I returned last week from a three-week music tour of Spain, mostly Flamenco, but some jazz and kora music. We visited flamenco clubs, festivals, schools, parties, and we saw a lot, mostly late at night. One festival wrapped up at 4 am.
First, a bit about flamenco. While there is flamenco in Mexico and other countries, its birthplace and heart are in Spain. It is the iconic art form known for its fiery dance, emotive singing, and rhythmic guitar and clapping that sprang from southern Spain’s Andalusia region. It is a fusion of Romani, Moorish, Jewish, and local Andalusian influences that began mingling as early as the 15th century. By the 18th century, these blended traditions crystallized into flamenco, first thriving in intimate, neighborhood settings before bursting onto the public stage in the 19th century’s bustling cafés and theaters. From the first soulful strains of cante (song) to the stamp of nail-studded heels in baile (dance), flamenco became a means of storytelling and emotional catharsis for marginalized communities. Today, it is as common in Spain as rap is in the USA, and some say there are parallels in its ability to tell the people’s stories.
Despite flamenco’s initial male-dominated world, we saw today’s flamenco in Spain, in which men and women both led. Trailblazers like Carmen Amaya broke the male mold, combining technical brilliance and vibrant stage presence to shape the image of the bailaora (female dancer) that is the modern image of flamenco.
The core elements of Spanish flamenco are guitar playing (toque), singing (cante), clapping (palmas), and dancing (baile). Of these, singing (cante) is widely regarded in Spain as the most important aspect of flamenco, although it is the dancing that many come to see. The singer (known as the cantaor or cantaora) not only leads the group but also sets the emotional tone, rhythm, and intensity of the performance. One of the least understood elements outside of Spain is the clapping (Palmas), which gives rhythm and percussive support to the singers and dancers, and intertwines with the beat of the dancers’ shoes. No, we did not see castanets – they are not very common.
We began in Madrid, went to Barcelona, then to La Puebla de La Cazzalla, then to Seville, Zaragoza, and back to Madrid. Our guide, Emelia Galvez, a dancer, flamenco teacher, filmmaker, and cajon player (cajon sometimes appears in Spanish flamenco but more often in the Mexican version), took us to a Film and Flamenco festival where her film, Revolando Historias Pepe La Marca, about the famous flamenco photographer Pepe La Marca premiered. That night we saw flamenco done as comedy at the town square, then we moved to a flamenco museum, Museso de Arte Contemporaneo, for a full-blown flamenco exhibition with many dancers and musicians that went until 4 am.
In the big cities, we went to flamenco clubs, which are just what they sound like – nightclubs set up for flamenco. Our first experience was in Madrid in a small neighborhood flamenco club, Café Ziryab, that was hot – no A.C. – and packed with locals. It was an all-male performance, and the three dancers were excellent. We saw one of them later in the flamenco festival in La Peublo de la Cazalla.
We went to flamenco clubs in Sevilla and Madrid that were essentially high-end nightclubs with stages, theater seating in some and tables in others. They all featured quality professional sound and light systems. Flamenco is serious business!
I have posted links to flamenco here, but I am putting up many more on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@musicfridayvideo.
One thing that strikes me is the potential for the unique flamenco clapping beat in rock and pop and other music forms. Palmas is a technical art with four different types of clapping that vary with the hand position, the intensity, and the integration with the other music elements. Clap-beats in rock and pop could integrate the nuances of palmas to change emotional tone and rhythmic feeling. Just a thought.
Finally, we also saw the African kor master Momi Maiga at a wonderful concert in a museum in Zaragoza and jazz, including a New Orleans Jazz band from Spain and Venezuela in Madrid, plus a very fine Spanish jazz trumpeter at the Club Velvet in Barcelona, one of the highlights of the trip.
