El Gato -> RE: Globalization of flamenco (Dec. 11 2006 22:31:05)
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Had a few thoughts so I thought I'd chime in. I love these discussions, it's really intersting to me. I think that non-Spaniards can and will become fantastic Flamenco Puros if they want it badly enough, simple as that. I'm with the guy who said that human beings can amazingly adapt to anything. I'll throw out a few examples, some have been brought up already but I still want to present them together. - Americans invented basketball, volleyball and baseball but we no longer dominate any of those sports in international (Olympic and otherwise) competition. (Wait... did we invent soccer too? If so then... OUCH!) - Black Americans invented blues, but White Britons (and peoples from other countries since then) absorbed the essence of blues music perfectly and have been pretty well received by black bluesmen as equals. - Black American Blues begat American Rock n' Roll, but it did not evolve into "Rock" music as we know it without immense British influence. You could almost argue that "Rock" is more British than American although it's considered American because of it's Rock n' Roll and Blues roots. Haven't heard the Brits tackle American Country music yet, but have definitely heard some smokin' Country/Rockablilly guitar from guys like Mark Knopfler and Adrian Legg. Hmmm, is it still Country if it's just guitar without singing? Doh! - Finally the last globalization point I offer is non-musical but I think pertains to the Flamenco arguement best is Far East Asian Martial Arts. Here you have an art that has extremely deep roots in the cultures, mindsets and religions of its founding countries (China, Okinawa, Korea, etc) which were all once very jealously guarded secrets. But even just within most of our lifetimes the asian martial arts communities have opened up to practicioners from all over the world to the point where many of the most highly regarded masters of some styles are no longer exclusively Asians. Sure there are martial art "Estebans" and "Ottmars" on every street corner of the US, now. And you'll get that with globalization and commercialization of anything. But the heart of the martial art community very openly accepts any serious westerner as an equal. What's my point? Just that a heck of a lot of walls got broken down and demolished in each of these examples and there's no reason to think that it couldn't happen in Flamenco. Not saying that it will happen for sure. Flamenco definitely has it's unique challenges for non Spaniards, and even non-Andalusians. But there's plenty of hope. It's already begun.
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