In nothing can the character of a people be read with greater certainty and exactness than in its songs!
George Borrow – The Zincali; an account of the
gypsies of Spain. 1840.

Flamenco is a passionate and seductive art form; a mysterious and misunderstood culture that has been brewing in Andalusia for approximately five centuries and it has been shrouded in darkness and secrecy for almost as many.
It has only in recent years become known to, but not fully understood by, the rest of the world, yet it seems to fascinate or even seduce most who come into contact with it

The name flamenco was not used until approximately 1837 and although theories abound concerning the genesis of the name these origins remain shrouded in history and folklore. One theory, and probably the most convincing, is that it was taken from the Arabian word fellah mengu, which roughly translated means fugitive peasant and is believed to refer to the gypsies. If this explanation is true then it

would appear that the name applied to the people who performed flamenco before it was attached to their music.
At first this music was not considered worthy of attention, and flamenco was only performed in the close-knit communities and private get-togethers of the gypsies.

Today, the word flamenco is used to describe a huge amount of different musical forms, in a similar manner to the expression ‘rhythm and blues’, but one must remember that all music that has this name attached to it originated in the small white villages of Andalusia. Flamenco history has been badly documented and much of what we know comes from anecdotes and tales that have been passed down through family dynasties who have preserved these legends in much the same way as they have preserved the flamenco itself.

Nevertheless, flamenco has survived its first steps in these small villages to become one of the most phenomenal dance styles of the twenty-first century.
Flamenco artistes have taken their art to all corners of the world gaining thousands of fans along their way and many of these new-found flamenco aficionados are dazzled by the talents of Sara Baras, Joaquin Cortés and Farrucuito; some of today’s most flamboyant flamenco dance stars.
However, few of these aficionados will be able to make a connection between these modern day stars and an ancient art that has been practiced by the andalucian gypsies for many centuries.

The history and evolution of flamenco is an immensely complex subject and one needs to look at the genre as a whole to truly understand where it came from and who created it. There has been an ongoing contention concerning who was responsible for the creation of flamenco; the people of Andalusia or the gypsies, but before we discuss this, we must first break this genre into three sections; el cante, el baile and el toque. The cante refers to the flamenco song or singing and one must also divide this into two categories; cante gitano - the gypsy songs that are sometimes referred to as the cante jondo, and the cante Andaluz, which are andalucian folk songs that became popular around the middle of the nineteenth-century.

The cante gitano are the more coarse styles of song including the siguiriya and the soleares, and these lie at the very heart of flamenco. The cante jondo is best performed with a rough gravel voice known as voz afilla, so called after the singer Diego el Fillo: His voice was described as burnt, cracked and dry, like the Andalucian terrain.
The cante Andaluz is a sweeter style of song which is normally sung with a higher pitched voice and also with lyrics that are intelligible, unlike the cante jondo whose words are often far from comprehensible.
There is actually a third category which, although is not strictly flamenco, are today included in the repertoire of many flamenco artistes and these are known as the cantes de ida y vuelta. These styles have been influenced by Latin America and include the rumbas, colombianas, guajira and the milongas.

The baile means the dance and this also has two completely different facets because originally the dance was a spontaneous release of emotion performed by gypsy families during times of celebration. However, around 1850 the first commercial establishments began to appear in Spain and these café cantantes presented large flamenco troupes whose dance routines were highly choreographed and detracted from the traditional or orthodox flamenco.

Soon the café cantantes began to spring up in most of the main cities in Andalusia, and one of the most famous was the Café de Chinitas in Málaga.It was the introduction of these cafes that saw the folk songs of Andalusia, mainly the fandangos, take preference over the gypsy songs because the former were a lot easier on the ear because of the pleasant way in which they are sung. The gypsy songs were often too harsh and unbearable for the customers of these clubs and so the cabaret style of flamenco song and dance began push the gypsy flamenco almost into extinction. The fandangos swept across Andalusia gaining hundreds of interpreters and fans, and suddenly the cante Andaluz was far more in favour and flamenco became a cabaret style of entertainment and gone was all the spontaneity

and tradition of the gypsy song.
A few of the café cantantes survived into the 1920s but by then flamenco had changed from its original structure and the next few years saw a decline in the gypsy flamenco..

The performers of orthodox flamenco were no longer in demand, and they were faced with the option of forsaking their art and joining the hoards of fandango style singers, or returning to their villages to continue their art virtually unnoticed by the outside world, just as it had been in the beginning.

The addition of the guitar is surrounded in apparent mystery because the exact period that the guitar was introduced as an accompanying instrument for flamenco is not known, although it is believed to have been in the first half of the 19th century.
The guitar, or el toque, was added in order to give the song structure and drive because flamenco was primarily just the voice.
The accompanist’s job is to follow the singer or dancer, and his guitar will be used in a percussive manner whilst allowing the singer/dancer to transmit their emotions through the song or dance.

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