Flamenco

This weekend I went to two espectaulos (shows) de flamenco. They were great. They all had singing, dancing and guitar. Now, like most types of dance that I see, I want to learn dance flamenco. Besides the fact that it's super cool to watch, I also think that it would be an amazing workout. However, flamenco isn't all about the dance.

(Commence flamenco tutorial)
Flamenco, first and foremost, is a style of singing. The guitar, percussion, etc, was all added later on and the dance was added lastly. Flamenco originated within the gypsy culture. This is about where the knowledge of the origins of flamenco ends. It isn't clear about when this style of song started, nor really where, since it is a part of the gypsy culture. What is known is that some of the gypsies stayed in Spain and it has now become a trademark of Spain. Flamenco has morphed in to something that is hard to categorize. According to my professor, modern flamenco artists have branched out to collaborate with B.B. King and other blues, and jazz artists. (This sounds extremely interesting to me and I would like to hear some of that music.) Other flamenco "purists" remain close to the roots and perform the "pure" flamenco without instruments and produce a sound that I cannot describe (although some may compare it to wailing).

In addition to an interesting sound, flamenco is not for the daytime. Flamenco is for the late night and only the tourist shows here start before 11:00. In addition, the most famous flamenco artists will only perform occasionally because flamenco is something that must be felt and not just done or performed. One of my professors told me that there is a flamenco artist who would schedule his performances very far apart so that he wasn't performing every night and it wasn't just a routine. Even then, my professor said that if he didn't have the feeling of flamenco he wouldn't perform and the concert would be cancelled.

I wish I could explain flamenco better because I don't feel like I'm doing it justice. It is really interesting though and deeply ingrained in the history of Spain, however, for every one person I meet who really likes it, I meet one who really doesn't care for it. So, although it's a large part of Spain, I wouldn't say it is Spain. Instead, I would say come visit me and you'll see what Spain really is. :)