When did Peru go to hell?, asks the alter ego of Vargas Llosa in his novel Conversation in the Cathedral of 1969, looking for the moment when his nation entered free fall. If we ask that same question in relation to the flamenco…At what point did it go to hell? flamencoWhen did Spain begin to renounce its most cultured and exquisite musical and dance expression? I think about this after reading the last novel by the recently deceased Nobel Prize winner entitled I dedicate my silence, delicious. The distinguished Peruvian writer emphasizes how music can be the primary vehicle for uniting the people of Peru, necessary to overcome the traumas resulting from the implementation of disastrous policies and the crimes committed by the many enlightened individuals who populated the country. The healing power of music, its integrative capacity, overcoming social classes, uniting the spirit of a people blended by history, a cultural community that is perfectly reflected in the marineras, huaynos and, above all, in the beautiful waltzes, a symbol of Peruvian identity and the ultimate representation of its community character. Something similar to what was the flamenco at the beginning of the 20th century, when cafes, grocery stores and theatres flourished all over Spain, hiring artists to commune together in a sort of musical celebration that brought everyone together.
As I say, reading the aforementioned last novel by “Varguitas” leads me to think if the flamenco It could also have fulfilled an integrating function among the Spanish, a language of music and dance with which everyone felt identified, leaving aside their differences. The healing ayeo, the cry that recalls hardships while silencing disagreements, the beating of palmas and feet that unite and do not divide, the strumming that pinches, ending forever the differences that lead nowhere. Then, as he sang Serrat, they arrived, the Civil War, the dictatorship, the confrontation between brothers. There the flamenco and any traditional expression was used by the victors to strengthen their identity and that ended up marking the future of our best expression through music and dance. Half a century after the dictator's death it seems that we still have not overcome the wound, and for many Spaniards the flamenco It's still the music of the dictatorship. And if not, come to my country and ask. It seems unbelievable that the country where the music is least liked flamenco be the one who saw him born. Anyone who is told doesn't believe it. Can you imagine an Austrian renouncing Mozart, or a German renouncing Wagner. Although in the case of the latter, the fact that he was Hitler's favorite composer has meant that his music has suffered a similar fate to that of the flamencoWhat's Wagner's fault in who likes or dislikes him?
«Half a century after the dictator's death it seems that we have not yet overcome the wound, and for many Spaniards the flamenco It's still the music of the dictatorship. And if not, come to my country and ask. It seems unbelievable that the country where the music is least liked flamenco be the one who saw him born"
What we're getting at. For strictly political reasons, the flamenco, which is an Andalusian musical expression, in the last three decades of the 20th century was on the verge of being forgotten by the people of its country, which leads us to think that it was that fake patriotism that ended up screwing it up. The smoke sellers to the youth of the seventies seemed to have been tasked with putting the finishing touch to this genre of music. He told me JoseleThat of The Payos, that Joaquín Luqui took his success Maria Isabel from the number one of The Top Forty Since it had been in first place for too many weeks, they had to include an English song. It's so heartbreaking!
Will we overcome the stigma? There is still much to be done. For example, I have been saying this for many years: who can imagine that in the Madrid Conservatory In 2025, there won't be a flamenco guitar chair? It's crazy. An unparalleled anomaly, inconceivable in any other country. The cultural world, the one that wears down the halls of the Ministry in Plaza del Rey, has been turning its back on the flamencoThe little help it receives will never be able to pay the debt that Spanish culture owes to the flamenco, a Spanish brand of the highest quality, comparable only to our wines and, of course, our ham. In my opinion, flamenco It should be a matter of state, but it has been left entirely to the Junta de Andalucía. The Spanish guitar has been traveling around the world for centuries, carrying the best of our culture, but a legion of "half-baked culture vultures" are dedicated to belittling the flamenco and they only use it to hide their own shortcomings. They neither like it nor understand it. I've seen it a thousand times. Like that day in Brasilia, when the ambassador, after the luxurious dinner she offered to the thirty-six members of the Antonio Gades CompanyAt the end of the performance in the capital of that continent, Brazil, she said to the maestro without hesitation: Antonio, dance a little, won't you? (how undiplomatic).
«The Jordanian elite resents it because they want the flamenco It continues to be something for "someone else, and only for someone else," and they don't like the fact that "the plebs" are getting closer every day to the most genuine expression of those cultivated in the bull's hide. They would cease to be elite, and then we'll see what we do.
Fortunately, those born after '75 are increasingly listening to the flamenco without the defect in the ear (or in the brain) that prevents others from doing so appreciate the flamenco in all its artistic dimension. A genre that oozes Spanishness from every angle, although it is becoming more and more accepted every day; those who are repelled by it now keep quiet, aware of making a fool of themselves, and many even end up converting to "flamenquismo." Anyway, the Jordanian elite resents it because they want the flamenco continues to be something for "nojotro, and only for nojotro", and they don't like that "the plebs" are getting closer every day to the most genuine expression of those cultivated in the bull's skin. They would cease to be elite and then we'll see what they do. Many people dislike that el flamenco fall in love with more and more people every day. The foreigners, the blessed foreigners, without whom we wouldn't be here talking about flamenco, or it wouldn't even exist, because we would have destroyed it; these foreigners are legion, and every day they continue to approach the most representative musical expression of Spanish identity, without fear of what people will say. But among ordinary Spaniards, there's still a long way to go.
That on Spanish Television, the television of everyone as it is proclaimed from the rooftops, there is no program of flamenco it is unheard of. I always remember what happened to me in Buenos Aires. We arrived at the hotel at two in the afternoon, I turned on the television and, of course, tango. After resting for a while, Teatro Colón, performance, dinner, laughs, and back to the hotel. And on TV I continued the tango program. Until I discovered it wasn't a program, it was a tango channel, 24/7/365. And here, when Poveda presented with Solea the last space dedicated to flamenco On TVE, it didn't take long for the cultured people to come out protesting: "Enough of this flamenco, right?». We're beyond repair. Or maybe we are. God will tell. Let's see with the new Pope, who's half Peruvian, from Chiclayo, precisely where the guitarist who inspired Vargas's aforementioned novel was from. What a surname flamenco.
