Centro Andaluz de Flamenco

Centro Andaluz de Flamenco

Objectives of the Center

The "Centro Andaluz de Flamenco" is a service of the Consejería de Cultura of the Andalusian autonomous Government, established by Decree 159 on October 13th, 1993. It pursues the following objectives:

- The safekeeping and promotion of the traditional values of all artistic, literary, and musical manifestations that are exponents of the knowledge and feelings of Andalusian people related to the singing, dancing, and guitar-playing in flamenco art.

- The research, recovery, teaching, and diffusion of the deepest Andalusian heritage through the organization of seminars, courses, round tables, and all activities that help to spread flamenco. Also included is the publishing of specialized literature and magazines of studies and essays of flamenco.

- The collection and conservation of all documents, objects, and elements related to this art, and, in general, books and historical documents, recordings, films, and literature that serve to perpetuate the history of flamenco as an exponent of the knowledge and feelings of the Andalusian people.

Resources of the Centro Andaluz de Flamenco

The Centro Andaluz de Flamenco is today the most important center of resources of this art. It provides resources for researchers, students, and flamenco enthusiasts in general. The different resources of the C.A.F. are found in data bases that are available to all researchers and enthusiasts of this art.

Through the Centro Informático Científico de Andalucía (of the Consejería de Educación of the Andalusian autonomous Government) it has been made possible to access through internet the data bases of the C.A.F. that include many of these resources.

Centro Andaluz de Flamenco

The resources are distributed as follows:

- Library

The library of the C.A.F. presently includes 3,000 volumes classified in four broad categories: flamenco, gitanos, Andalusia, and reference material.

The main body of the library was generously donated by Mr. Francisco Vallecillo Pecino, a great flamenco enthusiast and an advisor in flamenco for the Andalusian autonomous Government from 1982 to 1990.

Works dealing specifically with flamenco amount to 1,000 volumes, and include nearly all printed works on flamenco in Spain and abroad. The policy of the Center is to purchase new publications as well as older works through contacts with antique booksellers.

The publications on Andalusia and gitanos (matters directly related to the birth and development of flamenco) amount to 800 and 300 volumes, respectively. Finally, the library also features a good amount of reference material, such as dictionaries and encyclopedias.

The library can accommodate 16 readers, and is currently installing a loan system.

- Printed music archive

The production of printed music in flamenco has been very rare, since the majority of flamenco artists have no musical training that would allow them to write out their creations in musical notation. The Center has collected a total of 800 pieces, mostly for guitar, although there are some for piano, and even for orchestra.

In the data base created for these resources, the user may search not only by author, title, etc., but also by palos (styles of singing, dancing, and guitar-playing). This type of specialized search is the most popular among the users of the resources of the Center.

- Newspaper and periodicals library

Since 1886, the year in which the first magazine on flamenco was published, until today, there have been around 20 specialized periodicals on flamenco. Most of these issues were published in small numbers.

In Spain there are currently six magazines specializing in flamenco, and another six from outside of Spain: Argentina, United Kingdom, Japan, Holland, United States, and Germany. The C.A.F. possesses the complete collections of these magazines from today and from the past. The Center also subscribes to different magazines specializing in music and gitanos.

Since 1992 the C.A.F. has offered an archive of news articles dealing with flamenco that includes news, interviews, reports, and all types of flamenco-related information appearing in the Spanish domestic press, as well as the regional press in Andalusia. The Center is currently transferring this information to CD-ROM format, in order to simplify the search process as well as to solve the problem of storing this material.

- Music library

The music library of the C.A.F. features around 8,500 recordings. With this audio archive three different data bases have been created:

One of them consists of 78 r.p.m. recordings. These early recordings are an indispensable source of knowledge of the history and evolution of flamenco, and are resources of great value to all those studying this art. The C.A.F. has a collection of 2,030 78 r.p.m. recordings, and 70 cylinders.

The remaining recordings (2,500 LPs, 3,200 singles, 700 cassettes, and 800 CDs), are included in the "FONOTECA" data base, with the normal reference numbers used for these types of documents.

Apart from this general data base, the C.A.F. is creating a data base called "PALOS," in which the song forms appearing in each recording are listed. This will make it possible to carry out highly specialized searches, which will be of great use to researchers. This project is at present unfinished, with a total of 16,000 entries.

All these recordings can be heard at the Center in eight individual listening booths. Some of these recordings are also available through the C.A.F. website.

- Video library

The video collection of the Centro Andaluz de Flamenco includes 800 entries: full-length films, television programs, live performances, etc., and may be seen in the viewing rooms of the Center.

Like the resources of the music library, the footage is included in different data bases. One serves as a general catalogue of the documents, and the other details each of the recorded performances.

The video resources are the most used of the resources in a given year.

- Graphic archive

The graphic archive currently offers 1,000 posters, 3,000 pamphlets, 1,000 photographs, and 500 postcards.

Dancing at the caves of Granada

Other services of the Centro Andaluz de Flamenco

Besides working in documentation, the C.A.F. also promotes activities related to flamenco that take place in Spain: courses, contests, festivals, grants, etc.

The Center offers different directories that may be consulted by those interested in activities such as flamenco peñas around the world, a listing of festivals and contests, dance and guitar academies, guitar makers, specialized shops, etc.

The facilities of the C.A.F. include two exhibition halls. On permanent display is a collection of portraits of historical figures of flamenco art and a collection of lithographs from the 19th and 20th centuries dealing with flamenco. Exhibitions of photography, sculpture, antique guitars, etc. are also programmed.

Text: Ana Mª Tenorio Notario
Translation: Norman Paul Kliman

Centro Andaluz de Flamenco
Address: Palacio Pemartín
Plaza de San Juan, 1
11403 Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz)
Telephone: 956/ 349265-322711-321602
Fax: 956/321127
Internet: http://caf.cica.es
E-mail: flamenco-www@cica.es
Visiting hours: Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Admission: Free

Photos copyright by "Centro Andaluz of Flamenco"