To this day, different hypotheses are still held about the origin of the term. Flamenco There seems to be no consensus among researchers, and even less so among amateurs. We think it is time to, if not at least accept the most sustainable thesis from a linguistic, sociological and historical perspective, at least discard those that have no demonstrable scientific basis. But first, we must try to understand the artistic fact. flamenco in its historical context.
What do we understand by flamenco?
El Flamenco, as an art, has specific expressive and aesthetic codes that allow us to distinguish it from classical music, rock, jazz and other popular genres. Although the flamenco share rhythms, harmonies, musical scales common to other music, the way of interpretation, the rhythmic and expressive richness, the peculiar chords of the guitar and the melodic form of the cante, provide it with a special “color”, a way of “sounding” that we all have identified and that makes it unmistakable.
Since when the flamenco sounds like "flamenco» and not something else?
Well, this is the crux of the matter, something that some of us have been studying for decades, trying to unravel this supposed origin of flamenco.
Within the studies of the FlamencoThe theory that we can call scientific, to differentiate it from the traditional one, based on personal ideas or unproven hypotheses, is admitted that, throughout the 19th century, from the decade of the 1940s approximately, starting from what was known as Andalusian song and dance, there is talk of a genre flamenco, of flamenco types and attitudes, of cante, dance and touch flamenco.
It should be noted that, initially, the use of the term flamenco to refer to a music or dance does not imply any special musical difference, or form of interpretation that deviates from what was previously called Andalusian. That is, the one that be classified as a "singer" flamenco» to Lazaro Quintana in 1847 doesn't mean your cante It would sound like flamenco, as we understand it now. In this sense of the use of the term or not, the figure of Silverio Franconetti and see how it was advertised in his shows. In practically no poster for Silverio's recitals is there any mention of "cante flamenco", nor "singer" flamenco». Silverio Franconetti, “the creator of the genre flamenco" according Demophilus, advertised himself as an "Andalusian singer" from the moment there is news of the opening of his café, on April 28, 1881, until the last messages from the end of 1888 [1]The same thing happens in the recitals he gave in Córdoba. [2] since 1871, where we always find the name "genre andalusian" for the canteand dances by him and his company (Francis Hidalgo y Jose Lorente as singers, Antonio the Scraper, Antonio Paez The Painter y Antonio Andrade as dancers and Antonio Perez as a guitarist, although he also danced). Only once is he described as "flamenco» his show in Córdoba: in 1886, a time when this term had already been imposed as a generic term; and the press does so, it does not appear in its own advertising. As an example of what we are discussing, let us look at this poster [3] of October 16, 1865:
It is compared to the cante of Silverio with that of the Boys and the Girls, gypsy singing dynasties. At that time Silverio was already directing a company, just a year after his return from his American journey, which included the daughters of Pineapple Parakeet, that is, of The Old Man of the Island (Pedro Fernandez Fernandez). Twelve days later the announcement is made Function of the Century in the same San Fernando hall, pointing out the hiring of the famous Sweet Curro (Paco Fernandez) and the dancer Enrique Ortega and the guitar teacher Patiño. No one today would argue that what these artists practiced is cante, dance and touch flamencoWhy doesn't Silverio use the adjective Flamenco?
But let's go back a little further. If we analyze in depth the repertoire of musical styles that were played in 1853 at one of the flamenco festivals that were held in the Vensano Salons from Madrid, we will find the same styles that I described The lonely man in his famous Andalusian scenes: cañas, rondeñas, seguidillas…:
«The protagonists were the most chosen among the flamencos which are currently in Madrid; so fans were able to admire three schools different at the same time. They executed with the most admirable and characteristic skill, all the Andalusian repertoire de t-shirts, reeds, syrups, Ronda, seguidillas afandangadas, etc., etc.» [4]
The Madrid press does pick up the word flamenco; and the chronicler asks:
“Why would they be called Flamenco“What does the Flemish school of Ockeghem, Obrecht, Tinctor and Desprez have to do with what these singers do?”
