3. The Antiflamenco Movement

In parallel to these studies of flamenco, another movement that rejected flamenco began to appear in a significant portion of Spanish society. This is observed in the work of some prominent intellectuals of the period, especially those belonging to the "generation of '98." These writers identified flamenco with dishonorable activities (the truth is that they have never been far from the development of flamenco): dance houses, taverns, prisons, whore houses, etc., and its exponents were portrayed as being idle, arrogant, young and rich, or delinquent. These images contrast with those given by authors like Ford, Merimé, etc., and are used to identify all of Spanish society. Europe sees the culture, civilization, and progress of Spain as the stereotypical Andalusia, with its festivals, dancing, bullfighting, and flamenco that travelers crossing the peninsula had chronicled. Some examples:

Pío Baroja: In his work "La busca" (1904), there is a chapter dedicated to a "café-cantante" which includes this description of a flamenco performance: "La Tarugo rose from her chair and broke into a sideways dance, then began to shake her hips in a convulsive manner. The singer began to gargle softly; at times he would stop and only the snapping fingers and stamping heels of la Tarugo were heard... When the singer from Malaga finished a chocolate-colored gitano stood up and danced a tango; a Negro dance. He twisted about and thrust out his belly, folding his arms back to his sides. He completed his movements of effeminate hips and an extremely complicated twisting up of his arms and legs (...) At that moment a fat thick-necked singer and a cross-eyed guitarist with a killer's face came before the public. While one strummed the guitar... the other let out a guttural cry, his face swollen, the veins on his neck standing out, and his eyes bulging. This must have been some feat, since it made him turn red right up to his forehead".

Pio Baroja

Clarín in "La Regenta" (1884): "The so-called flamenco music began to be acceptable in certain artistic neighborhoods and in some societies. The young doctor dressed in tight-fitting trousers, and intelligently combined the normal hairstyle of the day with the bullfighters' bangs combed back against the temples... He had finished his university studies that year and he planned to marry a wealthy girl as soon as possible. She would contribute with the dowry and he would provide his figure, his degree, and his flamenco abilities".

The paradigm of this trend is found in Eugenio Noel with his work "Campaña antiflamenca, Señoritos, chulos, fenómenos gitanos y flamencos", the title of which is an authentic proposal of intentions (antiflamenco campaign, rich kids, the arrogant, gitano and flamenco geniuses). Here are some examples:

"One of the evils of flamenco is the deterioration in dancing that it has provoked. Tonight there is no voluptuosity, refinement, or subtle grace. Our dancer is an indecent type; androgynous and tortured. His female companion disgracefully wields her body like her soul: without art or science, only to earn a few pesetas". (Campaña antiflamenca, 1919. Valencia: publishers Sempere y Cia.).

"A man who is flamenco cares about nothing except that which may affect his interesting self. And even in such a case, he must only be concerned with matters of poise, elegance, smugness, suit, and kidneys." There is nothing more revolting than flamenco. It is the ferment of the decomposition of a people..." (República y Flamenquismo, 1926).

However, this author is a bit paradoxical since, on other occasions his impressions seem filled with sensitivity. The short novel "Martín el de la Paula en Alcalá de los Panaderos" (Madrid: La Novela Mundial, 1926) includes a sensitive description of flamenco singing: "For a narrow-minded Andalusian, hondo flamenco singing and the emotive singing of his land are one and the same. For this very reason he loves flamenco; because it defies all definitions, all laws; it admits all styles and forms, progressions, sounds, rhythms... and because each one that dances, plays, or sings can interpret it as he and only he wishes. All of this is Tartessian, Persian, Byzantine, probably Greek as well, Mozarabic, Latin, and being all of this and more, all of this is nothing more than what the final interpreter wishes it to be".

The antiflamenco movement has remained, not as a literary form, but as an attitude shared by some Spanish intellectuals.

Ana Tenorio
Translation: Estela Zatania

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