Ben Nafí (Ziryab), a court musician from Baghdad employed during the caliphate in Cordoba of Abderraman II (822-852 ac), is often mentioned. It also possesses Syrian and Persian influences. The Black Bird was a subject of study for investigators and an inspiration for artists. In fact, Paco de Lucia dedicated his album “Ziryab” (1990) to the Black Bird.
The Arabic domination over Al-Andalus (711-1492) implanted in the region many political, social and economic changes as well as innovations in science and art and generally new ways of living. After more than seven centuries of cohabitation, its influence on the music could not be a coincidence. A clear example of this can be found in the parallel between the modulations and the melismas of flamenco such as tonas and seguiriyas and the Muslim praying calls as well as the rhythm from both banks.
A gradual political dismembering of the arabic-andalusian territories opens its doors to the Christian kingdoms of the north of the Peninsula, offering its rich cultural crucible. Starting the castilianization process in 1236, the year in which Cordoba is conquered and ended the Reconquest in 1492 with the taking of Granada. Although it is a general belief that "Castilla became more Andalusian than Andalusia did Castilian", from the 15th century onwards other cultural ways had free access adding more shades to the musical repertoire of a dying Al-Andalus. The metrics from many coplas, taken from Castilian romances, and seguidillas keep the legacy and even the rhythmic pattern found in the different styles of flamenco.
The interconnection between both sides of the border was nothing new; in fact, Christianity had always been present in Al-Andalus. Testimonials of this coexistence are the zejel and the mozarabic jarcha, defined by the dictionary of the Real Academia Española de la Lengua, as "traditional song, often a ballad, with which from Andalusia, Arabs or Hebrew poets ended their moaxajas (poetic compositions)".
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The trace of flamenco dilutes in the three centuries that followed, during which Seville became the uproaring epicenter of European business, having been the entry point of America, , later passing on this duty to Cadiz. The close communications between both sides of the Atlantic not only enable the overseas commerce but also served as a channel for cultural exchange. This initiates an onwards trip taken by cantes and dancing expressions from Andalusia that, after going through a native and half-caste (thus African) sieve, would then bring back guajiras, milongas, colombianas, rumbas, vidalitas.... All of which were then made popular at the beginning of the 20th century by outstanding flamenco singers of the time.
The little written evidence found in folklore from Andalusia during this dilated period lies scattered around the Spanish literature of the 16th and 18th centuries. "La Gitanilla", one of the stories in the "Novelas Ejemplares " (1613) by Miguel de Cervantes, portrays "Preciosa", who although having a minstrel's touch, could nevertheless be defined as the prototype of the flamenco's bailaora and cantaora.
The "Cartas Marruecas" from José Cadalso brings, in the second half of the 18th century, something many scholars consider as the first written testimony about flamenco.
Although ignored by theoreticians, it is also worth reviewing the work of Juan Antonio de Iza Zamacola from Biscay, servant of José I, and published in 1788 entitled "Colección de las mejores coplas de Seguidillas, Tiranas y Polos que se han compuesto para cantar en la guitarra". The consanguineous relationship between flamenco and Spanish folklore is then sealed.
The precise moment flamenco becomes a profession gets lost in this undocumented abyss. The first registered proper name is that of Tío Luis el de la Juliana, cantaor whose existence cannot be proven. We would have to wait until well into the 18th century to even find a trace of the first flamenco professionals. From El Planeta, a cantaor from Cadiz who developed his career through tonás and seguiriyas in the borough of Triana in Seville, the history somehow becomes clearer. Always from the same triangle Seville-Jerez-Cadiz, emerges names such as El Fillo (pupil of El Planeta), Juan de Dios, Paco la Luz, La Andonda, Loco Mateo, Curro Durse, singing (al cante); La Candelaria, La Campanera, La Perla, El Xerezano, Miracielos, dancing (al baile); Colirón, as a guitarist (a la
The appearance of proper documentation clarifies the history of flamenco from the 19th century onwards; this date is, just to simplify matters, considered by many as it’s beginning. Newspapers of the time together with the observant eye of the romantic travelers are responsible from finally banishing all guesswork. "El Porvenir", "La Andalucía", "El Cronista", "El Español", "El Noticiero Sevillano", Charles Davillier, Teófilo Gautier, Richard Ford, Alejandro Dumas and George Brown.
Responding to the exotic call imposed by the romanticism, many European travelers dived into the entrails of Andalusia in a century that begins historically with the Guerra de la Independencia (the Spanish Independence War) and the approval in 1812, of the first Spanish Constitution in the Courts of Cadiz and ends with some unsuccessful attempts of industrialization and the loud '98 crisis. People meanwhile alleviated their sorrows with their own cantes and their own dances. In 1831, Serafín Estébanez Calderón, romantic author from Malaga, in his passage entitled "Un baile en Triana", taken from his work "Escenas Andaluzas" that narrates his assistance to a party in which he saw El Planeta performing. El Planeta is one of the first known professional flamenco singers. George Borrow publishes in England in 1841 "Zincali, gypsies of Spain", one of the titles of his bibliography that derived from his adventures in Andalusia. "Viaje por España" from Charles Davillier draws already, in 1862, the dances performed by the village people (la gente del pueblo) celebrated at the light of an oil lamp, in courtyards or pubs. The list of testimonials, most of them foreign, is vast .