The journalist is certainly surprised by the use of the appellation "flamenco» for a music that had nothing to do with the flamenco music from Flanders: the religious polyphony of the school known as Franco-Flemish of the 15th century, where those composers stood out.
Since 1858 we have evidence of qualifiers of "flamenco” for a fuss in academies in Seville [5]. It is therefore equally surprising that in the book of Davillier the term does not appear either flamenco In 1862, while passing through this city, when he visited taverns such as the one in Uncle Minarro [6] and other places where cañas, polos, tangos, seguidillas, etc. were heard. In Madrid, there is already talk of accompaniment "flamenco"And cante "flamenco"At that party in 1853, the city where, for the moment, the first information we have of a musician qualified as such in 1847, Lázaro Quintana, is located:
"A SINGER FLAMENCO.- A few days ago, the famous gypsy singer, Lázaro Quintana, arrived at this court, where he plans to reside for some time, as we have been assured. The name of this famous "quirrabaor" is generally appreciated among fans of Seville, Cadiz and Puerto Rico" (The public clamor, June 8, 1847). [7]
The news appears with greater content on June 6, 1847 in the newspaper The viewer Madrid [8]:
There does not seem to be many differences between the Andalusian scenes of Solitario (A dance in Triana, by 1842, the General Assembly, from 1845), the Madrid festival (1853) and Davillier's descriptions (1862). There were only two years left until Silverio's arrival from America, and it is not possible that the music we call flamenco while Franconetti was away. The term is sometimes used and sometimes not to refer to the same music and dances, although its use is not yet related to a musical differentiation, but rather to the social context of the performers.
The term in question
We have already stated in other works [9] our idea that the origin of the term "flamenco» to refer to the cultivation of an art was in the substantivization of an adjective. Originally used to refer to a way of being, attitude, manner, a behavior that must have been common among artists of the genre: the “echao pa´lante”, the “arrogant”, the character “flamenco”, then came to designate the music, the songs, the dances that they cultivated, without necessarily having a musical difference at the beginning. This musical differentiation is independent of the baptism of the genre, and is due to the contributions of the artists, a process that took place throughout the 19th century. In this case, we would start from the musical substratum of those qualified as –“Andalusian songs and dances”– popular at that time: Vito, Ole, Panaderos, Seguidillas, Boleros, Fandangos, Malagueñas, Peteneras, etc., since what seems is that, from the middle of the 19th century, these same styles began to be qualified as “Andalusian songs and dances”.flamencos ".
«From the time a dictionary included the term as a derogatory adjective until the Spanish Academy recognized it, about 75 years have passed. But we have already seen that it has been used with this sense of negative association since at least 1615, and with the sense of brand new, since the XNUMXth century»
The association of the term with Flanders was triggered by the book George Borrow The Zincali (a book written by the author between 1836 and 1849, when he was in Spain). At that time, the term began to be associated flamenco with gypsy, an association that does not occur before the 19th century, when the word flamenco was already in use with a polysemic meaning. On the one hand, as a type of knife in the 18th century, the “knife” flamenco”, as he explained Luis Suarez Avila [10]. On the other hand, as a type of hat, the hat Flamenco, since the 14th century in England, as explained Rafael Castejon [11] in dealers and merchants, including gypsies. On the other hand, as an adjective for “arrogant”, as he found Faustino Nunez [12] in the late 18th century tonadillesque theatre in Madrid:
«Word; Romero: Come here, Labapiesera, where have you been? (she) to empeñar my Basquiña, (he) what for?, (she) what do you care (he) to know, (she) because I don't want to say it, (he) did it?, right, he shook me, (she) is with him air as so flamenco you are"He, look, I'll tell you, she, what do I care, sorrows and griefs are what make me fat the most."
