Romance cartographies: flamenco articulations of queer spaces in urban Andalusia (2025)

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The Zambra, Tourism and Discourses of Authenticity in Granada’s Flamenco Scene

Abstract: The zambra is a genre and context of flamenco unique to the Gitano (Gypsy) neighbourhood of Sacromonte (Granada), which throughout its historical development has been closely intertwined with tourism. Framed by recent musical and social change in the zambra, this article examines debates regarding tourism, authenticity, and local heritage in Sacromonte. Previous research has focused on the economic and institutional dimensions of flamenco tourism with little consideration of local discourses. This article interrogates a static notion of “staged authenticity,” instead focusing on the dynamic and contested relationship between music and tourism in the context of local musical practice.

The Flamenco Effect: Authenticity, Community and Tradition in the South of Spain

This book, written in an accessible and open style, on the one hand offers English speakers an overview of flamenco as a musical form or set of musical practices, and, on the other, uses flamenco to interrogate some of the ways in which social bonds and ideas of ‘truth’ and ‘authenticity’ are played out by both flamenco musicians and lovers of flamenco in Southern Spain. The book is divided into six chapters (including the introductory chapter and a concluding chapter) and is based on research undertaken in Spanish archives and at flamenco performances at local peñas and tablaos on trips to Madrid, Seville, Granada and Málaga funded by the British Academy in 2013-2015. The book aims to be both introductory (in that it assumes no prior knowledge of flamenco, introducing and explaining terms and concepts carefully and systematically) and analytical (in both the music-analytical sense of the term and in the sense of ‘critical’, drawing, that is, on recent developments in the fields of affect theory, critiques of identity and identity politics and gender and sexuality studies). The book differs from much Spanish- and English-language scholarship on flamenco in that it: 1. Offers detailed and technical engagement with musical examples 2. Seeks to represent recent and classic Spanish-language scholarship to an English audience 3. Seeks to balance the demands of music-analytical approaches and cultural/contextual approaches 4. Seeks to give voice to ‘insider’ narratives about flamenco from within the flamenco-practising communities formed since the beginning of the twentieth century 5. Offers gender and sexuality-inflected analyses of flamenco largely missing from the scholarship to date 6. Discusses how flamenco practices and identities have been represented on film (in both narrative cinema and in documentaries) 7. Offers a detailed and critical discography of flamenco from 1901 through to the present

Public Enemy or National Hero? The Spanish Gypsy and the Rise of Flamenquismo, 1898–1922

Bulletin of Spanish Studies Hispanic Studies, 2017

The vindication of the Gypsy as a hero in some works by Manuel Falla and Federico García Lorca and through the cante jondo competition of 1922 is well known to scholars. What is perhaps less known is that Falla and Lorca reacted against a long tradition of abusing Gypsies in the media, that peaked during the Restoration. This article analyses the cultural production that prompted Falla and Lorca to write in defence of the Gypsy, and pays particular attention to the work of Rafael Salillas, Eugenio Noel, and journalists writing in reaction to the rise of flamenquismo from the 1880s on

Flamenco Capital: Tradition, Revolution and Renewal in Seville, Spain

2014

This dissertation explores how flamenco performance models intimacy and solidarity in Andalusian communities based in Seville and Morón de la Frontera. The adaptability of flamenco performance underscores the inherent decision-making that goes into determining which physically, socially and affectively constructed environments are appropriate, if not ideal, for making music. Since expression within flamenco is largely based upon collective experience and reciprocal execution, the performance space constitutes a defining element of both social and sonic aesthetics. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork, I look at how artists and communities are responding to pressing subjects that involve cultural patrimony and protection as well as political corruption and interference. The first two chapters chronicle the maintenance and development of a flamenco guitar tradition in Morón that proliferated into the hands of international students beginning in the 1960s. I analyze how the introduction of recording and sound reproduction technologies in Morón served to create new types of mobility that separate sounds from their original bodies and spaces of production and, in so doing, alter and blur the boundaries between public and private in communities of flamenco performers and listeners. Next, I focus on the work of twenty-first century flamenco group Son de la Frontera, who organized the music of Diego del Gastor into lush and varied arrangements. By tracing this music back through particular genealogies of listening, I reveal how the Morón style has become entangled in larger processes of countercultural and transnational encounters that converge and become audible through the work of Son de la Frontera. In the final two chapters, I discuss how the recent encroachment of institutional capital and decree upon artists and venues has threatened, rather than supported, the local flamenco community in Seville. I demonstrate how members of this community are responding to these attacks through radical forms of performance protest. Highlighting the dangerous and deceptive elements of intangible cultural heritage, I interrogate the ways in which flamenco artists and community members continue to negotiate distinctions between public and private performance in an era of globalized media circulation, neoliberal economic regimes and complex localized structures of kinship and power.

