How Spanish is Flamenco?

Flamenco is that distinctly Spanish art form which sees the combination of vivid music and florid dance. Wailing the poignant pains of a country that has endured so much, or perhaps of a gypsy people who undoubtedly continue to endure some displeasure, flamenco music is really rather unique. The vigorous strumming of the Spanish guitars and the polyrhythmic texture of the percussionist both accompany the cantaor, who in turn sings an almost hypnotic melismatic line. Whilst Flamenco is distinctly Spanish (that is to say that today it is an art not easily attributed to any other country, neither with nor without intention), there is a lot to suggest that the very influences that founded it are very un-Spanish.

Most inconsistent with this Spanish art is its very name, Flamenco, which rather vaguely points towards some sort of Belgian heritage of the music since the word ‘flamenco’ in Spanish means Flemish. Alluding to that period of the Spanish Empire during which Flanders was under Spanish mandate, perhaps there is good reasoning behind the argument that suggests that the dance was perhaps brought over to Spain from that territory. For fear of falling into the trap of writing an apologetic in favour of my own uniformed opinion, I find need to state that all discourse on the matter of Flamenco’s birthplace is essentially speculative. There is yet to have been found one definitive explanation.

And as such, every argument on the topic, including the aforementioned pro-Flemish heritage one, has some sort of counter. After all, if there is any Flemish influence in Seville, or anywhere on the Peninsula for that matter, it is so negligible that it seems most unlikely that Spain owes Flamenco to those peoples. Flamenco has for sometime been attributed to southern Spain and, in particular, to Seville which accounts for that certain Arabic sound which can most certainly be heard and seen, although, once again, perhaps only tentatively. Supporters of this point of view also then attribute some genetic link between the gitano population of Andalusia, whose own music resembles strongly resembles flamenco, and the Moors who once held dominion over the land. It has also been suggested that for sometime the word Flamenco, whilst its literal meaning is as above noted, was often used colloquially to refer to gypsies and other foreigners to the country.

What can certainly be said at last and again is that whatever its heritage, Flamenco music is indeed distinctly Spanish. Whatever its influences may be, Flamenco is very much now its own form, unparalleled in any other country.