The reason why the term "flamenco» contains that meaning of arrogant is something that is in line with the attitude discussed above and its association with certain disadvantaged, discriminated or "dangerous" social groups throughout history. Among them we must mention the gypsies, blacks and Native Americans and other marginalized groups. Thanks to Bernardo Saez [13] We have data that in the 17th century the word "flamenco» to refer to the indigenous people of the West Indies:
«[…] and so, from the discourse of Raçon, at the beginning, and also from experience, they saw it necessary to first make Caves, where they could enter, and take shelter from the rigor of time, and Celestial inclemency; and according to what they say, eight hundred years ago, the Flamencos In them: first they ate herbs, roots, and wild fruits, then they took care of farming, sowing and harvesting grain, which they found growing in the field […] [14]»
Likewise, Jesús Cosano locates the reference to the blacks of Guinea as "flamencos» in 1725 in Cadiz [15]:
By the way, the natives of Flanders, the “flamencos” of Flanders, also had a very bad reputation for their quarrelsome and violent nature. Read the Moxiganga of Moxigangas, a big mess of messes, a manifesto of manifestos, an idea of ideas, a reflection of reflections, a tale of tales [16] (ca. 1705), which tells of the cruelty, murders, theft and humiliating treatment of the flamencos towards the Spanish, without justice, when the House of Austria began to reign in Spain.
But if we want to go back further in the use of the term flamenco As an adjective, we can go back to the 13th century, in the work The Romance of Flamenco (written between 1240-1270) in which the protagonist, who is called "Flamenca", is referred to as a "fiery", "luminous" woman.
The different dictionaries of the Spanish language that have collected the word "Flamenco» They do it in the sense of the wading bird in the different editions since 1611 in the Treasure of the language de Covarrubias: “A species of bird that breeds near lagoons […] that because they are lit and flames were called Flamencos”; and 1732 in the Dictionary of Authorities: “Bird that breeds in lakes […] the French call Flambat or Flamann, the Spanish Flamenco”. Since 1804 the meaning of native of Flanders was added: “The native of Flanders and what belongs to the states of this name”. In 1825, the Dictionary of Nunez de Taboada includes the flamenco like a language.
The Dictionary of Gaspar and Roig from 1853 collects all these and adds the derogatory qualifier of the word "flamenco» as a mockingly depressive nickname associated with foreigners who came from Flanders during the time of Charles V. See:
In 1895, the Zerolo Encyclopedic Dictionary It already includes as a third meaning: “Achulado, gitanesco. It is said of a certain kind of Andalusian song and dance.”
El Dictionary of Rodriguez Navas from 1918 is very illustrative. We collect only what is related to our topic: “Flamenco: […] Concerning or specific to gypsies, such as dance flamenco; language, dress or bearing flamenco. Designation of the gypsies because it is assumed that they came from Flanders when they invaded Spain. Chulo. It is said for certain cante and an extremely shameless and obscene dance widely used among low-class, ill-mannered people.”
It was not until 1925 that the official dictionary of the RAE pick up something related to our peculiar art and its cultivators, starting from the 3rd meaning: “3. Said of the Andalusian who tends to become gypsy-like. Cante, air, type FLAMENCO. 4. Chubby. 5. Applied to people, especially women, with good flesh, smooth and well-colored skin.”
As you can see, it took about 75 years from the time a dictionary included the term as a derogatory adjective until the Spanish Academy recognized it. But we have already seen that it has been used in this sense of negative association since at least 1615; and, in the sense of brand new, since the XNUMXth century.
Corominas, in his etymological dictionary (3rd edition of 1987), proposes a Germanic origin of the term flamenco:
The polysemy of the term is evident and confirmed, with the multiple meanings associated with it. All of them are collected in different documents and dictionaries, although the latter never manage to include the complete use of the words that the people use, always broader than what the Academy officially recognizes.
The social context of the so-called "gypsies"
On the other hand, within the social group of the so-called "gypsies" there were also people of very different origins. Jose Mercado warns of the confusion that existed in the past about the distinguishing features of the Gypsies from other social groups who, being persecuted, adopted a wandering life similar to these:
«[…] the insulting names of Egyptian, ruffian and monfí were indiscriminately applied to individuals who practiced professions and habits of nomadic life, travelling across much of Spain, in a continuous and obstinate struggle against royal orders and local justice. When the persecution intensified, and the danger was too imminent, they approached the sea and tried to embark for Africa; but if they noticed any weakness in the execution of the orders, the bands would penetrate into the interior again, joining discontented Moriscos, vagabonds of all kinds and deserting soldiers.