ζ. THE INDO-IBERIAN ARC

Mediterranean Periplus – voyages in time and space, around and beyond the sea of civilizations: we follow the movements of peoples, goods, ideas and cultural patterns in our historical space, underlying that exchange was the determining factor in the development of civilizations; therefore, the latter constitute a common heritage of the Mediterranean peoples.

'A Spanish Universalist: Maurice Ohana and the Discourse of Primitivism' (Research Dissertation BMus (Hon.), University of Melbourne, 2011)

Flamenco: An introduction

Draft for EMPOW, 2016

Over-Abundance and Ineffability: Flamenco, Mysticism and the Joyful Language-Game

2021

On the far left, Parrilla de Jerez is playing the guitar. Alongside him are members of the de los Santos family, all performers who have adopted some permutation of the moniker “Agujetas.” Agujeta el Viejo sits between two of his sons – on his right, Agujetas el Gordo, and on his left, the famous Manuel Agujetas, who is singing, leaning into Parrilla as if rapt in a private conversation. Manuel Agujetas, through his father, is one of foremost exponents of a style of flamenco cante (singing) that can trace its lineage directly to the great cantaores (singers) of Jerez de la Frontera from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries – names like Manuel Torre (1879-1933) and Paco la Luz (1839-1901). Both Manuel Torre and Paco la Luz were renowned in particular for their interpretation of seguiriyas, a flamenco palo (form) that is notable for its solemnity and harrowing lyrics – Federico García Lorca described it as the “perfect and genuine prototype” of cante jondo (i.e. flamenco deep ...

The reception of Federico Garcia Lorca and his rural trilogy in the UK and Spain after 1975

2011

From La leyenda del tiempo to La leyenda del espacio. Three Decades of Rock and Flamenco Hibridisation in Andalusia

Diagonal: An Ibero-American Music Review, 2018

This paper aims to analyse and consider the hybridisations of popular music genres emerged in Andalusia, Spain, during the last thirty-­‐five years. Fusions between urban music such as rock, pop and indie, and the folk music typical from the south of Spain: flamenco. For these purposes, two of the most important albums of this trend have been analysed, La leyenda del tiempo by the flamenco singer José Monge, also known as “Camarón” and La leyenda del espacio by the Spanish indie band from the city of Granada Los Planetas: origin and evolution of formal, aesthetic, social and commercial parameters of these albums.

Andalusian, Gypsy, and Class Identity in the Contemporary Flamenco Complex

Ethno-musicology, 1989

For over a century flamenco has comprised the spontaneous music of the informal gy commercialized and adulterated fare performe musicians for non-gypsy audiences. Since the e vogue of flamenco, together with a set of bro rendered the flamenco complex even more host of innovative, eclectic, and popular sub traditional "pure" flamenco. While the flam cologia) that has mushroomed in the same of informative books, these have tended to puro rather than on the contemporary sta derivatives. A holistic perspective of modern flamenc styles-must comprehend the panoply of flame flourished in recent decades and now form culture; moreover,such a perspective must context of the social, economic, and politica Spanish society in the last half-century. Ideally, such a study should be the subject o until these have been undertaken, however, introductory attempt to contextualize the m styles in its sociocultural background. Thes flamenco, recent fusions of flamenco with andaluza (Andalusian "new song"), and the v popular musics which have emerged in recen *Research for this article, conducted in 1987, was par Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Scienc also due to my informants and teachers in Spain, and to their constructive comments.

Rethinking tradition: towards an ethnomusicology of contemporary flamenco guitar

PhD thesis dissertation, Newcastle University, 2011

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.

Fascism, Flamenco, and Ballet Español: Nacionalflamenquismo

2014

Department of Theatre and Dance, Graduate and Professional Student Association, Office of Graduate Studies

Flamenco Puro: Pursuing Truth in Flamenco and Looking at My Work in Regard to Flamenco History

2012

In flamenco there exists a conversation revolving around ideas of authenticity and purity. This dialogue advances a claim that there is "true" flamenco. From this discussion I extract for my research the idea of truth in flamenco, as opposed to true flamenco. This idea of truth moves away from the traditional purity dialogue. Stemming away from the insistence upon a single ideal of correctness, this pursuit focuses instead on searching for genuine comprehension in the art, this comprehension affords clarity and truth. The concept of truth has been present in my mind as an artist for several years. I constantly seek to find a truthful and genuine voice in my creative journey. Though pursuing truth as an artist involves gaining awareness and skill in the technical, choreographic, and musical aesthetics that are central to flamenco, it also involves becoming familiar with flamenco in a broader way, by studying its history and culture. In this paper I describe how I and other flamenco artists pursue truth, purity, and authenticity in flamenco. I look at how researchers pursue truth by demystifying the origins and development of flamenco; and I look at people and events that shaped modern manifestations of flamenco dance, especially those that inspire my work. I finish by describing my work currently and placing my work within the history of flamenco.

