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RE: Is there such a thing as flamenc... (in reply to El Frijolito)
Not that I've ever heard of. Outside of Andalucia, Madrid and the Eastern coast, it seems like it's pretty slim pickings flamenco-wise. I once met a flamenco guitarist in Asturias who told me that all he did was accompany a few classes for tourists. The rest of the time he worked with various bands of Celtic or Charro music and would just throw in a rasgueado from time to time... According to him, flamenco was still fairly alive in the gypsy communities there, except it was mainly rumbas, bulerias and perhaps a solea from time to time. Add to that the fact that there's no real way for them to make a living out of flamenco (no contracts as a regular at a tablao, etc.), it seems flamenco in those areas is bound to stay in the poligonos and the odd pena. He was in his sixties and wanted to retire in the area but he did mention that there were a few younger guitarists who had left for Barcelona to try their luck there. In Salamanca there was only one guitarist, Rafael de Dios, who basically made a living busking, but only because he had lost his job and Salamanca doesn't have much to offer industry-wise. The rest of it was in the poligonos and consisted of rumbas.. I'd assume it's pretty much the same situation in Galicia. Perhaps it's time to invent a solea por bagpiperia and get things going!
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RE: Is there such a thing as flamenc... (in reply to El Frijolito)
That's what I thought too...
Then I saw this album at deFlamenco.com by Xesus Pimentel...
...and then later read about the origins of the farruca and the garrotin...
and I started to wonder whether my (admittedly distant and primarily speculative) view of Galicia as the Scottish version of Mexico was at all accurate.
Your assessment probably has it pegged accurately as a going concern... still I can't help but wonder about it.
RE: Is there such a thing as flamenc... (in reply to El Frijolito)
quote:
Then I saw this album at deFlamenco.com by Xesus Pimentel...
Just looked him up and one of the first hits I got was this: http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/santiago/2011/11/20/0003_201111SX20P21991.htm (in Spanish). I think the first few sentences sum up quite well: Cuchus Pimentel must feel in Galicia like a bagpiper would at the North Pole. Alone. Very alone. I love his story about being accused of playing the hymn of Galicia "por bulerias"!
RE: Is there such a thing as flamenc... (in reply to Piwin)
Thanks for the link to the interview.
You're right, it's so overwhelmingly grim it's sort of funny, and I thought at first that he was probably taking the piss. But thinking about it afterwards I considered that he might actually have been angry about the "himno gallego por bulerías" criticism, taking his description as literal. Wish I had a better ear for tone.
But I think he'd be the one to invent the solea por gaiteiro... I guess the issue would be how it was received...
RE: Is there such a thing as flamenc... (in reply to El Frijolito)
quote:
But I think he'd be the one to invent the solea por gaiteiro... I guess the issue would be how it was received.
I can hear the purists having a heart attack already
_____________________________
"Anything you do can be fixed. What you cannot fix is the perfection of a blank page. What you cannot fix is that pristine, unsullied whiteness of a screen or a page with nothing on it—because there’s nothing there to fix."
RE: Is there such a thing as flamenc... (in reply to Piwin)
... but for now, enough of 'mujeres tocando 'las pipas' "...and back to Xesus Pimentel. As the interview you found implies, he is (or was) doing something pretty interesting (and daunting too, given an apparent Galician tendency to reject Spanish cultural hegemony). In a sense I think he may be trying to bring flamenco back to an area where some palos may have originated.
I was surprised to find this on Youtube - Pimentel's rendition of a Galician dance form - the muiñeira.
RE: Is there such a thing as flamenc... (in reply to El Frijolito)
Video not available in Spain for some reason
_____________________________
"Anything you do can be fixed. What you cannot fix is the perfection of a blank page. What you cannot fix is that pristine, unsullied whiteness of a screen or a page with nothing on it—because there’s nothing there to fix."
RE: Is there such a thing as flamenc... (in reply to Piwin)
That's too bad...
I had a slightly different experience with some Swedish song videos (no, not Abba - let's just say that these will never be in the Eurovision song contest owing to content) that I hoped to share, and at some point Sweden restricted the access for certain countries.
Anyway, wanting to do something on this, here's a link to deflamenco.com's page for the album:
...necessarily, after a headline like that, the reality was a bit disappointing.
I think my favorite bit in the article was this:
quote:
En un municipio como Santa Comba llegó a haber 43 establecimientos con licencia de tablao flamenco en el 2007. Cuando el único taconeo que en ellos se escuchaba era el de la máquina del hielo.
RE: Is there such a thing as flamenc... (in reply to Piwin)
The other day I ran across this article, which references the incident mentioned in the interview with Xesus Pimentel, from the other side in the debate.
It was somewhat surprising to read the vehemence with which the decision to have the 'Himno galego' interpreted on flamenco guitar was greeted in this opinion piece. This may be more of a culturally sensitive issue than one might suspect.
I can sympathize with the Galician aspiration for greater autonomy, cultural pride and a certain amount of rejection of the cultural patrimony of southern Spain... but at the same time, it seems nonsensical - and ahistorical - to reject a tradition to which Galician culture appears to have been a contributor.
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