social issues, at a time when Spain was starving and rationing was the order of the day. Flamenco, the music of the “organic” Spaniard, the hard working, courteous and patriotic Spaniard was the theme of many films. These films nearly always showed flamenco in the operatic form, were never critical, never looking at social issues, never considering the “jornaleros” of the XIX century intoning their sorrows.

However, flamenco (as we like to understand it) was, miraculously, still very much alive. It was alive in the memories of the older generation, who taught the few of the younger generation who were willing to learn the “roots” of flamenco, a flamenco that had only been in vogue for a short time, before being replaced by the “Opera”.

Some of this younger generation have since recorded the “cante” of their grandparents, and travelled all over Andalucia, looking for “cantes” almost forgotten. Antonio Mairena is perhaps the best known. He, together with perhaps four or five others are responsible for saving the “pure” flamenco; another is Antinio Fernandez – “Fosforito” (matchstick). In recent years Mairena’s contibution has been put into question. [citation needed]

These singers searched in the whitewashed villages of Andalusia, far away from the commercial flamenco, and found pockets where miraculously the “cante” had been preserved by “aficionados”, both gypsy and non-gypsy.

Fortunately, these old, pure and almost forgotten “cantes” excited a public which for almost sixty years had heard little else other than “Opera flamenco”.

Flamenco Festivals

Flamenco festivals began to spring up in the mid 1950s, usually offering the pure flamenco, performed by some of the most important artists. During the 1960s and 1970s what became known as purity was prevalent. Every singer felt s/he had to sing “soleares”, “martinetes” and “siguiriyas”. This resulted in the spectators having to sit through black and sombre “cantes” when all that most wanted to do was to relax, drink and have fun.

The artists and organisers realized that lighter “cantes” had to be included and represented in these festivals. Thus, “bulerias” and “alegrias” began to be included in the repertoires of the artists. When this became old hat singers began to look for alternatives, such as “cantes de ida y vuelta” and popular songs to flamenco rhythms, to keep the crowds listening. This curiously reflects what happened when flamenco first became commercialised during the cafe cantante period.

The word “crowd” here is not misused. Many of these festivals boasted hundreds or thousands of spectators. Amplification was used to enable the audience to hear the “cantes”; this tended to increase the noise of a naturally garrulous people, such as the Andalusians.

Nowadays, the huge festivals are a waning phenomenon. The top name artists, such as Bernarda and Fernanda de Utrera, El Cabrero, the late Camarón de la Isla, the guitarrist Paco del Gastor, Habichuela, and others, began to ask for larger and larger amounts of money. The organisers had to charge higher and higher entrance fees and, in an attempt to keep audiences, booked more artists than there was time for. The result was a flamenco marathon, sometimes lasting until seven or eight in the morning, a babbling (often bored) public and the same tired old “cantes”.

At the start of this section I aimed to look at the social background to flamenco, and to answer questions such as: who were the first flamencos: where were they from? How has flamenco developed?

The conditions in which the very first flamencos lived were precarious, and to a large extent this is mirrored in modern Spain, although today Spain is a member of the European Community, boasts high technology industry and on a world scale is comparatively wealthy.

Cádiz for example is the province of Europe with the highest percentage of unemployment. The streets of the poorest “barrios” are full of graffiti; some of the old ones say “death to the drug dealers”, others tell of the tricks of the drug trade with lines such as “death to the grassers”.

The police are helpless; the countryside which surrounds Gibraltar, between Algeciras and Coto de Doñana, represent for the large drug and people traffickers the doorway to Europe. Only massive operations, and international collaboration will help to stop these problems. In Jerez plain clothes police patrol the most marginalized “barrios”, but Jerez, with 187.600 inhabitants is not Madrid. Here, everybody knows everybody else. As if by some magic charm, the street-corner drug dealers and their clients disappear into thin air as soon as the police car (in civilian colours) turns into the street.

Recently (1996) a police operation resulted in the detention of 19 heroin dealers. Directed by a police helicopter, one hundred police recruited from Cádiz and Sevilla invaded the estate known as San Benito. The police jumped walls, broke down doors and smashed locks. When the police arrived inside the houses, they realized that behind the first door was another, and another, and another. Some of the small, ramshakle and insignificant looking houses, owned by those drug dealers who regularly move large amounts of “hard” drugs – heroin, crack, cocaine – even have steel reinforced ceilings. Needless to say, when the police finally arrive to the room where the drugs are stored, a large portion of it has already disappeared.

The most tragic aspect however is the deaths of young drug addicts due to adulterated “fixes”. After a police operation, like that of San Benito, the larger dealers hide in their shells like snails, whilst the smaller dealers have to act fast to satisfy their customers, who are already suffering withdrawal symptoms, and at the best of times they are not choosy. Days after the operation described above there were deaths all over the province due to adulterated drugs.

One may well argue that if one takes drugs, then that is a risk one takes. This is true, but as mentioned before, Cádiz is the province of Europe with most unemployment. Worse than any city or town in the UK; social security benefits exist, but cannot be compared to those of England. If one has not worked no social security can be obtained.

This is a trap many fall into in Andalusia. To obtain social security benefits for six months one has to have worked for one year. The majority of work in Andalusia is seasonal, this means that a worker needs to work two seasons in order to gain benefits and the rest of the time s/he has to make ends-meet as best they can.

Another problem is employment contracts. In order to gain social security, the employer has to have paid approximately 33% of the worker’s income to the social security fund. However, if the worker has no contract, the employer has no obligation to pay.

Thus, although Spain is no longer under a dictatorship, for some people such as gypsies and other marginalized groups, modern Spain has brought few benefits. Many young people are forced to live off their families, parents, grandparents, uncles and aunties. This only serves to reinforce the stereotype of lazy Andalusians. The unemployed do not work, the employed however, especially in manual jobs, generally work long shifts. It is not hard to find construction workers working, and at an incredibly fas pace, mid-day in August, when temperatures hover 40 degrees centigrade, and often higher as was the case in the summer of 1994.

It would be interesting to hear Townsend comparing Andalucia of the early twenty-first century with the Andalucia of 1787.