Flamenco: Passionate Song, Dance and Guitar of Andalusia

Genre of Spanish music and dance

Flamenco (Spanish pronunciation: [flaˈmeŋko]) is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed in part within the gitano subculture of the Andalusian region, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Murcia. In a wider sense, the term is used to refer to a variety of both contemporary and traditional musical styles typical of southern Spain. Flamenco is closely associated with the gitanos of the Romani ethnicity, who have contributed significantly to its origin and professionalization. However, its style is uniquely Andalusian, and flamenco artists have historically included Spaniards of both gitano and non-gitano heritage.

Although it is often described as a folk, popular or oral tradition, flamenco is also regarded as a complex and sophisticated musical system. Its forms combine song, guitar, dance, compás, modal and tonal harmony, falsetas, handclaps, footwork, melodic ornamentation and improvisatory variation. The musical identity of a palo may depend on several features at once, including rhythmic cycle, mode, chord progression, stanzaic form, geographic origin and performance convention. This musical sophistication, together with the development of concert flamenco guitar and formal conservatory study, has helped flamenco appeal not only to popular audiences but also to listeners and performers from classical-music backgrounds.

The oldest record of flamenco music dates to 1774 in the book Las Cartas Marruecas (The Moroccan Letters) by José Cadalso. The development of flamenco over the past two centuries is well documented: “the theatre movement of sainetes (one-act plays) and tonadillas, popular song books and song sheets, customs, studies of dances, and toques, perfection, newspapers, graphic documents in paintings and engravings. … in continuous evolution together with rhythm, the poetic stanzas, and the ambiance.”

On 16 November 2010, UNESCO declared flamenco one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.