Manuel Ramos (Seville, 1974), writer, screenwriter, risk lover – he recently opened a publishing house, Hummingbird Editions, in these times–, gave us a novel in 2016, The seventh string, published in Granada by Esdrújula Ediciones. It succeeded a previous one entitled Three cypresses, published in Seville by Renacimiento. In the sister magazine Jondoweb, now defunct, I reviewed it.
It is focused on a character, Daniel, a seven-year-old boy, who gradually evolves, through successive chapters, in his learning of flamenco, focused on his hobby of the guitar.
The cover subtitle, "An essential novel to understand the flamenco», is very significant. It points out the undoubted didactic content and the pedagogical intention, we could say, despite being a literary fiction, made explicit in certain comments and in the appearance of artists from the real history –past and present– of the flamenco, as well as in the use of letters of various styles – a success – at the beginning of each chapter.
But I was saying that the most important thing, however, is and should be the plot of the novel. The action is generated by five basic characters: Daniel, his parents –Sea Shell y Paco–, the guitar teacher –Child Louis– and, almost at the end, his girlfriend Lucia, granddaughter of the aforementioned master. Around, a wide list of artists of the cante, the touch and dance of our days: Archangel, Child Elias, Juan Murube, Eva Manzano, Eva Yerbabuena, Javier Baron… Realistic environment in this sense, even the protagonist works in the The Gallos tablao from Seville, the city where the novel is set.
The plot is simple, schematic, even predictable in a way: it is not difficult to guess that love had to appear sooner or later or that the boy would end up being accepted by the guitar teacher, for example. What has surprised and delighted me – if it is not true it should be – is that secret competition of aspiring guitarists to be well regarded by the guild, with the participation of the greats of the moment: Arcángel, Eva Yerbabuena…
The author, through the character of Daniel and his teacher, above all, defends the soothing and humanizing value of music, and especially that very special call flamencoThe boy's vocation is overwhelming and shocking: he leaves his studies aside, to the logical annoyance of his parents, to devote himself body and soul to the guitar. Let's see how the author describes Daniel's feeling after his first public performance –p. 102–: "Every note, every falseta, every complain It is a gift for the consciences of others. An invisible language that calms hearts and nourishes the spirit. That night he realized with relief that he had not made a mistake in his choice.
«'The Seventh String. Teaching guide to learn flamenco' joins the increasingly numerous books dedicated to the teaching of flamenco, to the teaching of the same in schools and institutes. There are the fans of the future"
Although some parts seem more essayistic than novelistic, offering opinions on the typical debates of the flamenco, and despite the aforementioned plainness without great expressive pulse, the novel is read with interest and, of course, is well set. It will surely be a read not only for adults, but for future potential reading enthusiasts and, in passing, for flamencoAs a reading in schools and institutes, I believe that it would be well received by students, who would end up identifying with this passionate Daniel and his personal and artistic adventures.
This is what I thought about this novel then and the truth is that, several years later, it can be seen how the novel has had the expected impact, the intended utility. That is where we are when its author, together with Jose Alberto Amador, publishes in 2023 in his new publishing house, Colibrí Ediciones, the book, the manual I would say, The seventh string. Teaching guide for learning flamenco. It joins the increasingly numerous books dedicated to the teaching of flamenco, to teaching it in schools and institutes. There are the fans of the future. Personally, I have been doing this for many years, as a teacher, and I even published one of those books, Poetics and didactics of flamenco, in 2009, thanks to Signatura Ediciones, which is now republished, expanded and updated, in the collection of flamenco of the Renaissance. I thus joined other previous examples and from that date until today, fortunately, the number has been increasing thanks to books by authors such as Caty Leon, Laly Pablo, Fernando Lirola neighborhoods, Manuel Salazar, etc.
Ramos and Amador's is structured and developed in a very simple, didactic, close and attractive way, thinking above all about the potential students of the optional subject of Flamenco in third year of ESO in AndalusiaThe initial brief chapter, "Who we are", is followed by an introduction, where the purposes of the publication are explained, pointing out that this teaching proposal aims to be a work tool for educators who want to introduce themselves and their students to the world of flamenco through guided text tracking of the novel The seventh string, reviewed at the beginning. Using the characters of the novel as a guiding thread, concepts, characters, musical forms, expressions of the flamenco.
Here we can see the official teaser from the novel, directed by the author and with the actors Zaira Rey e Idyll Cardoso:
Twenty-two chapters follow, twenty-one with names of palos of the flamenco and a final one focused on the end of the party. Each chapter follows the same development: a poem or flamenco lyrics, a chapter of the novel, a large photo, an audition, the objectives pursued, another section entitled "To learn more" and a didactic proposal with various activities. The latter generally includes between three and five activities, alluding to the palos and styles flamencos raised, which cover the various classifications and peculiarities of the flamenco deck: lullaby, alegrías, liviana, bulerías, debla, petenera, malagueña, granaína, romance, farruca, fandangos, milonga, polo, taranta, Colombian, martinete, mirabrás, alboreá, sevillanas, seguiriya, toná.
All this content is complemented with excellent contributions of poems, Lorca o Omar Khayam, well-known flamenco lyrics, photographs of various sizes, highlights and word showers or QR codes with the participation of Gaspar of Holland y Clown Woman. A living project, in short, full of activities and attractive contributions, a guide that unites literature and music in an original way and that will surely continue to have the success among teachers and students that, as I said, I know it is having.
→ Manuel Ramos Ramos and Jose Alberto Amador, The Seventh String. A teaching guide for learning flamenco, Seville, Hummingbird Editions, 2023
