Nov
1
2023
David Byrne Presents: Flamenco Every Which Way
By Todomundo
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Here’s a playlist of what might be called Flamenco Pop… it still encompasses a variety of genres as flamenco has been incorporated into a wide variety of musical styles.
Flamenco originated within the Roma community - who originally came out of Rajasthan. They emigrated westward and left a musical legacy everywhere they stopped or settled. Turkey, Lebanon, Bulgaria, Italy, Croatia, and eventually Spain (specifically Andalucia in the south). There’s an excellent film on this called Latcho Drom that is beautifully filmed and the music is of course incredible.
Link to the Documentary Trailer
The original NY Times review of the documentary
But this playlist is a whole other thing. While Spain was under the fascist boot of Franco, flamenco was nominated and held up as part of the national cultural patrimony - oddly as the Roma people there had been oppressed for hundreds of years. There’s a similarity in attitude with blues in the US (not a musical similarity). Anyway, as a result during that time, the music was frozen - there were strict definitions as to what constituted “authentic” flamenco. This also had the effect of making this wonderful soulful music anathematic to the younger post Franco generation as they associated it with the repressive aspects of that regime and wanted nothing to do with it.
Eventually of course, some flamenco artists broke free and began to experiment. Cameron de la Isla made some amazing recordings that stretched the boundaries. He was so rooted in the tradition that no one could challenge his authenticity (there’s a wonderful documentary on him too on streaming). Younger artists like Ketama fused flamenco with blues (despite what I said above) and the present generation does more or less whatever they like. The pop artist Rosalia, for example, does come from a traditional flamenco background, and when she incorporated flamenco into pop music some folks in Spain felt she was selling out to make money. But the songs are excellent, so it’s hard to argue against them
Here’s a recent NY Times article about Maria Jose Llergo, an up and coming artist in this world:
Some really surprising mashups on this playlist - stirring and heartfelt. Enjoy!
- David Byrne
Nov
1
2023
David Byrne Presents: Flamenco Every Which Way
By Todomundo