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Piwin -> RE: Juan Habichuela (Jun. 29 2016 23:05:05)
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quote:
My impression, just anecdotally, is that the majority of Spaniards are indifferent to it
I agree. I'm not aware of any reliable evidence to support this but it is the general feeling I have here.
Flamenco is very much recognized as part of Spanish culture and most people I've talked to know at least about Pdl and Camaron.
That being said, even in Cano Roto, most of the music you hear nowadays in the street, from passing cars or from open apartment windows is either latin music or rumbas revamped with heavy beats. I remember a friend of mine in Salamanca expressing nothing less than hatred for flamenco. But it was part of a broader distaste for gitanos in general, something that is more common and more intense outside of Andalusia. That being said, of the people I've met during my time here in Madrid, I haven't met anyone who looked down on flamenco. Mainly indifference or a kind of polite curiosity about it.
The professional flamenco artists I've met in Spain pretty much all agree that they couldn't do what they're doing without foreigners and the tourism market. There simply aren't enough Spaniards interested in flamenco to book enough shows and pay the bills of a professional artist. And in current times, there is the sense that even those Spaniards who are interested just aren't affluent enough to keep the business going. Of what I've gathered so far, many of the local penas in and around Madrid are in a constant state of competition to obtain regional subsidies. Some of them have either closed or reduced their business to a strict minimum to get by. To be fair though, the entire arts industry is going through a rough patch in Spain, not just flamenco.
So, in a nutshell, I'd have to go with:
- more awareness of flamenco than abroad,
- but mainly indifferent to it.
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