The daily nineteenth-century occurrence remained molded in the press of the period, from which scholars of flamenco have extracted chronicles of parties and shows, dancing academies' programs, advertisements. One of these first cuttings is the one that José Luis Ortiz Nuevo recovers from "El Porvenir" (14th July 1850) that reads: "The academy of Don Miguel Barrera, situated on Tarifa Street, is one of the most famous choreographic
Now we are talking. With documents in our hands, a premature flamenco was gestated in the evenings of the neighboring courtyards (patios de vecinos), in botillerías (a kind of off-license) and in ventorros. With the light of an oil lamp, flamenco would be hand on hand with other folklore dancing, not only from Andalusia, but also Spanish, through the school of "bolera". Triana appears already described as the epicenter of this danced pre-flamenco with localized points such the "botillería del Tío Miñarro". Polo and toná were sung while the zorongo, the rondeña, the zapateao, and the jaleos were danced. These different types of dance were taught in academies that doubled as early exhibition halls focused mainly on Tourism. Manuel de la Barrera and Luis Botella managed two of the most prestigious halls existing at the time in Seville.
Soon, another space was beginning to compete with the hall; the singing cafe. The first one known is that of Los Lombardos, that opens in Seville in 1847. According to Ángel Álvarez Caballero in the "El baile flamenco" these places gave a definite push to the jondo, because the show was used as an attraction around which all the business wasgenerated. Furthermore, due to the competition, there was pressure to offer a better show than the competitors to attract the most number of customers. Although it is a fact that flamenco’s Golden Age was forged within these premises, the idyllic image of the singing cafe has become clearer through investigation. Along with Flamenco developed prostitution, violence and a squalid side to it as well that clouded its curriculum.
Although insulted by some as the person that prostituted the dark legacy, inside the family bosom of the people of Andalusia, the history of flamenco could not be written without Silverio Franconetti. As a child he fell in love with flamenco listening to El Fillo in Morón de la Frontera, resulting in him abandoning his job as a tailor and devoting his life to the promotion of flamenco. After a strange eight-year gap in South America, he then traveled through the Spanish stages showing what he had learned in the fraguas (taverns) until finally he became the programmer from his own cafe in Seville. This was one more site for the development of singing contests involving Siverio Franconetti, Tomás el Nitri and Juan Breva.
Tomás el Nitri, El Fillo's nephew, was the first flamenco singer to receive the "Llave de oro del cante" award. There are many versions of the award ceremony. The most accepted is that a group of flamenco enthusiasts awarded it in 1868 in Malaga's Cafe Sin Techo, although the theory that it was awarded in a party of cabales in Jerez de la Frontera (Cadiz) circulates as well. The only sure proof of this event is a photograph of the artist holding the precious object. Along its history, the key has been a bone of contention and its award ceremony has always been surrounded by rather extravagant circumstances; beginning in 1926 when it was given to Manuel Vallejo, in 1962 when Antonio Mairena received it or in the year 2000 when it was posthumously conceded to Camarón.
At the end of the 14th century, everything becomes clearer. The invention by Thomas Edison of the phonograph has a great impact on flamenco. With the intention of internationally promoting the machine, native music from many parts of the world is then recorded, amongst which, flamenco is included. The first recordings were made in Cadiz and Seville, both in quality and quantity. The daily "El Noticiero Sevillano" tells about the first recording dated the 22nd of November 1895. Juan Breva was amongst the first singers (cantaores) to leave a testimony of his cante in wax cylinders. Antonio Chacón, Cagancho, Niño de Cabra, Paca Aguilera, Revuelta, Paco el de Montilla or El Mochuelo also recorded this way.
Flamenco, already as a profession, took little time to trespass the borders of Andalusia. There are records of some flamenco parties in Madrid, dated around the middle of the 19th century, involving recognized personalities such as Juan de Dios, Luis Alonso, some bailaoras beginning to excel and the very own Silverio. The epicenters would be two: first, the botillerías situated on the way to Toledo, from the Plaza Mayor; and the area around the Plaza de Santa Ana, with grocer's shops and singing cafes still standing like Los Gabrieles or Villa Rosa, both opened at the beginning for the 20th century.
By the end of the century the Court's taste for flamenco develops to the extent that part of the intellectuals of 1898 begins a campaign against flamenco that even arouses an interest in the neighboring France.
As a reaction to the attitude of the poets of the end of the 19th century, the next generation took flamenco as a muse, since their principles strongly dictated the recovery of the artistic popular heritage. Rafael Alberti, Gerardo Diego, Vicente Alexandre, Jorge Guillén, Pedro Salinasand Ferderico García Lorca. Especially Lorca, the author of the "Romancero Gitano" and the piano recording of the popular Spanish songs repertoire with the help of the artist La Argentinita were popular. The work of this poet, who was executed shortly after Franco's coup d'etat, remains to date a source of regular inspiration to flamenco's cante and baile.
It was precisely Federico García Lorca together with the composer Manuel de Falla (who was at the time experimenting a process in his music parallel tothe poets) and other artists from various disciplines who gathered in the Centro Artístico y Literario of Granada to organize the 1st Cante Jondo contest. The event had as its major objective to revalue the cante jondo, which was already considered as being contaminated and in decline. It took place in the evenings of the 13th and 14th of June 1922 in Granada's Albaicín, sponsored by the Council and with Antonio Chacón as the president of the jury. Contestants competed for a prize of 8,500 pesetas. The winners were Diego Bermúdez (El Tenazas) and Manolo Caracol; obtaining secondary prizes Carmen Salinas, José Soler, Frasquito Yerbagüena and others of less value were given to La Gazpacha, Conchita Sierra y La Goyita. Winning guitar players were José Cuéllar and Niño de Huelva.
The process of adaptation required by the new theatrical format also means that guitar emancipates as a soloist instrument instead of being submitted to the needs of the cante and the baile. The phenomenon is leaded by Ramón Montoya, Manolo de Huelva, Javier Molina, Miguel Borrull, Niño Ricardo, Sabicas.