2. The birth of flamenco literature: 1881

So far we have mentioned the relatively frequent appearance of flamenco or a forerunner of it in Spanish and foreign literature. However, at the end of the 19th century we see the birth of what can be called true flamenco literature.

The year 1881 marked the beginning of all examples of the specifically flamenco bibliography, with the simultaneous appearance of three very important works:

• "Colección de Cantes Flamencos" by Demófilo.
• "Primer Cancionero Flamenco" by Manuel Balmaseda.
• "Die Cantes Flamencos" by Hugo Schuchardt.

The first strictly flamenco work appears in Seville in 1881, and is titled "Colección de cantes flamencos, corregidos y anotados por Antonio Machado y Alvarez (Demófilo)". This work characterizes the tendencies throughout Europe of the scientific study of folklore in the second half of the 19th century. One of these tendencies was the appearance of "folklore societies". The first of these was founded in London in 1878, and only three years later the society "El Folk-lore Andaluz" appeared in Seville, promoted by Demófilo himself, with the firm proposal of applying scientific study to Andalusian culture (among which flamenco was no doubt included).

The book contains a prologue on the origin of the different song forms, a collection of over 881 lyrics to martinetes, deblas, tonás, livianas, seguiriyas, soleares, polos, cañas, etc. The work concludes with a biography of Silverio Franconetti (Seville, 1829-1889) and a collection of the lyrics he sang. For the writing of the book Demófilo consulted the singers Juanelo de Jerez and Silverio Franconetti.

The "Colección de Cantes Flamencos" of Demófilo presently forms the cornerstone of a great part of the flamenco bibliography. A key work to the comprehension of the figure of Demófilo is "Antonio Machado y Alvarez 'Demófilo': Vida y obra del primer flamencólogo español", by Daniel Pineda Novo.

Another book was published in Seville in 1881: "Primer cancionero de coplas flamencas populares según el estilo de Andalucía, comprensivo de polos, peteneras, cantos de soleá (vulgo soleares) y playeras o seguidillas gitanas" by Manuel Balmaseda. The author of this work was a railroad employee that died of tuberculosis in complete misery a year after his work was published. He was practically illiterate, and many nights he had to get someone to write out the lyrics that he had thought up during the day. All his lyrics are chillingly dramatic, dealing mostly with sadness, suffering, hunger, illness, death, and cemeteries:

Months after the appearance of Demófilo's work, the German Hugo Schuchardt published "Die Cantes Flamencos" (publishers Max Niemeyer de La Halle). Once again we find a foreigner involved in the study of flamenco. A doctor of classic philology, he carried out several studies on different languages, such as Albanian, Celtic, Hungarian, and Basque. In 1879 he spent seven months in Andalusia, and frequented the company of intellectuals like Demófilo, Luis Montoto, or Rodríguez Marín. Through them he came into contact with the flamenco atmospheres of the period, and as a result of this contact he became interested in studying the Andalusian dialect. His work "Die Cantes Flamencos" is divided into two different parts: The first chapters deal with the study of the general characteristics of the song forms (poetry, music, language, and metrical forms) and the second with the study of Andalusian dialect and phonetics. Over a century was to pass before this work was published in Spanish in 1990, by the Fundación Machado.

Ana Tenorio
Translation: Estela Zatania

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