Social Meaning in the Voice of Flamenco Cantaora Carmen Linares Jonathan Shold Bowling Green State University
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“Con tu voz:” Social Meaning in the Voice of Flamenco Cantaora Carmen Linares Jonathan Shold Bowling Green State University “Ms. Linares’s voice has the gritty quality one hears in blues singing, in Portuguese fado and in some Middle Eastern forms. It is not beautiful in the operatic sense, but its expressive power is extraordinary.”—Allan Kozinn, New York Times Critic, 1997 (Kozinn) Carmen Linares is arguably the most important singer active in the world of ! amenco today. Born in 1951 in the town of Linares, in Eastern Andalusia, Carmen Linares (Mari Carmen Pacheco Rodríguez) has been pursuing her career in ! amenco cante ( singing ) since her childhood. # e daughter of a ! amenco guitarist, young Linares was o$ en escorted by her father to attend ! amenco recitals (Chuse, “Anda Jaleo” 140). In addition to being one of the % rst ! amenco artists to perform at the Lincoln Center (singing de Falla’s “El Amor Brujo” with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra), Linares also currently has eight studio albums to her name. Of particular note is her Antología de la Mujer en el Cante (1996), the % rst album of its kind to compile music composed or sung by cantaoras ( female singers ) (Chuse, Cantaoras 136). Her newest album, Raíces y alas (2008), was awarded “Best Flamenco Album” in the thirteenth edition of the Spanish Premios de la música (2009) and was a candidate for the 2009 Latin Grammys (Linares, “Discography”). Comprised entirely of settings of poetry by Juan Ramón Jiménez, Raíces y alas channels together the art forms of poetry and song in the medium of Linares’s voice. When Jimenez’s thought-provoking poetry is yoked with Linares’s expressive vocal power, the resulting creative synthesis justi% es Linares’s estimation of cante as “la madre del ! amenco” (Chuse, Cantaoras 31). # is general privilege that Linares a+ ords to cante is signi% cant for several reasons. Since ! amenco music originally consisted of unaccompanied voice, in one sense cante is granted a birthright by being the % rstborn of the traditional ! amenco trio (consisting of cante , toque [ guitar ] and baile [ dance ]). At a deeper level, however, the human tendency to empathize with the sound of the human voice provides the ! amenco cantaor (a) with an immediate avenue for expressive communication with the audience. While the instrumental toque unquestionably plays an important role in ! amenco, both generally and in Raíces y alas speci% cally, it is the sound of Linares’s voice which serves as the main transmitter of social meaning in this particular album. Divergencias. Revista de estudios lingüísticos y literarios . Volumen 8, número 2, invierno 2010 4 Jonathan Shold Linares utilizes her vocal expressive 1860s, around which time it served as a public capabilities in a unique way on the ! nal track form of entertainment in Andalusia in the café of Raíces y alas , “Con tu voz.” Of the ten tracks cantante . In addition to % amenco performers in Raíces y alas , only “Con tu voz” is sung receiving stable salaries for the ! rst time from completely unaccompanied, a salute to the roots wealthy patrons, the café cantante era saw of cante which draws special attention to the the addition of both guitar accompaniment track. " e text of the song is a juxtaposition of and dance to the originally unaccompanied two discrete poems by Jiménez, “Clavo débil, % amenco cante , as well as the participation of clavo fuerte” and “Cuando esté con las raíces.” non-gypsy performers (Chuse, Cantaoras 44- In Linares’s song “Con tu voz,” the two poems 45). Although the popularity of % amenco grew by Jiménez are placed back-to-back as follows: along with its commercialization, the demands of its patrons also necessarily caused % amenco to Clavo débil, clavo fuerte… evolve from its original form as unaccompanied Alma mía, ¡qué más da! song; increased commercialization in the Fuera cual fuera la suerte, twentieth century furthered what % amenco 1 el cuadro se caerá. purists considered the “adulteration” of the style. Beginning in the 1920s, % amenco found a Cuando esté con las raíces voice in the theater in what became known as llámame tú con tu voz. Me parecerá que entra opera " amenca , in which traditional % amenco temblando la luz del sol. (quoted in song styles were mixed with popular songs from Torrón 59) 2 Spain and Latin America (Chuse, Cantaoras 46). At the same time, Spanish intellectuals Of the song “Con tu voz,” Linares believes that sought to counteract the “prostitution” of “it’s purer, it’s the most traditional, the most % amenco to commercialization through a return % amenco on the album. It’s a very serious note to the “true” roots of cante jondo (“deep song,” to end [on]” (Castillo, “Track by Track”). At the most serious and profound type of cante ), a glance, Linares’s comments on the purity of a movement typi! ed in the