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Posts: 9
Joined: Dec. 10 2012
From: Bradford United Kingdom
Flamenco Literature
was wondering if anybody knows of any good books about or involving flamenco, have read duende and ghosts of spain which in my view gives a good insight into spanish culture from an outsiders point of view, been struggling to find any other books on the subject any suggestions?
Good question and one I considerred posting too. One of the few I know of was writen by Mario Bois and was centerred around a collection of traditional letras. I think the version I saw was in French, not sure if there's an english or spanish version.
Chano Lobato: Memorias de cante, Andrés Rodríguez: Camaron: Se ropió el quejío, Estela Zatania: Flamencos de gañanía, Jos éBlas Vega: Vida y cante de Don Antonio Chacón, Juan Antonio Muñoz: Mis recuerdos de Antonio Mairena, Salvador Aleu Zuazo: El Chato de la Isla, José María Castaño: Manuel Soto “Sordera de Jerez”, Ángel Sody de Rivas: Diego del Gastor , Paco Urrutá: Gerundino Fernandez, Manuel Bohórquez Casado: Tomás Pavón, Féliz Rodríguez: El Arte en la sangre, José Ortiz Nuevo: Mil y una historias de Pericon de Cádiz, José Blas Vegas: Conversaciones flamencas con Aurelio de Cádiz, Eugenio Cobo: Pasión y muerte de Gabriel Macandé, Joaquin García: El libro del cante flamenco, Miguel Ropero: El léxico caló en el lenguaje del cante flamenco.
If you are interested in the biography of the luthier Gerundino Fernandez, I suggest, "Gerundino Fernandez: Biografia de un Guitarrero," by Paco Urrutia. It was published in 2007 (a year after Gerundino's death in 2006) by the Universidad de Almeria, and is still available.
Bill
_____________________________
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."
Don’t forget The Flamencos of Cadiz Bay — possibly the best of the lot, in my estimation.
Also, Andrés Batista’s books, including the now hard-to-find Manual Flamenco, and (if you speak Spanish and you can afford it) El Flamenco y su Vibrante Mundo.
"The Flamencos of Cadiz Bay" is advertised on the web for some fairly steep prices. I got my copy from Dan Zeff at https://www.danzeffguitars.com for $26. It's a great read, centering around the great Cadiz cantaor Aurelio Selles.
it appears that the donn pohren books are now available on Amazon, via createspace, I guess they print them up as they get ordered?
Has anyone looked at the copyright statement on these new editions?
The Bold Strummer made a hames of the 2005 edition of Art, and in 2011 I got an embittered e-mail from Luisa about it, saying she wanted to publish the next edition herself, and asking my advice.
But I heard that Luisa had died in May of this year, and no one I know seems able to confirm or deny; nor can anyone get hold of Tina.
So the new editions make me dubious, to say no more…
Brook Zern's essays on flamenco are very good, some of the best. Also his translations of interviews and other works. Hopefully an anthology of his essays will be published in one cover someday.
I'm curious about what you found in this that made it a great read. I went through it quickly enough (a page turner!), but I felt like the book was about the author, and that he was largely cashing in on having known Paco. I'd never recommend this myself. I could be wrong.
Paco Sevilla's book on Paco dL is good in that covers his work pre and with Camaron and how he came to develop the sextet. And the author stays out of the way.
Has anyone looked at the copyright statement on these new editions?
I just got a copy of Lives and Legends, copyright statement simply says Copyright (c) 2014 by: D.E. Pohren
Compared to my other copies of, a way of life(1980), art of flamenco(1984) which both say copyright Donn E. Pohren with the previous dates in the statement
Print quality is not good (with some words faded and missing), and the photo's are pretty grim, printed on the same weight paper and finish as the body of text
I think I'll keep an eye out for an old original...
I just got a copy of Lives and Legends, copyright statement simply says Copyright (c) 2014 by: D.E. Pohren
Compared to my other copies of, a way of life(1980), art of flamenco(1984) which both say copyright Donn E. Pohren with the previous dates in the statement
Print quality is not good (with some words faded and missing), and the photo's are pretty grim, printed on the same weight paper and finish as the body of text
I think I'll keep an eye out for an old original...
In the US many public libraries have Porhen's books, you might see if a library in England has them. If you have the inter-library loan system you can get the hard backs from libraries in other parts of the city.
