Many books have been written about it flamenco which attempt to be a summary or global look at this wonderful art. We can say that the flamenco is in fashion, and this does not mean that the masses flock to concerts or festivals jondos. In the background, the flamenco It is still a thing of a few, although some artists who have reached the category of media can attract a thousand people, or more, to a particular recital. But the approach to flamenco It's in fashion, and more and more musicologists or professionals from classical music are approaching it. Many are those who want to share their vision, sometimes from different angles, sometimes with contradictory conclusions or that clash with those of other scholars. Sometimes, too, a bit is written from 'hearsay' or relying on mere experience (let us remember a classical empiricist like Hume), but mere experience can be misleading. It is not now a question of extremely distrusting it, in the manner of a pure rationalist like Discards.
On the other side, however, there are those who approach the flamenco without much experience, without even much emotional and vital taste for it flamenco, By the cante, dance or guitar. Musicologists and those from classical music abound in this field. As they are sometimes barely able to distinguish a palo from another –without having Mr. YouTube nearby, of course–, as they have not lived the flamenco from its social roots, from the full meeting and, let's say (if the style book allows me) from a long etcetera, as sometimes, well, they don't even love or like the flamencoWhat those within this group do is approach the issue from an angle that no flamenco enthusiast or flamenco scholar can dispute. For example, if they study a style by combining it with a musical score, someone who doesn't know how to read music encoded in this way won't be able to refute anything or say, "This tweet is mine." It's as if I were presented with a text in Mandarin Chinese: either someone translates it for me, or I won't be able to debate anything.
The case of the author of the book we're going to discuss is different, as he draws from both sides. He is a professor at the University of Murcia. Jose Francisco Ortega CastejonOrtega, a doctor in classical philology, has extensive musical training from a conservatory and classical music school. He is, in fact, a professor in the Faculty of Education in the area of music and teaches the subject. Musical Research in Flamenco, that is, it has managed to introduce the flamenco at the university and therefore approach it in an academic and scientific manner.
"Ortega isn't just a scholar of this art form from the outside, purely theoretically, but he has experienced it from a very young age, firsthand, and truly appreciates its popular significance."
But Professor Ortega is a native of La Unión, where the famous Festival of the Cante of the Mines. In fact, the book that Ortega is now publishing, Discover the flamenco (Editum, Publications Service of the University of Murcia, 2025), has an excellent prologue by Joaquín Zapata, current mayor of La Unión and president of the Foundation Cante de las Minas, as well as a great fan of flamenco, and was even a collaborator of expoflamencoAll this means that Ortega is not just a scholar of this art form from outside of it, purely theoretical, but rather he has experienced it from a very young age, firsthand, and truly appreciates its popular significance.
In fact, professor and enthusiast Ortega Castejón has published, either solo or in collaboration, several books on flamenco coplas from the Mineras region, malagueñas, and tarantas. He has served on the juries of the Unionense festival competition, and directs the university's research journal. flamenco The Dawn. In short, he is not even a newcomer to the flamenco nor an opportunistic "hanger-on." On the contrary, he's a scholar with scientific methods, but also a true amateur.
But I will finally say something about the book. Discover the flamenco. The text has a global vocation, it wants to address the flamenco from all possible angles, since they approach this music with an informative and formative character for those who come to the flamenco for the first time or for those who have already been caught by the flame of flamenco and want to know more or have a broader view. And all of this in a concise summary. The book has, above all, a first part in which the musical aspect—which is not usually addressed in other approaches—is fundamental. Thus, we find sections such as According to the tempo, the air or the movement or according to character, function or texture, among many others.
Then come other sections such as the lyrics, the analysis of the different styles or palos and much more. It is a book, in this sense, very complete, ambitious and useful. To mention a small niggle that in no way diminishes the usefulness and excellence of the book: it presents almost everything, but in certain sections, I would have liked it to take sides in the case of some conflicting theories, carrying out its own analysis. For example, the case of the origin of the word "flamenco"referring to this music. Ortega briefly presents all the known theories, but without taking sides or presenting his own. But I actually say that, perhaps, because I tend to be too discursive in my writings.
In this case, furthermore, this formal and theoretical neutrality is completely correct and necessary as it is a true compendium aimed at the uninitiated but, nevertheless, interested in knowing about the flamenco with a global perspective. It is not, therefore, nor does it intend to be, an essay intended for specialists and, consequently, open to debate and discussion. In short, we are faced with an elaborate and laborious work, magnificent, which will serve a wide audience, whether familiar or not with the flamenco, starting with the person writing this.
