There has been, also, an interesting evolution of the Flamenco dance. There has also been a great development and evolution of the Flamenco guitar, even creating a new format of performance, guitar concerts, which is considered a new trend, the “ concertismo” (a great example being the great artist Paco de Lucía). Nevertheless, the intellectual Flamenco movement doesn’t despise these fusions, yet they distinguish these combinations in “correct” fusions or “wrong” fusions, based on the use of rhythms and melodies of Flamenco and how much the artist can modify them without distorting the essence. While the original and pure Flamenco performances remain, they’ve been reduced to intellectuals and artists that admire it, or to shows for the tourists. The present scenario of Flamenco art is considered to start in the 1970’s, where it began to fuse with other musical genres such as blues, jazz or even rock. Such collection helped to preserve the Flamenco culture for the future.
It’s also during this time that an Anthology of Flamenco’s Cante was recorded by the company Hispavox, starring Manolo Caracol.
He studied and promoted the Andalusian and Gipsy roots of Flamenco, and we owe him the salvation of the original and classic Flamenco, that until then had bee unknown and despised. There was also a new interest for studying Flamenco art and history, what gave it a more intellectual category – it wasn’t just folklore anymore.Īntonio Mairena is the greatest example of this new generation, who dedicated almost all of his career to the rescue and restoration of a lot of forgotten “ cantes”. He mastered almost all of them and was pretty concerned about the artists around him and the example he was giving, fearing that he could do something that wasn’t within the traditions of Flamenco. In the 1950’s, the Opera Flamenca was widely known even outside of Spain, and a new generation of singers started to return to more classic formats of Flamenco, playing the original styles in smaller groups. You can still see Opera Flamenca in Barcelona nowadays. Famous figures of this time were Antonio Chacón, Manuel Torre, La Niña de los Peines, Pepe Marchena and Manolo Caracol.
It’s during this period that Flamenco starts being considered as one of the strongest elements of the Spanish culture, leaving behind that thought that it was exclusive to the Andalucía region.Įven when the Spanish Civil War ended and the dictatorship of Francisco Franco constantly questioned its contributions to the Spanish idiosyncrasy, they inevitably had to recognize its place as they couldn’t deny the strength Flamenco had in the cultural context of the country. Of course, such tricks to please the masses were widely criticized by the defenders of the more purist styles. The success of the Opera Flamenca was so big that it soon reached other regions of Spain, raising its popularity with every new presentation, and it soon became a more commercial art, leaving behind certain styles or “cantes” (as they are known in Spanish folklore) that were considered old fashioned and conservative.
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