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El Marselles
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NormanKliman
Posts: 1143
Joined: Sep. 1 2007
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 RE: El Marselles (in reply to Andy Culpepper)
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Hi Andy,
I started writing a post yesterday to respond to this but chucked it in the end because it sounded too gloomy, it's based only on my own assumptions, it might seem like thread hijacking, etc.
So, with that warning up front... 
It's nice to see you guys talk about "party" singers. Although you don't hear much about them, they really are (or were) essential to flamenco. Think about it: The only things these guys take to the party are a bunch of letras (sung poetry) and their good cheer. That's so simple that it's got to go way back in time.
It's really interesting to read first-hand accounts of the way these singers lived (bios of Borrico, Aurelio, Tía Anica, etc.), especially because you realize that it was an entirely different world back then. Which leads up to the gloomy part: I think party singers are a good indicator of the state of health of flamenco, like those animals that are the first to go when an environment is disturbed. Since the 1880s (Demófilo), people have been saying that real flamenco is disappearing. There are a number of reasons why that's not really true (new thread?), but it seems to me that there aren't nearly as many party singers as there were a relatively short time ago, and Spanish society is changing in ways that will probably accelerate the trend.
I don't think that real flamenco is going to disappear because it's too good for that to happen, there are still plenty of aficionados, etc. But to do that kind of party right, you've got to stay up for a day or three, drink to the limits of your capacity, eat something, fade and rally, and that kind of behavior is becoming more and more impractical in today's society. The heavy drinking and staying up all night aren't the main ingredients, but they really are important because they get you into another mindframe. It's not so much the effects of the alcohol as it is the overcoming of fatigue and monotony, as if the foreground were enhanced by bringing the background to a dead standstill.
Of course, the main ingredient is a singer who's spent 30-40 years participating in this kind of party.
Abuelos, padres y tíos:
de los buenos manantiales
se forman los buenos ríos
Grandfathers, fathers and uncles:
good springs are the
source of good rivers
If anyone's interested in reading on the subject, in addition to the aforementioned biographies, I'd recommend "The Flamencos of Cadiz Bay" by Gerald Howson.
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Be here now.
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Date Jul. 6 2009 9:38:46
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