Confusion also occurs in the Constitutions of Catalonia where these indiscriminate bands are called Greeks or Bohemians. [17]
In the edict of October 5, 1611, a common term was used for all vagabonds and wanderers: Egyptians or Gypsies [18].
Sancho of Moncada at the Speech on the expulsion of the Gypsies[19] addressed to the king Philip IV In 1631 he considered and raised the question:
«WHO ARE THE GYPSIES? […] The second and correct opinion is that those who roam around Spain are not gypsies, but ex-drone and atheist men without any law or religion, Spaniards who have introduced this life or sect of gypsyism, and who admit to it every day idle and exhausted people from all over Spain, and the entire Kingdom of the Cortes recognized this since the year 1619, in condition 49, saying of the Gypsies: «Since they are not of a nation, this name and use remain perpetually confused and forgotten.» [20] […] they are idle, vagabond and useless people to the kingdoms […] Much more useless than the Moriscos, since these served the Republic and the Royal Revenues in some way […] conferring among themselves in a language with which they understand each other without being understood, which in Spain is called GERIGONZA»
Carlos III, in their Rules to contain and punish vagrancy and other excesses of the so-called gypsies, within the Pragmatic-Sanction of September 19, 1783, declares:
«[…] that those who call themselves and say they are gypsies are not so by origin or by nature, nor do they come from any infected root […] therefore I command that they, and any of them, not use the language, dress, and vagrant way of life that they have used up to now, under the penalties contained below.»
It seems that under the name of “gypsies” there existed a very low social class, with a use of slang language and given to picaresque, a social conglomerate that must have brought together real gypsies together with Moriscos, Jews and disinherited and vagabond Spanish Christians. Mercado believes that this phenomenon occurred more openly in Andalusia. [21], where they did not disappear completely, a fact that also occurred in the rest of Spain, since new edicts against the gypsies followed later, until The Pragmatic of Charles III of 1783 who tried to improve their fate with somewhat more benevolent measures.
Flamencosy gypsies – gypsies and flamencos. A most logical association. Gerhard Steingress is the one who has best known how to explain the sociological origins of the genre. In his priceless book Sociology of cante flamenco describes how the term “flamenco” was also associated with the use of a certain jargon or slang language. This author explains how speaking in a “gitanate” jargon, with words in Caló, had become fashionable in the last third of the 18th century in theatrical farces and songs, comparing it to the speech of a “flamenco” (perhaps originally from Flanders) before “flamenco” was synonymous with “gypsy”. It appears in a farce from 1831 entitled The Gypsies of Cadiz or Uncle Rabbit:
The director of French origin says to Uncle Rabbit (a gypsy who wants to teach him Caló):
My being eats encounters, long live Cachucha:
I know my knowledge of speaking Quitano, huh?
And Uncle Rabbit answers:
The same as a flamenco" [22]
It is clear that the “gypsy” is compared to the “flamenco” and not the other way around, regardless of who the “flamenco”. But more importantly, is his reflection on a 1858 gazette in the same book:
«[…] He pondered a Gypsy flamenco of the purest race […]»
Pointing out that the absurdity of the pleonasm is not such, because in reality, what is being described is that the gypsy had "flamenco" forms or manners. Therefore, it is clear that the term appeared in the bohemian environment not to refer to the gypsies themselves first, but as an identification of a certain environment of artists. There were gypsies flamencos and gypsies do not flamencos, since it would make no sense to say “Gypsy Gypsy of the purest race.”
