Towards an Ethnomusicology of Contemporary Flamenco Guitar
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Rethinking Tradition: Towards an Ethnomusicology of Contemporary Flamenco Guitar NAME: Francisco Javier Bethencourt Llobet FULL TITLE AND SUBJECT Doctor of Philosophy. Doctorate in Music. OF DEGREE PROGRAMME: School of Arts and Cultures. SCHOOL: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Newcastle University. SUPERVISOR: Dr. Nanette De Jong / Dr. Ian Biddle WORD COUNT: 82.794 FIRST SUBMISSION (VIVA): March 2011 FINAL SUBMISSION (TWO HARD COPIES): November 2011 Abstract: This thesis consists of four chapters, an introduction and a conclusion. It asks the question as to how contemporary guitarists have negotiated the relationship between tradition and modernity. In particular, the thesis uses primary fieldwork materials to question some of the assumptions made in more ‘literary’ approaches to flamenco of so-called flamencología . In particular, the thesis critiques attitudes to so-called flamenco authenticity in that tradition by bringing the voices of contemporary guitarists to bear on questions of belonging, home, and displacement. The conclusion, drawing on the author’s own experiences of playing and teaching flamenco in the North East of England, examines some of the ways in which flamenco can generate new and lasting communities of affiliation to the flamenco tradition and aesthetic. Declaration: I hereby certify that the attached research paper is wholly my own work, and that all quotations from primary and secondary sources have been acknowledged. Signed: Francisco Javier Bethencourt LLobet Date: 23 th November 2011 i Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank all of my supervisors, even those who advised me when my second supervisor became head of the ICMuS: thank you Nanette de Jong, Ian Biddle, and Vic Gammon. I would especially like to thank Nanette de Jong for agreeing to be my new supervisor; thank you for believing in the work we have done together. Although we have been through difficult times due to health problems, she always helped me to see the end of the tunnel. Although we have worked on multiple versions together, sometimes even in the hospital, I have to say that the recent process of re- writing with Nanette de Jong and Ian Biddle has been the most useful part of the last six years. Thank you again, Nanette de Jong and Ian Biddle for the amount of work and faith you put in. Also, thank you to Helen Durrant for proofreading my work. I next must thank the flamenco musicians in Spain, for their time and knowledge: to Paco Cortés, Enrique Morente, Gerardo Núñez, Juan Manuel Cañizares, Tomatito and Vicente Amigo go my thanks for sharing with me many of their life experiences. I am grateful to the guitar makers from Granada, Daniel Gil de Avalle, Rafael Moreno, Juan Miguel Carmona and Manuel Bellido and sons (Jesús and Miguel Ángel); and to Manuel Reyes Madonado from Córdoba. Although an organological chapter about the contemporary guitar has not been included in this final version of my thesis, the knowledge and help of those dedicated artists and craftspeople is greatly appreciated. Also, thank you to José Manuel Gamboa, Miguel Ángel Berlanga, Norberto Torres, Diana Pérez Custodio, Javier Gonzales Martín and other Spanish collegues for the amount of feedback they gave and for sending their materials to Newcastle. Thank you to my uncle - Juan Bethencourt - for always being there and for accompanying me to conferences. I am grateful to Mary Adine Lambourne and to Lluís Lleó Oller Gallegos for opening your homes to me in Barcelona and my gratitude/dedication goes to Enrique Morente for his work and for making us part of his life inviting us to his house in Granada. Thanks too must go to Bersio Enrich and Nacho Gonzales for their photographs. Back in Newcastle, I would like to thank all members of the Newcastle Flamenco Collective, Flamenco del Norte, Electro-Flamenko and Proyecto Flamenco for putting all the ideas of this project into practice. It has been a pleasure to record, perform and travel with Mayte Beltran, Jeremy Bradfield, Sergio Camacho, Nuala ii Dalton, Dave de la Haye, Sarah French Davis, Mike Holmes, María Maragaki, María Martinez, Pete Morris, Isabel Muñoz, Javier Lopez León, Vanna Pacella, Brendan Rowley, John Pope, Mariley Reinoso Olivera, Alasdair Sherit, Chesco Sologuren, Carla Soto, Calum Stewart and Carolina Urrutia. Thanks also to Nik Barrera (! VAMOS ! Festival), Ruth O’rourke (Routes into Languages) and Culture Lab for their belief in the project. Thank you to Georgina Biddle, Clare Gill, and Steve Halsey from Newcastle Music Service and Vikas Kumar from Gem Arts collective for taking flamenco to the children in Newcastle and Gateshead schools. I would like to thank all collegues and friends who live in Newcastle, especially Richard Elliot and María Mata, Lars and Sinead Iyer, David and Laura Rose, Miguel and Steph Galindo, Gonzalo Galán and María