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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2018 Duende: Illuminating the Untranslatable David Williams Cobb Follow this and additional works at the DigiNole: FSU's Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC DUENDE: ILLUMINATING THE UNTRANSLATABLE By DAVID W. COBB A Thesis submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Music 2018 David W. Cobb defended this thesis on April 11, 2018. The members of the supervisory committee were: Frank Gunderson Professor Directing Thesis Michael B. Bakan Committee Member Aimee Boutin Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university requirements ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to thank the women in my life, Paula, Arden, and Maya, whose unflagging support has gotten me through this program. I would like to think the inimitable Dr. Frank Gunderson for his wonderful guidance and encouragement. I also want to thank my other committee members, Dr. Michael Bakan and Dr. Aimee Boutin, and all of the excellent faculty of musicology at Florida State University. Lastly, I want to thank those who have participated in this thesis. There are Spaniards from multiple generations that have grown up with flamenco in their ears and blood. There are Cubans who learned flamenco on their native island and brought their passion with them to Miami. There is an Eastern European guitarist who fell in love with flamenco on a family vacation in Spain. There are Americans with no roots in Spain that have come under the spell of flamenco, each in their own way. These performers have subjugated themselves to the rigorous practice and study of flamenco, and play it not for riches and fame but for their love of the music. I hope to capture a sense of their dedication in this thesis. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS NOTES ON ORTHOGRAPHY AND ITALICIZED TERMS .................................................... vi Abstract .................................................................................................................................... vii 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 Purpose ................................................................................................................ 1 Theoretical Approach and Methodology .............................................................. 3 Review of Literature ............................................................................................ 6 Stance .................................................................................................................. 8 Chapter Summary ................................................................................................ 9 2. LOS RAICES DEL FLAMENCO Y DUENDE (THE ROOTS OF FLAMENCO AND DUENDE) ..................................................................................................................... 12 Flamenco History .............................................................................................. 12 Federico Garcia Lorca and Duende .................................................................... 16 An Analysis of Juega y Teoria del Duende ........................................................ 20 Duende, Juerga, and Trance .............................................................................. 24 Duende and Tarab ............................................................................................. 27 Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 29 3. ESO TIENE MUCHO DUENDE: THE AUTHOR’S EXPERIENCE ............................. 31 Historical Interlude: Nuevo Flamenco ................................................................ 31 Field Note: 6/6/2017 .......................................................................................... 32 Field Note: 6/16/2017 ........................................................................................ 34 A Textual Investigation of Duende..................................................................... 35 Music and the Performer’s Body ........................................................................ 39 4. FLOW ........................................................................................................................... 48 Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi and the Psychology of Optimal Experience ................ 48 Characteristics of Flow ...................................................................................... 50 Flow Methodology............................................................................................. 51 Flow and Music ................................................................................................. 53 5. AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF DUENDE ............................................................................ 57 Duende Con Mis Hermanos ............................................................................... 57 Paco Fernandez and Siempre Flamenco ............................................................. 64 Elementos .......................................................................................................... 72 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 77 6. CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................... 80 Lorquian Duende ............................................................................................... 80 The Physiology and Psychology of Duende ....................................................... 81 Duende as Emotive Performance ....................................................................... 83 A Theory of Deep Playing ................................................................................. 84 iv APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................... 89 A. HUMAN SUBJECTS COMMITTEE APPROVAL ................................................. 89 B. EXPRESSIONS USED IN JALEO .......................................................................... 90 C. INTERVIEWS ........................................................................................................ 91 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................... 92 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ..................................................................................................... 97 v NOTE ON ORTHOGRAPHY AND ITALICIZED TERMS Spanish words will appear in italics regardless of frequency of use. Borrowing from Chuse, flamenco and cante jondo will appear in lower case, while Nuevo Flamenco will be capitalized. Notes on the Use of Gitano This thesis uses the term gitano exclusively to mean the Iberian Roma of Andalusia. This is in keeping with local provenance and usage. “Gipsy” being an older term in common usage is substituted for gitano only if it is directly quoting source material. According to ethnomusicologist Carol Silverman, Roma is the “in-group” term of the Romani rights movement, and includes the extant diaspora (Silverman, 48).1 Gitano speaks to the distinct identity and history of the Iberian Roma, and as evidenced in the Gipsy Kings song “Somos Gitanos,”2 “We are Gitanos,” it is the preferred epithet among the Iberian Roma. Notes on the use of “Cante Jondo” Cante jondo refers to a subset of flamenco repertoire known for its grave mood, and distinct from cantes chicas, light songs that are more divertissement than social ritual. This thesis uses cante jondo to mean the older styles of gitano flamenco, a la Federico Garcia Lorca. This use equivocates cante jondo with puro, the styles dubbed “pure” by the flamenco aficionados. 1 Carol Silverman, Romani Routes: Cultural Politics and Balkan Music in Diaspora (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 43. 2 Gipsy Kings, Somos Gitanos, CD (Columbia, 2001). vi ABSTRACT Duende has long been a fixture of the gitano lifescape in Andalusia, Spain, and is often invoked in relation to flamenco performance with such variance in meaning that it is difficult to attain an understanding of what duende really is, and more importantly, what it means to contemporary flamenco performers. The word is often portrayed in spiritual and poetic terms, which are evocative but imprecise in definition. This thesis seeks to construct an understanding of duende that is derived from both the traditional gitano setting and the modern context of commercial performance, one that explains the phenomenon through the lenses of ethnomusicological theories of embodiment, the psychology of optimal experience (flow), and the neuroscience of musical experience. As a by-product of coming to an understanding of duende, I have constructed a theory of deep playing, which intersects with these phenomena. Deep playing privileges the experience of the performer, and describes a processual phenomenon with specific conditions and variables, with the key indicators expressed by Autonomic Nervous System arousal, and the climax demonstrated through a flood of chemical neurotransmitters, creating a feeling of transcendence. vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Purpose

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