City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research CUNY Graduate Center 2003 Flamenco Guitar: History, Style, and Context Peter L. Manuel CUNY Graduate Center How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_pubs/89 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] .rtists; a )resence 2 Flamencoguitar: history sfle, status bility of rd Rock PETER MANUEL ling, are ring the y (ree6) Flamencoguitar constitutesan instrumental idiom of remarkablerichness ;uitar in and contemporaryvitality.As a musicaltradition, its statusis unique in that age,and while its origins lie in folk music and its practitionersarticulate little in the ruments way of a standardizedtheory, it embodiesa degreeof technicalvirtuosity : Fender and sophisticationcomparable to that of a classicalart form. Flamencocan baroque be seenas comprising s ong (cante), dance (baile), and guitar playrng(toque) . st visible The statusof guitar music within this framework is ambiguousand contra- k historY dictory. Flamenco,in its origins, basic structure, and traditional aesthetic the form orientation, is primarily vocal music, to which guitar accompanimentis a growing secondary(and occasionallyeven dispensable) addition. Nevertheless,the )ecomea guitar hascome to play an increasinglyprominentrole in accompaniment, and flamenco solo guitar has emergedas an independentidiom that has achievedgreater international renown than vocalflamenco. This essaypro- videsa brief historical and srylisticoverview of flamencoguitar, outlining its distinctive featuresand its unique statuswithin flamencoand world music asa whole. The evolution of flamenco The early history of flamenco, like the origin of the word ..flamenco,, itself, is ultimately obscure.l In the past, various spanish framenc6logos ("flamencologists")argued that flamencoderived from an ancientand pri- vate tradition which the Gypsiesbrought with them when they migrated from India somesix or more centuriesago. Nevertheless, it now seemsclear that the genreemerged in the late eighteenthcentury primarily from the corpusofAndalusian folk music, especiallyas stylized and refinedby Gypsy professionalmusicians. Andalusian musical culture was itself an eclectic entity, syncretizing the legacy of the regions diverseethnic groups (see Plate3). After the adventof Moorish rule in the earlyeighth century,Arabs, Berbers,Iews, and Christians coexistedfor centuries,and many Moors, or moriscos,remained in Andalusia,more or lessclandestinely, after the fall of Granadato the christian spaniardsin 1492.with the growth of trade with the New world, port towns of seville andcidizcame to host communities [13] of black A-fricans,and Latin American influencesestablished a presencein l.l l\.ttr hhtrtrrl 15 Fl.amencoguitar: history, style, status as a productespecially of a Gypsy-centeredsubculture whicrr c.rrpr.isctl not only etknicgitanos (Romany Gypsies whose ancestry a'tr tratritiorr.l languagederived primarily from India) but alsoother lumpen bohe'ria.s and socialoutcasts. The flamencocantes or song-typesthat coalescedin the latenineteenth century fall into two categories:those deriving directly from Andalusian folk music proper (especianythe varietiesof fandango),and thoseinspired byotherlocal idioms (especiallythe cante jondo [,.deepsong,,] styles). Thesclatter, although Andarusian in a generalsense, are dir- tinctivelyassociated with flamencoand Gypsysubcurture and lack-or" specific countcrl)itrtsin regionalfolk music. l;rornrhc ltt30son, flamencorapidly developed both asprivate party .rrrsicwithir l hisconrnr,nity and, perhaps more importantly, as entertain- rrrcrrt pcrlirrmcdby prof'essionalmusicians and dancers both in public cafs ilntto,ttcs("singing cafes")and in wild partiesQuerga.s) helcl by dissolute, aflrt'it rrrusicallydiscriminating, playboys (sefioritos) of the landlordclass. Aswith other musicstyles, the effectsof commercializationand profession- alization weremixed, often obligingartists to panderto cheappublic tastes, whileat thesame time stimulatinghigher technical standards and expansion of repertoire,increasing the sheeramount of performance,and attracting the talents ofnon-Gypsy (payo)performers. Throughout its evolution,flaI menco hashad to caterto the tastesof diverseaudiences, including festive Glpsieqslumming aristocrats, purist intellectuals,an uninfo rmed payomass public, Romanticisttourists seeking"exotic" and "passionate"Andalusia, and, increasingly,internationar fans, The mid-twentieth-centurydecades were a particularlydifficult period, asinformal ju ergasin tavernswere for- mally bannedby the Francodictatorship, while the public tendedto favor light, commercialcante bonito ("pretty song"). However,veterans of that period note that the ban ate 3 Map of Andalusia, showing historical centers of flamenco on flamencofiestas was widely ignoredin smaller towns,and that theperiod sustained several outstanding artists. Fortunately, since the 1960sthe genrehas rebounded with greatdynamism, whether in local musicalculture. Lastbut not least,from the 1500sthe region'sethnic traditional, commercialized,or innovativeavant_garde forms. Guitarists_ mix was enrichedby the immigration of substantialnumbers of Gypsies, especially but not only Pacode Lucia- haveplayed an essentialrole in this among whom performanceof music constitutedone traditional occupa- revitalization. tion. Socio-economicbackwardness, relative isolation from cosmopolitan Europeanculture, andthe richness ofthe musicalheritage itselftogether per- petuatedthe vitality ofAndalusianfolk musicas a distinct andliving entity. The guitar Contemporaryreferences from SevilleandC6drz in the late 1700sindi- in flamencohistory calc the existenceof a musicalgenre that would subsequentlycome to be while the guitar wassomewhat slow to be recognizedas an instrument fit rlllctl flirn.renco.In the following generationsthis idiom evolvedprimar- for classicalmusic, by the seventeenthcentury it waswidely usedin spain ily :rs irrr claboration of Andalusian folksong styles,with diverseinflu- and Italy to accompanya varietyofpopular and courtly songsand dunc.r, ,,rrrcs lirrrn othcr sources,such as Latin American(including Afro-Latin) both in informal contextsand in professionaltheater. scholars, however, rrrrrsiclrr<1, lr:c:ortling to somescholars, Italian opera. Flamenco developed disagree regardingthe presenceof the guitarin earlyflanrenco. During the l(, l\'lrt f\ltuilh'l 17 Flamencoguitar: history, style, status forurativccril,gtlitiltswcr(:lx:yorrtl llrcnrcrtnsol'nrostlowcr.tlrrssrrrrrsit:iirrrs, and thumbpatterns' limited use of arpcggi, andthe early Gypsy cante jondo tw..rirrgr.rr.rrrr.rrr.r.), songs- whichwere trroroughly ,rrtr:rr ir'cl andindicated that 'rrtr mostof theconventional lssocia riorr ol'intliv irlr r,rl r rrrrlr., monophonicin character- were often performed a palo scc.,tlr't is, ac- with particularguitar keys were establishecl by this companiedonlybyhand clapping (patmas) tirrre. or perhapsrhphmically srril<ir.rg A crucialdevelopment duringthis period was tlrc sl.'trir rrriza ri'rr .r trrc the knuckleson a table.Accordingly, some ar.guedthai flamenc|rogoshave modernguitar itself byAntonio deTorres (lgl7-92), the guitar'susage furado w'. crrlrrrgctl did not becomestandard in flamenco,such as it existecl, the body,fixed the string length,aclded modern braccs,arrcl irrtrorluccrl until around the 1830s.others, however,cite contemporarysources attest- the useof lighterwoods. He arsostandardized the ing to the ubiquity of the guitar disti'ctio' bctwcen(hc from the late 1700sin accompanyingfolk flamencoguitar and the classicarguitar. Torres's flamenco guitar, assu'se- songsand dances,including G12sysongs and fandangovariants that would quently adoptedby ManuelRamirez and otlrermakers, becomecentral to the flamencorepertoire. usecllight cyprcss insteadof ro.sewooclon the backand.sidcs, and old_style r.u, t,,,iingp.:g. o., while skilledflamenco guitarists may not haveabounded until around opposedto nrecha'icarhorizontal oncs. whirc thcse the 1930s,many of what featurcs rrrcin would becomebasic aspects of flamencoguitar st^rmcntrnorc afTbrdabre 'radc to impecuniousflamcnco prirycrs, thc rig,rr( w..tl techniquewere present, in howeverrudimentary a form, in earlierguitar alsoprovidcd a louclcr,brightcr sou'd suitalrlc styles,both vernacular ftrracc.nr'arryirrg s.rr1i rrrrl and learned.some ofthese techniques can be traced tlancc,und facilitatcd thc tr-aditionalPractic:c _ subsctlucntly alra,rd.r,r.,.l to the mid-seventeenthcentury, and the dance-orienteclmusic playedor.r .f holdiugthe instrumcnt in a ncar-verticirr 'r'hc the new p,siti,n. flanrencoguitar five-courseguitar. In this style,vocal verses would be accompanied alsoretained slightrysmalrer crimcnsions a'cr canret() urcorporate by strumming (rasgueado),while instrumental interludes a plastic would feature tap plateon the faceto protectit from plucked (punteado) rhythmic golpes(fingernail-strokes). or arpeggiatedpassages derived from lute style,some- The bridgeand saddleare also set srightry low., ,i-runon times playedwith the thumb. Eighteenth-centtryjdcaras, the classicalguitar, as stylizedand facilitatingleft-hand techniqueslike refined hammering-onand pulling-off while by classicalcomposers like santiagode Murcia, foreshadowother occasionallygenerating a slightbuzz, which is not regardedas