To whom ExpoFlamenco We attended the symposium remotely Digital Elf of the most prestigious Stanford University (California), which was organized by the Flamenco Cardinal y Flamenco Arts International (FAI). We do not hesitate at all to loudly proclaim our most heartfelt "olé!" for an event that shares our vision of uniting academics, enthusiasts, and artists to explore the depths from diverse perspectives.
It all began with a few words from the founders of the FAI, Isabel of the Day y Marina Elena, followed by those of the professor of ethnomusicology, the Dr. Ioanida CostacheThe professor made it clear that the purpose of the symposium was not merely to address academic articles and attend performances related to the transmission of flamenco in the digital age –the common thread of the meeting–, but it was, in their own words, “[to create] a space where we can listen attentively to the stories and affections that the flamencowhere Romani perspectives and knowledge are focused, and from which we emerge with concrete commitments to support researchers and artists in building projects with the Roma communities, and not simply about they".
The theatre director, cultural manager and researcher Miguel Angel Vargas She combined her theatrical skills with her deep historical knowledge to echo the challenges of the digital age and prevent the Roma people from being erased or whitewashed (again) from history. flamenco, at the table entitled Recording erasure.
However, at this same table we also saw the technological power to safeguard stories from the abyss of oblivion, as the Dr. Jeanne d'Arc Simone Casas Panouze in his presentation Moving Archives: Digital Memories of Puerto Rican Dancers, in which she shared information gathered during her doctoral thesis research, which included documentation of Juan Ramon Jimenez reciting poetry at a recital flamenco in Puerto Rico, as well as photos, testimonies and newspaper clippings of a few Puerto Rican flamenco dancers previously forgotten in historiography.
The opportunities for the humanities presented by new technological tools were fantastically demonstrated by one of the academic directors of Digital Duende., la Dr. Sara Arribas Colmenar, which transforms historical documents from the 22 Competition into a tangible data art installation using a Social Network Analysis, which allowed her to showcase in an innovative way how women were sidelined in that famous historical event of flamencoLikewise, we found the digital mapping of the dancer's professional career fascinating. Antonia Merce, designed using a Cloud Based Geographical System by CSIC researchers, led by the Dr. Idoia Murga-CastroNot to mention the database of flamenco lyrics presented by another of the symposium's academic directors, Tania Arabelle Floresas well as by Alfonso cid, Dr. Jeanne d'arc Simone Casas Panouze and Jeremy Inthisane.
To end the first day, we attended the table Roots and technology, that opened the Dr. Erica Acevedo-Ontiveros with a magnificent stage presentation: Chicanx Flamencos in New Mexico with Yjastros and the Miss Indian Pageant. At no point did he speak of Fernando QuiñonesBut while he was narrating how the flamenco It is expressed as something unique in the lands of the former Spanish empire, how it unites Chicano and indigenous cultures in the pow wow largest in the world, thus creating new scenic and artistic languages, new colors of the infinite cultural fabric that is the flamencoWe hear the echoes of that writer/singer from Chiclana: "The purity of flamenco "It's its evolution."
"From ExpoFlamenco We thank the organizers and participants of Digital Duende for reminding us of the importance of these international collaborations, so necessary for an artistic expression whose historiography is extremely incomplete, something that cannot be rectified by working alone.
The second day of the symposium began with the Dr. Alberto Romero FerrerProfessor of Spanish Literature at the University of Cádiz and winner of the Manuel Alvar Prize for Humanistic Studies for his book Lola Flores. Popular culture, sentimental memory and show business history. He delighted us with an analysis of the heritage flamenco digitized of Lola Flores y Manolo CaracolHis comments on the show's posters were particularly fascinating. La Zambra, carried out –surprisingly– by José Caballero, who had been one of the set designers of Federico Garcia Lorca and that, for economic reasons, he could not go into exile like most of the Republican intelligentsia after the Civil War. Romero Ferrer showed us how a close look at these posters reveals connections and bridges between pre-war flamenco culture and a flamenco less cultured in the forties and fifties, whose legacy was taken up by Lola Flores, Manolo Caracol and other artists with great potential, despite the rupture of the Civil War, exile and the iron censorship of the early Franco regime.
Then she took the floor Dr. María Jesús López Lorenzowith communication Against all odds: women in the first recordings of flamencoIn her presentation, she explored some 20.000 flamenco recordings from the 630.000 sound documents held at the National Library of Spain. She emphasized how only 10 percent of flamenco recordings feature women and how, despite the monolithic patriarchal shadow that has always obscured this art form, there were courageous women who brought light to society through their work. cantealso paving the way for artists yet unborn.
To close the first table, the Dr. José Miguel Hernández Jaramillo and Dr. Lénica Reyes Zúñiga They told us about the importance of the variants of the palos at the flamencoas well as the arbitrary nature that can often determine its taxonomy. Therefore, as they showed us with clear examples of the petenera and its 23 variants, using the software Paradigm And with the methodology of paradigmatic musical analysis, it is possible to identify variants with precision, something worth hearing from their own voices in their podcast. Forgotten sounds of flamenco.
The symposium continued with talks by flamenco guitarists who are also researchers. The first was the Dr. Pedro Ordóñez-EslavaProfessor of Musicology at the University of Granada, where he also coordinates the Master's Degree in Research and Analysis of FlamencoHe presented Body-blood-root: guitar expanded in the flamenco contemporary, A [non]presentation in which he explored the digital universe to glimpse his own intimate guitar universe, made up of thousands of roots and colors. He thus denied the possibility of a single root and reconceptualized constructs as problematic today as the purity of blood, in a presentation that innovatively combined art and research and sparked great interest in the audience. This was followed by Jose Torres Vicente, guitarist, composer, producer and researcher, who also invited us to consider new ways of thinking about the flamenco from the perspective of contemporary creation in her presentation entitled Flamenco From Cuartito: Lo-Fi, DIY and the ghosts of lost futures Flamenco.
The symposium continued with none other than the iconoclastic flamenco dancer – who has triumphed on stages all over the world – Rocío Molina, who connected to Digital Duende remotely from Malaga. Her artistic vision, open mind, and radical freedom were masterfully expressed through an exquisite oral presentation, which did much to shape the identity of the symposium while she calmly answered the participants' questions.
Is it possible to follow Rocío Molina? Recent communications show that it is, although it's difficult. It was an elegant job done by Julie Galle y Delilah Buitrón in his presentation entitled Online Osmosis: Hybrid Teaching Methods flamenco and convey the expression; by Dr. Yuko Aoyama y Wen Ting Ooi with its TTechnology, identity, and transcultural aesthetics of global fans of flamenco; and for the Dr. Theresa Goldbach in his presentation entitled A shot in the dark: digital distancing, pedagogy and the sense of place in the flamenco.
We expressed our gratitude from here in ExpoFlamencoTo the organizers and participants of Digital Duende for reminding us of the importance of these international collaborations, so necessary for an artistic expression whose historiography is extremely incomplete, something that cannot be rectified by working alone: the academic universe of flamenco It is too vast to navigate alone. International dialogue is the only way to address it. Knowing how to listen is an art and an increasingly urgent necessity in the flamenco and in the rest of humanity. ♦
