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One of the most frequent questions asked by all those who
approach flamenco is what the cante says. The sound quality
is not always the best, which added to the Andalusian accent,
complicates understanding the poetry of cante. Books which
compile these verses are therefore a great help, besides a
pleasure for lovers of popular literature. Flamenco’s
poetry started to be compiled over a century ago. And it was
done around 1881 by two authors. On the one hand, folklorist
Antonio Machado y Álvarez ‘Demófilo’
with his ‘Colección de cantes flamencos’,
a must for the library of every enthusiast, since these anonymous
lyrics are the ones which have been sung, are sung and will
be sung. About the author, the father of poets Antonio and
Manuel Machado, there is also a published essay penned by
Daniel Pineda Novo. The other book also from 1881 is ‘Primer
cancionero de coplas flamencas’ by Manuel Balmaseda
y González. Today’s lyrics can only be found
in the albums’ librettos, although an ‘Antología’
was recently published of the lyrics sung by Camarón,
yet another object for the cantaor’s fans. Nor should
we forget what is perhaps the book of the most-sung lyrics,
‘Poema del cante jondo’ by Lorca.
But since flamenco catches one’s eyes, attention must
be paid to photo books. Moreover, they are usually deluxe,
hardcover, large-format editions, with high-quality paper
and print along the lines of art publications. One of the
most recommendable ones is ‘Flamenco’
by Carlos Saura, a summary of photos taken by the filmmaker
during the shootings of his famous flamenco films, with impressive
snapshots of the main artists of the last few decades.
Standing out among the feature books is that of Antonio Gades,
a selection of hundreds of pictures and other graphic documents
gathered to pay tribute to the bailaor and choreographer shortly
after his death. Another entirely different look is that of
Sara Baras’ ‘Sueños’, the work of
photographer Peter Müller after following one season
of the artist’s tour. Moreover, it is accompanied by
a DVD with the ‘making of’ the book.
There are also several books published with the flamenco
work of certain photographers with prolonged careers in the
genre. ‘Caballeros flamencos’ by Paco Manzano,
‘Sinmisterios del flamenco’ by Steve Khan and
Colita (with his famous photos of Carmen
Amaya), ‘El color del baile flamenco’ by Paco
Sánchez and ‘Flamenco’ by Alberto Schommer
are just a few examples of these graphic books.
The spread of flamenco both inside and beyond Spain has also
made it necessary to publish geographical guides.
‘Dónde está el flamenco?’, with
texts by Silvia Calado, the Contents Editor of Flamenco-world.com,
tries to orient enthusiasts, professionals and the curious
about where to find places where they can see live flamenco,
learn it, buy products... Besides being international, the
edition is bilingual English-Spanish. A few years ago Junta
de Andalucía also published in three versions –
Spanish, English and Japanese – a flamenco guide exclusively
about Andalusia, with information not only on places, history
and personages, but also about flamenco styles, so it is accompanied
by two CDs specifically recorded with an educational tone.
The guide to flamenco names par excellence is ‘Guía
libre del flamenco’, a practical tool in which the biographies
of the main stars of today’s flamenco are presented
in alphabetical order.
Since the publication of the book ‘Flamencología’
by Anselmo González Climent in 1955, there has been
non-stop research from every scientific discipline of the
field of humanities. And that has been feeding a library of
essays, from which we will highlight the titles with the best
availability, since as most of them are printed by public
organizations, the distribution is not as continuous as could
be desired.
There are published titles on the first theories about flamenco
(which currently have to be relativized) such as ‘El
flamenco y su raíz’ by Arcadio Larrea Palacín
and ‘Teoría romántica del cante flamenco’
by Luis Lavaur. Later on, Ricardo Molina and cantaor Antonio
Mairena abounded in the gypsy current, bringing out the books
‘Mundo y formas del flamenco’ and ‘Cartas
de Ricardo Molina a Anselmo González Climent’.
And also available once again is the only book in English
theorizing on the origins of flamenco, a work written by D.
E. Pohren, an enthusiast fascinated by the flamenco ambience
which, protected by the U.S. military base in Morón,
was created in the ’60s in said town near Seville. His
theories, though arguable, have boosted the following of the
American audience .
Arising from the Andalusian university sphere is the anthropological
research of Dr. Cristina Cruces Roldán, as well as
‘El flamenco y los románticos’ by Rocío
Plaza Orellana. Approaching flamenco from Sociology in several
examples of research is Gerard Steingress, author of books
such as the out-of-print ‘Flamenco y Flamencología’
and another which has just come out recently, the tracking
of the rapid internationalization of flamenco ‘Y Carmen
se fue a París’.
There are also regional researchers who have focused their
studies on the idiosyncrasy of flamenco at specific points
on the map. José Blas Vega has delved into the era
of ‘Los cafés cantantes de Sevilla’ as
well as the history of flamenco in Madrid. Writer Fernando
Quiñones specialized in the forms flamenco took in
a land as unique as Cádiz. And Pive Amador traced an
international route through places where deep-roots music
has been born, which includes flamenco places like Jerez,
Seville, Cádiz and Madrid. Also fitting in this analysis
according to the map are works such as ‘Mujeres malagueñas
en el flamenco’; and ‘El flamenco: otra cultura,
otra estética. Testimonio de la prensa murciana del
siglo XIX’, a summary of press clippings from the region
of Murcia referring to old-time flamenco.
To date, nearly all the literature about flamenco has been
published in Spanish. These are the books available in English;
the essay by Pohren and a couple of guides with historical
and practical information:
One exception must be situated beyond all the other categories,
the comic ‘Flamenco’ by Zentner and Santos de
Veracruz. There is a precedent currently out of print, ‘Macandé’
by Felipe Hernández Cava and Laura Pérez.
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