Union flamenca

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Union flamenca

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Piwin

Posts: 3559
Joined: Feb. 9 2016

Union flamenca

Might be of interest to some of you:

https://unionflamenca.org

It seems to be a proto trade union of sorts, created in reaction to the rough situation many flamenco artists ended up in after the covid-induced closure of tablaos and penas. This could be an interesting development in a sector that isn't exactly known for doing things by the book. Some big names in the team and among the founding members.

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"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."

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 17 2020 5:29:55

BarkellWH

Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC

RE: Union flamenca (in reply to Piwin)

Anarchists unite!

Bill

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And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."

--Rudyard Kipling

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 17 2020 14:16:26

flyeogh

Posts: 729
Joined: Oct. 13 2004

RE: Union flamenca (in reply to Piwin)

All they need is an enemy. Unfortunately the enemy is within

It reminds me of the rock band The Hampsters. They played a gig in Scandinavia. Only 30 or so paying punters turned up. The promoter came on stage at the halfway stage and yelled at the few "why aren't there more of you? What sort of image does this give? If you want live music you need to turn up". Que ironia!!

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nigel (el raton de Watford - now Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz)

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 17 2020 15:02:02

Piwin

Posts: 3559
Joined: Feb. 9 2016

RE: Union flamenca (in reply to flyeogh)

Seems like a good move to me. Most of what they're talking about are general issues that apply to any kind of artistic profession that relies on live performances. Banding together will at least give them a louder voice in the larger music industry debate around these issues.

The legal and financial advice component is standard union help, which can go a long way to make sure not just that they're not getting screwed financially by tablao owners (either wittingly or not), but more importantly that if there comes a time when they need to claim public benefits like unemployment, they're actually able to do so. There are also larger issues of insurance coverage.

Working towards getting a specific legal regimen is possibly inspired by what we have up in France. For all the problems there are with the "intermittent du spectacle" status, you can ask around with artists from around Europe and I think you'll find most are quite envious of it. Last year the "Estatuto del Artista", which would've gone a long ways in addressing most of these grievances, unfortunately never made it to the implementation phase, an unfortunate victim of the political clusterfuck that was 2019. Right now everything is based on a decree from 1985 that not only is outdated, but also leaves a lot of issues in limbo, causing quite a bit of confusion when artists need to claim any kind of public benefit.

I was happy to see that some of those who are carrying this project, like José Mercé or Miguel Poveda, Tomatito, Vicente Amigo, etc. are among the heavy-weights who most likely don't really need any of this. Namely, they've made it but are giving some of their time and effort to take care of the much larger contingent of artists that will never reach their level of success.

_____________________________

"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."

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 17 2020 16:17:08

flyeogh

Posts: 729
Joined: Oct. 13 2004

RE: Union flamenca (in reply to Piwin)

quote:

Most of what they're talking about are general issues that apply to any kind of artistic profession that relies on live performances.

Makes no sense to me. Why not join one of the unions of performing arts. What is so special about Flamenco? Beyond it is not as popular as people on the inside think it should be

But we will see.

ps: 10 Euros per month is a lot of money for many

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nigel (el raton de Watford - now Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz)

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 17 2020 16:44:30

Piwin

Posts: 3559
Joined: Feb. 9 2016

RE: Union flamenca (in reply to flyeogh)

quote:

it is not as popular

Isn't that rather the point? The reason we support "intermittents du spectacle" in France is precisely because most of them are not in artistic domains that enjoy the same popularity (and financial success) as big American artists. If you don't support those working in areas with less popularity, then in the end all you'll be left with is Taylor Swift and Kanye West, and maybe some Frank Sinatra around Christmas time.

As for not directly joining other unions, hasn't it always been the case that unions form locally and around the specific needs of specific groups? Those unions/guilds/associations, etc. can then choose to join with others to form larger unions, sectorial, cross-sectorial, etc. There was a lot of that in the run-up for the Estatuto del Artista. The larger unions are useful when there is a convergence of needs across different groups. The smaller ones are needed to cater to the specific needs of a single group. So, what is so special about flamenco? Dunno, what is so special about traditional music from Canary islands? "music antigua espanola"? jazz and improvisational music? classical music in Catalunya? lyrical singers? etc. etc. all of which have their own union/guild/association. The real question is what is so special about flamenco that they don't have their o wn group...

I guess the open question for me is whether it's just too little too late. If there aren't any tablaos around, not much point to it all. In Andalucia there's more public funding to support tablaos so you might pull through. In Madrid, not so much. Casa Patas announced they were closing down for good. I doubt they'll be the only ones.

_____________________________

"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."

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 17 2020 17:28:47