Queer(ing) Poetic Subjects: Gender, Space and Time in García Lorca's Late Poetry

Cauce. Revista Internacional de Filología, Comunicación y sus Didácticas, 2021

This article focuses on a selection of poems from Federico García Lorca’s 1930s poetic works, Diván del Tamarit and Sonetos del amor oscuro, to argue that, by adding a non-normative element to his exploration of desire, Lorca queers poetic subjects and articulates gender, space and time in transgressive and innovative ways. Both poetic works reveal a sense of ambiguity made explicit as an integral part of the poetic artifice, together with spatiotemporal transgressions and re-appropriations of various poetic traditions, which reinforce the constructed and destructive nature of heteronormative discourses around gender and desire. Through close textual reading, I examine how Lorca creates an indeterminate and epenthetic poetic realm where the limits of desire and death are distorted and bodies, emotional states and spatiotemporal coordinates are unstable and fluid.

The Piano Music of Maurice Ohana

Revista Música, 1995

A composer whose first works date from his early thirties and whose first important, large-scale composition does not appear until the age of thirty-seven could well be perceived as a late starter. This to some extent was the case with Maurice Ohana. The earliest works which he allowed to remain in his catalogue were composed towards the end of the Second World War when, taking advantage of his army posting to Italy, he enrolled in the piano class of Alfredo Casella at the Academia Santa Cecilia in Rome. Although he established his compositional presence later than most others belonging to that illustrious generation of composers born in and around 1913, it would be misleading to suggest that Ohana either came to music late in life or was to any extent a late developer. His real beginnings as a composer were delayed not only by the Second World War, but by the success of his first career as a concert pianist which he pursued throughout the 1930s and for some time after his war servi...

Sólo Soy Un Guitarrista": Bob Dylan in the Spanish-Speaking World––Influences, Parallels, Reception, and Translation

Oral Tradition, 2007

I will here make two brief terminological clarifications. First, where I refer to "popular culture" I may, in accordance with context, be referring either to traditional (folk or artisan) culture, or to the broader field encompassing both that area and more recent mass culture: however, when I say "popular culture" I am using the term in a sense closer to Walter Benjamin than to Marshall McLuhan. Second, regarding the term "Latin America," I am aware that, in strict semantic terms, it includes Portuguese-speaking Brazil and French-speaking Haiti as well as the eighteen Spanish-speaking republics; I shall nonetheless, for the sake of convenience, use the term to mean "the Spanishspeaking territories in the Americas." It should also be noted that all translations of texts and titles from Spanish (and in one case Catalan) in this essay are my own. 3 All quotations from Dylan's lyrics are taken from Dylan 2004b. 4 See Dylan (1988:100). Prose text is not included in Dylan 2004b. 5 The text in Dylan (1988) omits the acute accent on the "o" of "López." 7 See my essay on this song, entitled '"Señor': A wasteland with no easy answers"

Niño de Elche, a Heterotopian (Flamencx) Voice

Celebrating Flamenco's Tangled Roots: The Body Questions, 2022

In this piece I want to introduce Nino de Elche’s body of work to a US reader and to focus on two aspects of his production that I consider to be extremely related to each other and highly relevant for an accurate understanding of his trajectory: his queerness and his continuous search for alternative venues where his music and actions can be performed. To do so I will call on the ideas on non-normative bodies articulated by queer theorist Paul B. Preciado, following Butler’s thoughts on gender performativity, and on the notion of heterotopia theorized by Michel Foucault. Their concerns regarding alternative bodies and spaces will help me to better portray Niño de Elche’s practice, whose voice seems to always seek unexpected niches for flamenco to appear.

The politics of Flamenco: <i>La leyenda del tiempo</i> and ideology

Popular Music, 2017

This paper aims to analyse and consider the hybridisations of popular music genres emerged in Andalusia, Spain, during the last thirty-five years. Fusions between urban music such as rock, pop and indie, and the folk music typical from the south of Spain: flamenco. For these purposes, two of the most important albums of this trend have been analysed, La leyenda del tiempo by the flamenco singer José Monge, also known as "Camarón" and La leyenda del espacio by the Spanish indie band from the city of Granada Los Planetas: origin and evolution of formal, aesthetic, social and commercial parameters of these albums.

From La leyenda del tiempo to La leyenda del espacio. Three Decades of Rock and Flamenco Hibridisation in Andalusian Music

Diagonal: An Ibero-American Music Review

This paper aims to analyse and consider the hybridisations of popular music genres emerged in Andalusia, Spain, during the last thirty-five years. Fusions between urban music such as rock, pop and indie, and the folk music typical from the south of Spain: flamenco. For these purposes, two of the most important albums of this trend have been analysed, La leyenda del tiempo by the flamenco singer José Monge, also known as "Camarón" and La leyenda del espacio by the Spanish indie band from the city of Granada Los Planetas: origin and evolution of formal, aesthetic, social and commercial parameters of these albums.