50 Fun Facts About Flamenco

Flamenco developed within the gitano subculture of which Spanish region?

It also has a historical presence in Extremadura and Murcia, but its style is uniquely Andalusian.

In 2010, UNESCO added flamenco to which list?

The declaration came on 16 November 2010, more than two centuries after the first written record of flamenco music in 1774.

What is the oldest written record of flamenco music?

The Moroccan Letters were published decades before the word flamenco was applied to the music genre in an 1847 newspaper article.

Historically, the Spanish word "flamenco" was used to identify which group of people?

The English traveller George Borrow reported in the 1830s that gitanos were also called Flemish, apparently because German and Flemish were confused.

What are the individual styles or forms of flamenco called?

There are more than 50 of them, classified by rhythm, mode, chord progression, stanza form and where they came from.

What is the most serious, deepest class of flamenco song called?

The name means "deep song", spelled with a J to reflect the aspirated H of Andalusian pronunciation.

What is the Spanish word for the rhythmic cycle or metre that is fundamental to flamenco?

If no guitarist is available it is kept by hand-clapping or by rapping knuckles on a table.

How many beats make up the flamenco cycle shared by soleá, seguiriya and bulería?

The 12-beat cycle is usually rendered as 6/8 plus 3/4, and its accents fall differently in each palo.

Which fast palo, born among the Calé Romani of Jerez, typically ends a flamenco gathering?

It began as a quick, upbeat finish to soleares or alegrías and is often accompanied by vigorous dancing and tapping.

The alegrías are thought to derive from the jota of which Spanish region?

The jota took root in Cádiz during the Peninsular War, which is why classic alegrías lyrics mention the Virgen del Pilar and the Ebro river.

The guajira palo grew out of cultural exchange between Spain and which country?

It is a cheerful, elegant style, and its danced version uses a fan as a stage prop.

Which palo is sometimes called the "mother of palos"?

The title is honorary rather than historical: siguiriyas are actually older, and the fandango family has a different origin.

Which chord sequence, in E played as Am–G–F–E, is known as the Andalusian cadence?

Guitarist Manolo Sanlúcar treats E as the tonic and F as the dominant in this modified Phrygian progression.

Which musical mode underlies most flamenco harmony?

The so-called flamenco mode is the Phrygian, or a version of it with a major third, heard in soleá, siguiriyas, tangos and tientos.

What are the guitar interludes between sung verses called?

The guitarist also opens each piece with a short introduction that sets the tonality, compás and tempo for the singer.

What is a flamenco singer called?

The word drops the intervocalic D of cantador, a feature of the Andalusian dialect; the dancer is a bailaor and the guitarist a tocaor.

What is the name of the venue where flamenco shows are performed, from the word for floorboard?

Tablaos spread across Spain in the 1960s, replacing the cafés cantantes, and the word also means the wooden platform the dancer performs on.

Who opened the first flamenco singer café in Seville in 1881?

The competitive atmosphere of his café produced the professional cantaor and helped shape the genre's technique.

What is the mysterious, ineffable charm or spirit that great flamenco performances are said to have?

Lorca defined it in a famous lecture with Goethe's words: a mysterious power that everyone feels and no philosopher explains.

Which poet and which composer organised the 1922 deep-song contest in Granada?

Only amateurs could enter; the winners were a retired singer called El Tenazas and an eight-year-old who became Manolo Caracol.

An eight-year-old winner of the 1922 Granada contest grew up to be which flamenco great?

The jury was chaired by Antonio Chacón, then the leading figure in cante, and the whole contest was later judged a failure.

Between 1920 and 1955, why were flamenco shows in theatres and bullrings billed as "flamenco opera"?

Opera was taxed at 3% while variety shows paid 10%, so promoters simply relabelled the shows.

Where was the first academic chair of flamencology founded in 1958?

It followed the 1955 essay Flamencología by the Argentine Anselmo González Climent, which coined the term.

What are the three traditional colours associated with flamenco?

The frilly spotted dresses that tourists associate with flamenco actually come from the outfits worn for sevillanas at Seville's annual Feria.

Which guitarist, born Francisco Sánchez Gómez in Algeciras, became flamenco's most celebrated player?

He took his stage name from his Portuguese mother, Lúcia, because there were too many Pacos in the streets of Algeciras.

"Entre dos aguas", Paco de Lucía's best-known piece, refers to what?

The rumba, with bongos and electric bass, appeared on the album Fuente y caudal.

