| Abstract |
This is a fully revised edition of the author's scholarly yet very accessible account of the contribution of the Gypsies of Andalusia to the development of flamenco. The author first visited Andalusia in the 1950s, when he was initiated into flamenco music through his guitar-playing. Historically, flamenco studies and research on the Gitanos--the Gypsies of Spain--have overlapped very little, but the author found himself ideally positioned to link the two hitherto separate fields. Thanks to a comparative study of the music of Andalusian Gypsies and of the Gypsies of central Europe, he has been able to perceive links which have proved indispensable in pinpointing the origins of flamenco. Previous theories about the relationship between Gypsies and music have often been wrongheaded. There is even a tendency among Andalusians to consider 'their' Gypsies as having nothing whatever in common with Gypsies elsewhere. By contrast, this book shows how the Gypsies first entered Spain in large numbers in the fifteenth century as part of the Gypsy diaspora from India. In spite of centuries of state-organised persecution aimed at eliminating them entirely, the Gypsies found a way of life in Andalusia which, whilst many of their defining characteristics were erased, managed to preserve their spirit in an entirely new musical form, flamenco. Flamenco resulted from the interaction of two musical cultures which occurred in those localities where, unlike in the rest of Spain, Gypsy families had become well integrated. The incomparable character of flamenco is almost certainly due to the extraordinary richness of the Andalusian heritage and its affinity with the Oriental traditions of the Gypsy people. This book celebrates the passion of flamenco and pays its respects to hundreds of flamenco artists, many of whom can trace their roots back to a network of families so closely interwoven that in the end they constitute a single entity. A new section gives substantial biographical notes on 200 great gitano flamenco artists. This, together with an expanded glossary and lists of CDs and videos, makes Gypsies and Flamenco an indispensable resource for flamenco enthusiasts. |
