Although Juanito Valderrama wrote the emigrant along with Nino Ricardo In 1949, his song became the anthem of the exodus for the many Spaniards who left for Europe in search of a better life from the 60s onwards. Many of them ended up in StuttgartA city that had been devastated by Allied bombing during World War II, but which sought to rise from the ashes by embracing industrial development. Associated with appliance brands such as Boschor of cars like Mercedes-Benz o PorscheThe capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg is today a modern city with a remarkable cultural life in which art finds its place, at least once a year. jondo.
El Festival Flamenco from StuttgartThe festival, which has been taking place this week, is the last of the major festivals. flamencoThe few remaining German stadiums are there, making it a meeting point for fans from Central Europe and a barometer of a fanbase that grows every day. He certainly didn't want to miss it. Jorge Castilla, Chairman of the Spanish Club of Stuttgartt, who collaborates with him. The son of Barcelona emigrants, he arrived in Germany in 1965, at the age of nine, and six decades later he is just another resident of Estugarde, although he has never broken ties with his homeland.
“To the German, the flamenco “They’ve always loved it,” says Castilla, representing the 2.000 Spaniards and 2.000 Latinos who make up the city’s 640.000 inhabitants. “There are even some very knowledgeable people, but what attracts everyone is the color, the joy. German folklore is a bit like a German Christmas, more serious, which is why they love what we do. And they’re very appreciative; they enthusiastically applaud what they see.”
A global phenomenon
From early in the morning, the Production center Stuttgart hosts the classes programmed by the festival, with such illustrious professors as Manuel Linan o Mercedes RuizAmong students from diverse backgrounds, he stands out, both for his height and for being one of the few men in the room. Mathias HasselbergHe is 69 years old and comes from Eckernförde, on the Baltic Sea, “almost in Denmark,” he says with a smile. He confesses to being in love with the flamenco She's been dancing bulerías ever since she stumbled upon them twenty years ago, and now takes classes in her hometown twice a week. What she didn't expect was to end up learning to dance the bata de cola with Liñán. "I'd already tried using a fan, but this is new to me," she says. "I love this music, listening to it and dancing to it. It awakens so many emotions in me."
Mathias participated in the gala last Saturday Little flamingosA classic event at the Stuttgart Festival that brings together beginners and seasoned performers to experience the stage. [The following person participated in it:] Frida PalmThe youngest member of the cast at twelve years old. Born in Mexico to German parents, she came to Europe when she was just three. “She’s never been to Spain,” her mother says, “but since she learned the first moves with a teacher, she’s happy and practices two days a week.”
They also shone at the aforementioned gala. Damian, of 22 years, and Ana MariaThey are both 25 and come from the Fortea Conservatory in Madrid, and are enjoying a scholarship that allows them to take lessons and do some sightseeing. “It’s our second time in Stuttgart, and we’re constantly surprised by the enthusiasm for music outside of Spain, which we even sometimes miss back home,” says Damián, while Ana María emphasizes that “it’s not just in Germany. This year we’ve also been to Malta and Trieste, and you can see that the flamenco They love it. For us, it's an interesting experience as artists, but it also helps us see how learning takes place abroad, and it helps us train as future teachers.”
The reasons that lead students to connect with the flamenco They are diverse, but very often there are distant family and geographical connections. "I am the daughter of a woman from Malaga who grew up in Spain but in a German school," she explains. Sarah, a professor of Chemistry and Germanic Literature, and a student of these courses in a town near Mainz. "My family was never interested in this art, but one day my mother saw an advertisement,'Flamenco for children's program," she asked me if I wanted to sign up and I said, 'Yes, I'll give it a try.' And I've been at it ever since. flamenco "It brings out the Spanish roots I carry within me."
Sarah believes that art jondo It enjoys great popularity in Spain, but the future is uncertain because, here as everywhere, "the tricky thing is getting young people to want to learn. These days, in general, they don't have much interest in something that requires work, that can sometimes take a lifetime. And the flamenco "It requires so much time and patience with your own body, it demands such immersion in that culture, that many reject it."
«The Festival Flamenco The Stuttgart festival, which has been taking place this week, is the last of the major festivals flamenco"It's one of the German stadiums that remains standing, and that makes it a meeting point for fans from Central Europe and a barometer of a fanbase that grows every day."
An peña in Frankfurt
Frank Ihle He is a guitarist and president of The Bulería, a peña flamenca from Rüsselsheimnear Frankfurt, which is already twenty years old. “I’m one of the few Germans who started directly with flamenco guitar, without going through classical guitar,” he says. “In my childhood in Freiburg, my father loved to tune the radio into world music, and flamenco It wasn't going to be an exception. Then I connected with a German family who had an apartment in Torremolinos, I got to know the Costa del Sol with them, but I was definitely hooked when I heard... Lole and Manuel".
In his approach to the jondoFrank found it useful to work as a technician in a well-known theater in Mainz, the House of Commonswhere they managed to secure a space to organize a festival that lasted 15 years. “Then Covid arrived and everything changed a lot, but we kept doing things. Now we have an annual course run by Fernando Galán"From Jerez, and we also collaborate with the Stuttgart Festival."
For Frank, as for most German flamenco enthusiasts, the hardest part is finding someone to teach them falsetas, steps, or vocal techniques. There are cases like that of Carmen Fernández, from Utrera, who has lived here for more than 30 years and who combines the cante with her job as an employee in a Hamburg shop, or several Spanish guitarists, but normally references are scarce.
But it also happens to some Spaniards who have come to discover the flamencoDue to life's twists and turns, they've ended up here in Germany, so far from home. This is the case of Beatriz Amor, from Toledo, who bravely burst into song with the traditional Granada songs at the gala Little flamingos along with Mauricio Madrigal, a Costa Rican guitarist who also emigrated to Germany. “Incredibly, I discovered the cante where I currently live, in Munich, with a German boyfriend who studies flamenco guitar. And since then I haven't been able to stop listening and learning; I even want to start a peña"Although I'm still not entirely sure how to do it."
She had a similar experience AmayaA 30-year-old woman from Bilbao, now living in Esslingen. “I had danced since I was little, but never flamencoI came here to study dance pedagogy, and I had to discover it. jondo Right here. I started taking classes regularly and it's now a part of my life.”
Amaia represents that new wave of Spanish emigration—mainly those who arrived during the 2008 crisis—which bears little resemblance to that of yesteryear, those working-class people who were moved to tears listening to Valderrama's classics, except perhaps for that incurable nostalgia, and the fact that the notes of a guitar can transport them in a few seconds back to where they came from. “For me, dancing is a connection to Spain,” Amaia concludes. “It makes me happy, it gives me life. It's like being there. And it makes me desperately want to go home.” ♦
