Instead of simply telling you the history of flamenco, in this blog post I would like to explain to you how flamenco came to be in a short story. Hope you enjoy!
Andalucia changed the day the Inquisition came.
We lived our own lives happily until the Christians came charging in. Everything was taken away from us Gypsies. Our a way of life, our culture, everything was gone. They tried to rid of us as a race entirely. We could not wear our traditional clothing nor speak our own language.
Our lives and livelihoods for that matter remained threatened. We as a culture had no other choice but to flee elsewhere from the chaos and tyranny that now spread over the land like a plague.
We were left with nothing, but the culture from which we were raised. As long as we still had our song and dance, the gypsies would prevail. As we travelled we all shared in our rich heritage dating back to the days our ancestors made the faithful journey from India to Andalucia.
In order to escape the Inquisition we made our way to the mountains sharing in the music as we went.
Upon reaching the height of the summit we came to meet our fellow compatriots who suffered similar fates to our own: the Moors and the Jews.
We shared our stories, our music, and our duende, with these people. Our harmonies intertwined to create something magical, which reverberated past the mountains into the far distance.
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| Flamenco Cave Photo Credit: Granadainfo.com |
Well, there you have it. This is the basis for flamenco. After the Spanish Inquisition, the Jews, Moors, and Gypsies were forced to flee to the mountains where their pursuers feared to venture. From there, the cultures mixed to create flamenco consisting of a simple chant accompanied by rhythm.
From there, palmas or clapping, the guitar, and other musical elements were added to flamenco. When allowed to travel down from the steep mountains in the late 1700s, flamenco began to spread across the region and began gaining widespread recognition during the Romantic Era of the 19th century.
Since then, flamenco has continued to evolve. Nuevo flamenco, which was help pioneered by artists such as guitarist Paco de Lucia, and electric bassist Carles Benavent, combines multiple music styles from jazz to Bossa Nova with traditional flamenco. Where flamenco music goes from there I do not know. We will just have to wait and see.
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| Paco de Lucia was one of Spain's most important musicians. Paco was highly interested in Jazz and played with musicians such as Chick Corea, John Mclaughlin, and Al di Meola Photo Credit: Martyn Strange |
For now I will leave you with a brilliant version of Chanela played by Dutch guitarist Jan Akkerman and the maestro Paco de Lucia.
Sources:
http://www.classicalguitarmidi.com/history/flamenco.html
http://www.andalucia.com/flamenco/history.htm
