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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 [...]
Part 3c Duende
Duende
The flamenco singer, Manuel Torre (1909-1933), a man who was completely illiterate was eulogized by Federico Garcia Lorca as having a greater and more important culture in the blood. Torre had his own theory on what is known as “duende”. He is reported to have said to a singer: “tu tienes vos, tu sabes los [...]
Part 3b Voice type in flamenco
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 [...]
Part 3a Characteristics of Cante Flamenco
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 [...]




1954: The First Anthology of Flamenco