In Focus - Discover Spain: Experience the Best of Spain - page 592

Flamenco Resources
• » Flama ( www.guiaflama.com ) Good for upcoming live concerts.
• » Duende (Jason Webster) The author's gripping search for the true flamenco spirit.
• » Camarón (Director Jaime Chávarri; 2005) A terrific biopic of El Camarón de la Isla.
• » Bodas de Sangre (1981) and Flamenco (1995) These two Carlos Saura films are
flamenco classics; the former is a film version of Federico García Lorca's dramatic play of
the same name.
No one is quite sure where flamenco came from, although it probably owes its ori-
gins to a mosaic of ancient sources. Songs brought to Spain by the gitanos (Roma
people) were almost certainly part of the mix, wedded to the music and verses of
medieval Muslim Andalucía. Some historians argue that the Byzantine chant used
in Visigothic churches prior to the Muslim arrival also played its part.
Wherever it came from, flamenco first took recognisable form in the late-18th and
early 19th centuries among gitanos in the lower Guadalquivir Valley in western An-
dalucía. Suitably, for a place considered the cradle of the genre, the Seville-Jerez
de la Frontera-Cádiz axis is still considered flamenco's heartland and it's here, pur-
ists believe, that you must go for the most authentic flamenco experience. Early fla-
menco was cante jondo (deep song), an anguished form of expression for a people
on the margins of society. Jondura (depth) is still the essence of flamenco.
Modern Flamenco Legends
All flamenco performers aspire to the fame
enjoyed by Manuel Torre (1878-1933);
Torre's singing, legend has it, could drive
people to rip their shirts open and upturn
tables. One man who undoubtedly achieved
this aim was El Camarón de la Isla (whose
real name was José Monge Cruz) from San Fernando near Cádiz. El Camarón's in-
credible vocal and emotional range and his wayward lifestyle made him a legend
well before his tragically early death in 1992 at the age of 42. As his great guitar ac-