Part 3d: Camarón

The inclusion of Camarón immediately after the sections on duende and voice types in flamenco is because of the revolutionary impact that he had on the flamenco world. Stuffy, secretive and aloof might be words used to describe some of the driest and most earnest flamencos before Camarón. Camarón unwittingly gave flamenco a universal appeal and promoted him to a cult figure in Spanish popular culture.

Background

Traditionally, even during the Golden Age (cafe cantante) period and much of the opera flamenco period, the most frequent and ordinary way to hear flamenco was the fiesta or juerga organized by a few friends. Settled in some room or bar with some artists, professional or not, they enjoyed their flamenco for hours, even days at a time.

Nevertheless, the cafe cantantes gave increased numbers of people the opportunity to hear flamenco - of the old “authentic” type or of the newer, more commercial styles. Later, the theatres and even bull-rings opened their doors to an “operatic” of flamenco together with even greater numbers of public.

In a bid to save some of the flamenco forms that were in danger of being forgotten or altered by the forces of commercialisation, a movement to save flamenco was born. Several anthologies of what we are told are the pure cante were recorded. One of the main figures of this movement was Antonio Mairena (1909-1983) who re-created and rescued and huge number of cantes.

More recently (1980’s and early 1990s), most people’s contact with flamenco was by attending the flamenco festivals, usually organised by town halls to celebrate a particular fiesta or annual fería.These festivals were often marathon affairs lasting until the early hours of the morning with as many performers as possible. In Málaga the summer flamenco festival has lasted a whole week.

The impact of Camarón

Today, flamenco is more popular than probably at any other time in its history. None of the previous “shows” (for want of a better word) would have attracted even half of the 10.000 people that Camarón de la Isla regularly attracted in venues such as the Palacio de Deportes in Madrid. That is not to say that all were “aficionados” of flamenco, but rather of Camarón. Many gypsies, young people and ordinary music fans went to see the late Camarón de la Isla and were never to hear flamenco until he came around the next time. And many of the same people were utterly in awe of this man’s voice that they became flamenco aficionados themselves.

His voice, a thin thread of shattering glass was unique. He was able to combine both the commercial way of doing things with the most rigorously authentic. This was not a singer who was out to make a quick buck, or whose motives were questionable. Camarón was simply the genuine article. His album “Castillo de Arena” is simply sublime.  “Cada dia canta mejor” (sings better everyday) - Jose Manuel Gamboa commented about Camarón. When I listen to recordings like Castillo de Arena, I have to agree.

The source escapes me now, but it has been said that the phenomenon of Camarón was more sociological than flamenco. He popularised flamenco during the Transition to Democracy in Spain and in the same way as the film, pop and rock heroes of the 1960’s and 1970’s, Camarón built up part of his fame on his marginalized and forgotten image. Like Jimmy Henrix in his auto-destruction, he brought out sounds that previously had been unimaginable in the cante. His public elevated him to the level of a Jesus Christ of gypsies, a worker of miracles (more than one family sought him out to “faith heal” a sick member), patron saint of children, the poor, of gypsies, of the unemployed, of junkies, wide boys and drug pushers.

Jose Monje Cruz - Camarón - is just as responsible as the genius guitarrist Paco de Lucía for the massive popularisation of and revolution of flamenco of the late twentieth century. Not only just popular flamenco, but more often than not of a type of flamenco that did not appeal to commercial tastes.

This claim is backed up by the posthumous award of “la cuarta llave del cante” on the 5th of December 2000. This prestigious acknowledgement of achievement in flamenco has been awarded to Tomás El Nitri (1862), Manuel Vallejo (1926), Antonio Mairena (1962) and more recently, Antonio Fernández Díaz aka Fosforito (2005).

There is a huge amount of material written about Camarón. Perhaps the most accessible is the biographical film: “Camarón” directed by Jaime Chávarri.