Which two guitarists joined Paco de Lucía on the 1981 live album Friday Night in San Francisco?

Larry Coryell had been the third member of the original Guitar Trio in 1979 before Di Meola replaced him.

Paco de Lucía could not read music until he was asked to record which classical work in 1991?

He said he had never studied harmony and lacked the discipline; playing with McLaughlin and Di Meola was how he learned.

The cajón, now standard in flamenco, was originally an instrument from which country?

It was developed by enslaved Africans in coastal Peru, and Paco de Lucía's sextet brought it into flamenco with percussionist Rubem Dantas.

Which percussionist in Paco de Lucía's sextet devised the flamenco way of playing the cajón?

The box drum then crossed over into tango and rumba, largely thanks to the album Sólo quiero caminar.

Where did Paco de Lucía die of a heart attack in 2014?

He had won the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 2004 and by then gave only a handful of concerts a year.

Why was singer José Monje Cruz nicknamed Camarón ("shrimp")?

His uncle gave him the name; "de la Isla" refers to his birthplace, San Fernando, known as La Isla.

Which guitarist accompanied Camarón de la Isla for the last two decades of the singer's career?

Their live album Paris 87 won a Latin Grammy in 2000, eight years after Camarón's death from lung cancer.

Which London ensemble backed Camarón de la Isla on his 1989 album Soy Gitano?

It was a rare case of full orchestral production applied to a major flamenco singer rather than to guitar or dance.

Which award, given only five times, is the most important prize in flamenco singing?

Its winners are Tomás el Nitri, Manuel Vallejo, Antonio Mairena, Camarón de la Isla and Fosforito.

Dancer Carmen Amaya, "La Capitana", was born in the Somorrostro district of which city?

She sometimes danced in high-waisted trousers as a symbol of her strong character and met Franklin Roosevelt on a US tour.

What garment did Carmen Amaya sometimes dance in as a symbol of her strong character?

Guitarist Sabicas left Spain with her during the Civil War and later settled in New York.

Which flamenco dancer co-founded the Ballet Nacional de España in 1978 and made Carmen and Blood Wedding with Saura?

A committed communist, he received Cuba's Order of José Martí from Fidel Castro weeks before his death, and his ashes rest in Santiago de Cuba.

Which Córdoba-born dancer's 1995 show Pasión Gitana (Gypsy Passion) made him a global star?

That same year he appeared in Almodóvar's The Flower of My Secret and Saura's film Flamenco, and he was linked with Naomi Campbell.

Dancer Sara Baras and singer Camarón de la Isla were both born in which Cádiz-province town?

Baras began her dance studies at her mother Concha's school there before founding her own company.

Which Granada singer's 1996 album Omega fused flamenco with Lagartija Nick and Leonard Cohen songs?

Cohen returned the compliment: his posthumous poetry collection The Flame includes a "Homage to Morente".

Rosalía's 2018 album El mal querer reimagined flamenco with pop and hip-hop; what else was it?

It spawned Malamente and later won the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year and a place on Rolling Stone's 500 greatest albums list.

The 20th century's most important woman flamenco singer, Pastora Pavón, was known by what nickname?

The Girl of the Combs came from a tangos verse she sang; she disliked the name and never learned to read or write.

Castanets take their Spanish name, castañuelas, from their resemblance to what?

They are traditionally carved from chestnut hardwood, and a player normally uses two pairs pitched slightly differently.

Which US city is considered the "Center of the Nation" for flamenco?

María Benítez's 37 years of sold-out summer seasons built the scene, which now has three major flamenco centres.

Ramón Montoya's rondeña, in C-sharp with scordatura, was notable as what?

Modern guitarists have since extended the range of tonalities, chord positions and retunings far beyond the traditional two shapes.

Which conservatory says it added flamenco guitar to its curriculum in 1985, before formal studies in Spain?

The Dutch school describes flamenco as a modal, rhythmically complex tradition shaped by Romani, Andalusian and North African communities.

Which Spanish king's 1783 decree substantially improved the legal situation of the gitanos?

After centuries of persecution the pragmatics was a turning point for the community in which flamenco was taking shape.

Which singer took flamenco global in the early 1970s, replacing the bata de cola with evening gowns?

She was renowned for her Fandangos de Huelva and alegrías and toured with guitarists Enrique de Melchor and Tomatito.

How is the compás kept if no guitarist is available at a flamenco gathering?

Flamenco's twelve-beat cycle is unique to the form, alongside binary and ternary measures.