Manuel Bohorquez [23] found a story of Modesto Lafuente Zammalloa, who attended a baptism of a gypsy child in Triana in 1841, in which a choir of “flamenco” gypsies is described. With the epigraph of A gypsy baptism, was published on April 21, 1841 in The Constitutional Court the following story, from which we insert a part:
«The following night Tirabeque and I went to a baptism of gypsies in Triana, which is one of the most famous functions among them, to which we had been attentively and personally invited by the gypsy Juan Rodríguez (a) el Gallego, who was the chief of the baptizing tribe, one-eyed, black-skinned, but lively and a man of good games […] The dance began with the cry of «Vira Fra Geriundo! Others said: «Long live Pae Geriendo! Long live his incolite Tirabeque!» To which was mixed from time to time the cry of: «Long live the most flourishing entrepreneur in Spain!» The musical instruments were a small guitar, which looked like a national treasury guitar, the palmas from the hands that played in rhythm the whole choir Flemish virgins and the singing of two or three of the most accredited philharmonic bands. The dance is graceful and lively, very gesticulating and very mimic, but superbly lascivious and inciting disorder. The Niestra was anarchic and boisterous, and excessively seditious; but the one who spoke out completely for the total disorganization of the social body was Juana Vargas: she was the Tersicore of that Parnassus: she was wildly disjointed, and swayed in an energetic and swashbuckling manner.
Blas Infante's ideas
Regarding the theory of Blas Infante of the Felah Mengu o Falah mankub as the basis of the origin of the term flamenco exposed in his work Origins of the Flamenco and Secret of the Cante Jondo, from 1929, Manuel Garcia Matos He considered it already surpassed in 1958 in his Historical Outline of the Cante FlamencoThe distinguished musicologist demonstrates the linguistic incorrectness of this association, which is still ignored by many today, pointing to the use of a term of slang origin, in use since the end of the 18th century. Blas Infante's ideas about Andalusianism, as a people with its own identity, and the defence of the legacy of Al-Andalus made him imagine a Moorish musical transfer assimilated through the gypsies, proposing a theory about the appearance and consolidation of the term that today has no meaning and that was founded on an ideological and not scientific discourse.
"This is the only way to explain that the term flamenco It was used in contexts of socially disadvantaged people, such as gypsies and other social groups considered inferior, and it was not used by artists such as Silverio, due to the negative connotation that being a "flamenco", who insisted on maintaining the name "Andalusian"
In conclusion
The art we call flamenco It does not originate from the cante of a runaway or wandering peasant. The flamencoAlso cannot be reduced to that stereotypical vision of the desperate cry as the trigger of cante and then of all an art, although this thing of shouting is also part of the aesthetics of the flamenco. The flamenco It is an art of exhibition, and of professionals, it involves both the dramatic and the party, something that cannot be separated from. It is like a Ying joined to its Yang, and it has always been like that, the historical documents are unequivocal in this aspect, although the image that sells the most in the flamenco It's the cry, of course.
There is no point in thinking that the association of two terms such as Felah-mengu o Falah mankub, which are not even documented in our spoken language, nor in any written document (whoever has it, please provide it), serve to baptize an art because a wandering peasant cante your painWhere were these terms? When did they merge or form the aforementioned word? We cannot be so simple in this reasoning. And all this, happening in the middle of the 19th century, a time when there were no Moriscos or Arabic-speaking population in our beloved Spain. We cannot affirm something like this today, having many other data and studies that show other much more consistent hypotheses. Therefore, we think that it is time to stop insisting on this theory as a valid hypothesis.
One has to wonder why, In the mid-nineteenth century, it stopped being said cante and Andalusian dance and is gradually becoming consolidated cante and dance flamencoAnd the smartest thing is to understand the social context in which the cante, dance and touch flamenco They manifest themselves and the people who are dedicated to defining this artistic manifestation, around 1840, which is when the term appears associated flamenco to certain interpreters. Only in this way can we explain that the term flamenco It was used in contexts of socially disadvantaged people, such as gypsies and other social groups considered inferior, and it was not used by artists such as Silverio, due to the negative connotation that being a "flamenco", who insisted on maintaining the name "Andalusian". Once the term was imposed flamenco At the end of the 19th century, already identified as a peculiar form of artistic expression, the Andalusian qualifier was gradually abandoned, leaving the term associated with music, cante and the dance that we all enjoyed today.