Lopez, Tom and Mariley Astley, Aitor Díaz and so many more because without you all I do not know how I would have survived all those cold winters in Newcastle! Thank you for all your advice, for reading my work and for the lovely meals shared. Finally, I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to my family for their support. To my mother Margarita Llobet Beamont for always seeing the positive side of things; for wanting to live and smile. To my father Fausto Bethencourt Morell, thank you for everything and in particular for your passion for music. I would not have been able to do this work without your help and persistence. To my sister Aurora thank you for always being there and for opening your home to me whenever I needed a place in Granada and Madrid. Finally, a special thank you to my partner my wife Arancha Alzola Gutierrez - for staying with me even during the hard times and for all the love and patience she always gives. iii Rethinking Tradition: Towards an Ethnomusicology of Contemporary Flamenco Guitar Acknowledgements ii Contents iv Chapter 1: Flamenco Culture and Tradition: An Introduction 1 1.1 Why (not) Another General History of Flamenco as an ‘Authentic’ Andalusian Tradition? 1 1.2 Introduction to the Field: Methodological and Theoretical Approaches 6 1.3 Outline of the Research 16 Chapter 2: Flamenco and Troubles of ‘Authenticity’: Tomatito 20 2.1 Tomatito as Traditionalist: Place, Race and Compás 21 2.2 Moving ‘Away’ from Tradition: New Musical Idioms and Places 28 2.3 Authenticity as a Historical and Cultural Construct, Always in Motion 40 Chapter 3: Transmission of ‘Flamenco’ Knowledge: Gerardo Núñez 45 3.1 Learning from Environment: Introducing the City of Jerez 46 3.2 Learning Flamenco from Teachers: Family and Local Maestro 54 3.3 Learning from Flamenco Recording(s) and Other Popular Music 57 3.4 Learning from Travel and ‘New’ Environments: Jazz 62 Chapter 4: Flamenco and Issues of Displacement: Juan Manuel Cañizares 68 4.1 Historical and Sociological Issues for Andalusia’s Migration: Andalusians Moving to Catalonia 70 4.2 Childhood in a Flamenco Environment Outside Andalusia: Catalonia (Sabadell and Barcelona) 74 4.3 Academic Education in the Conservatory of Terrasa and Barcelona 81 4.4 Work with Andalusian Musicians in Madrid 86 Chapter 5: Producing and Recording the New Flamenco Sound: Vicente Amigo 99 5.1 Recording Culture and Play! The Childhood Period 101 5.2 Anxiety of Influence During the Youth Period in Córdoba and Cádiz 105 5.3 Producing Flamenco: The Goose that Lay the Golden Egg 110 5.4 Recording for National and International Popular Music Projects: Research for a New International Sound 116 iv Chapter 6: Conclusion 129 6.1 Flamenco in the UK: New Cultural Contexts and Encounters 131 6.2 Work in the Recording Studio and Culture Lab Towards New Live Performances 138 6.3 Teaching Flamenco Outside of Spain: UK Schools and Universities 145 6.4 Flamenco Heritages 151 Appendix: 7.1 Table: Chronology of the Guitarists 154 7.2 Guitar Scores and Tablatures 155 7.3 Flamenco Clapping and Compás 162 7.4 Plates and Fieldwork Pictures 163 7.5 Audio Compilations: Track Lists 177 7.6 Selection of National and International Performances 182 References: 8.1 Oral Sources 189 8.2 Audio-Visual Sources 190 8.3 Discography 191 8.4 Bibliography 193 v Chapter 1: Flamenco Culture and Tradition: An Introduction 1.1 Why (not) Another General History of Flamenco as an ‘Authentic’ Andalusian Tradition? Spain’s Iberian Peninsula is a multicultural space, explored and formed throughout history by a host of peoples, from Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Greeks, to Romans, Arabs, and Jews. Each contributed to the area’s current wealth of languages and traditions. Flamenco came to be associated with that Peninsula, its origins believed rooted in a particular area of what became known as Andalusia, the southernmost part of the Peninsula.1 As stated by José Manuel Gamboa: “Flamenco, de Andalusía”.2 As a product of Andalusia, flamenco absorbed and displayed the varied cultural influences of the area and came to reflect strong regionalist sentiment, being fiercely embraced by numerous interpreters and aficionados as an ‘authentic’ Andalusian-gypsy art form. Through the years, however, flamenco’s history has been contested, with flamencólogos (flamencologists), self-appointed or university-educated, arguing as to the nature of its roots and cultural meanings. According to some popular discourses, as Peter Manuel has suggested, flamenco “emerged in the late eighteenth century, primarily from the corpus of Andalusian folk music, stylized and redefined by gypsy professional musicians”.3 Some scholars, like Manuel, argue that flamenco resulted ‘from an ancient and private tradition which the gypsies brought with them [to Andalusia] when they migrated from India some six or more centuries ago,”4 while 1 According to Antonio Domínguez Ortiz, the concept of Andalusia is young compared to its history.