Concurso de cante “Con tu voz” seem to lend the track a credibility jondo , held in Granada in 1922. " is movement of vocal style not attributed to other numbers towards % amenco “purism” was spearheaded on the CD. Given the current controversy by such notable ! gures as composer Manuel surrounding authenticity in % amenco in general de Falla (1876-1946) and poet Federico García (and in cante in particular), however, a brief Lorca (1898-1936), who sought to portray overview of the history of % amenco is necessary a romanticized cante jondo as the essence of in order to interpret Linares’s remarks on the Andalusia (Chuse, Cantaoras 46). “authenticity” of her vocal style in “Con tu voz.” " e question of “authenticity” in % amenco Flamenco scholar Loren Chuse traces the singing becomes signi! cantly more complex roots of % amenco song most immediately to the during the reign of the right-winged dictator nineteenth century, during which time gypsies Francisco Franco (1892-1975; in power 1939- in Andalusia would gather together at intimate 1975). Following the Spanish Civil War (1936- parties and sing ( Cantaoras 44). Flamenco truly 1939), Franco ideologically assented to the became an “established” musical style in the conservative and purist approach to % amenco 5 Divergencias. Revista de estudios lingüísticos y literarios . Volumen 8, número 2, invierno 2010 initiated by Spanish intellectuals in the early images of femininity, however, a trend towards 1920s, although Franco’s concern for ! amenco ! amenco purism began germinating anew in the was far from being rooted in aesthetics. In an late 1950s. In particular, the reinstitution of the attempt to portray Spain as a culturally uni" ed cante jondo contest/festival at Córdoba in 1956 and homogenous nation, Franco constructed a and the creation of the " rst ! amencology chair new Spanish identity solely around Castilian and in 1957 in Jerez resulted in a new generation of Andalusian culture (Pérez-Villalba 151). $ us, ! amenco performers and “purist” connoisseurs the Andalusian-born ! amenco was chosen to (Katz). Importantly, the purist aesthetic of become the “music of Spain” (Chuse, Cantaoras early “! amencology” stills exhibits of a degree 46). Ironically, although Franco’s means of of hegemony today over more liberal styles, portraying ! amenco as the voice of ancient particularly those catering to tourists. Spain aligned with the means of ! amenco $ e strand of purism persisting in the purists, Franco’s end of increasing tourism stood ! amenco discourse today would imaginably be in stark relief to the purists’ desires of achieving at odds with numerous elements of Linares’s an authentic musical voice. album Raíces y alas . Manuel Moraga raises this At the same time that Franco sought to issue in his 2008 interview with Linares by export ! amenco to tourists, the (theoretical) asking her how she managed the inherent risk importance that Franco placed on Catholicism of doing justice to neither Jiménez’s poetry nor and traditional family values resulted in the the “! amenco-like” music through the merging marginalized role of women in ! amenco. of the two. Linares candidly responds that the Although women had " gured somewhat intention of Juan Carlos Romero (guitarist for prominently as singers, dancers, and guitarists and composer of the album’s music) was not since the era of the café cantante (Chuse, to force Jiménez’s poetry into preconceived Cantaoras 45), they were virtually excluded ! amenco frameworks, but rather to allow the from ! amenco during Franco’s reign under demands of each individual poem to dictate the the ideological premise that it was shameful musical ! avor of each song. On the deferment for women to be active in the public sphere. of music to text in Raíces y alas , Linares remarks $ ose women who did participate in ! amenco that the album is during the Franco regime were o% en presented as matriarchal " gures, devoid of any traces of made by a professional who loves threatening sexual power (Chuse, Cantaoras fl amenco and loves poetry, and he [Juan 108). $ e role of women in ! amenco during Carlos Romero] went over to Juan Franco’s rule thus represents a con! ict of political Ramón [Jiménez]’s territory, never thinking Juan Ramón would come to ideology: although a lascivious gitana " gure (as fl amenco.… I’m very satisfi ed with depicted in Bizet’s 1875 opera Carmen ) would this work. If the purists don’t like it, have portrayed Spain as an exotic destination for I’m terribly sorry, but what I want is tourists, this image simultaneously con! icted when people hear the record they see with the conservative Spanish ideal of the it has coherence, feeling and concept. woman as the angel del hogar . (Moraga) Amidst the ideological frictions that arose between commercialism and conservative 6 Jonathan Shold Some of the surface elements of Raíces y alas understanding of how meaning and identity are that ! amenco “purists” might not care for could created in and conveyed through Linares’s voice.