Also checking with the Hispanic Society of America on any studies about Porhen's books could be helpful, they published them in the beginning.
Donn Pohren books are great as they give a first hand account of flamenco but sadly the books are becoming increasingly more difficult to find. The Art of Flamenco is listed at Stringsbymail for $50. I would be very surprized if a library, other than a major one, has the book. Another good book that gives a first hand account is Dorien Ross' Returning to A (also at SBM). What makes this book stand out from other first hand accounts is that Dorien Ross is a woman. A good book with great photos is Ken Hass' Flamenco--again, getting difficult to find or if found the price is high. Ken Hass' book has a chapter tying flamenco with bull fighting--something generally not seen in a typical flamenco book.
By the way, I just looked at Amazon for The Art of Flamenco and there are two used paperback copies going for cheap--as in less than $20
I gave my two cents. Fernando Quiñones has written some interesting books. I have one called "Twelve andalusian tales", short stories about cantaores, bullfighters, prostitutes, etc. Besides being a flamenco fan, they are very well written! They have a very humorous prologue by none other than BORGES, saying that "Altought I hate bullfighting and i´m always in favour of the bull, this is incredibly well written" Felix Grande also has a very interesting "Memoria del Flamenco" which is almost a sociological book about gypsies, mixed with some music commentary. But definitely biased towards the first topic. Still incredibily well written. It´s a very large book, divided on two sub-editions, and you´ll read it easily, the pages will flow
I have some problems with Returning to A, it's more about the author than about anything else. And the symbolism or metaphor presented bothers me, that Ansonini's suit case is "empty". The other one I did not like was written by the guy who stole cars with Gitanos in Madrid. It was more about his hardship and the parts that described how and what flamenco is were not great.
If one did not already know anything about flamenco and could fill the spaces about the art, then Returning to A and the other book, which I have thankfully forgotten, are really coming of age travel stories. Author goes on an international wilderness walk to find out who they are. It becomes incidental that they have flamenco as a foil to the growing up story.
The Wind Cried, Paul Hect is much better at putting you in the place and time and showing the characters as people and not props for they authors personal development trip. While at the same time relating to you his reflections on his life.
The difficulty with good writing about flamenco is that flamenco and Spain are so interesting that all of us who have gone for a length of time have these stories, I could write a flamenco book at least as good or better than Returning to A, as could half my friends. The unfortunate thing is that the foreigners who really get deep inside the flamenco culture are usually the ones who opt out of writing that personal story. They have another kind of emotional and personal investment that they hold too dear, in their minds, to exploit.
For me not all the books are good, but the only two I would say drop to the lower part of your reading list are the one I mentioned and the other I have forgotten.
was wondering if anybody knows of any good books about or involving flamenco,
Not sure if anybody else mentioned this one? But I have an old book entitled "Flamenco - gypsy dance and music from Andalusia" Edited by Claus Schreiner. It 's in English, translated from German. Originally published in 1985, its a series of essays by a number of authors on a wide range of subjects related to Flamenco, including several chapters on the flamenco guitar. (There's also a list of US builders that includes our old friend John Shelton and Susan Farretta. . .)
Lots of very interesting stuff in there, but I'm not qualified to assert with any authority how valuable it might be?
The other one I did not like was written by the guy who stole cars with Gitanos in Madrid. It was more about his hardship and the parts that described how and what flamenco is were not great.
there was a court case relating to that book that made the papers in the UK.
although Jason Webster claimed in the story that he went to Spain to learn guitar, there is a clue in the dedication at the front of the book to "Rafa"
Flamenco guitarist Rafael tried to sue Jason Webster for stealing his life stories and publishing them in that book. Rafael claimed in the court case that he told JW these stories during the guitar lessons he gave him over the course of two years before JW went to Spain....
The court ruled that no copyright existed on a persons life experiences told in person to another, so there was no case to answer.
I don't know if anyone has read the recent book, "Contra las Cuerdas," which is a collection of interviews with famous flamenco guitarists—but I have just finished translating the first volume into English, and it will be published by Oscar Herrero Ediciones later this year. I'd be curious to know if people would be interested in reading the book and might help get the word out when the time comes. The first volume includes interviews with Paco de Lucía, Manolo Sanlúcar, Serranito, Juan Habichuela, Tomatito, Gerardo Nuñez, Enrique de Melchor, Pepe Habichuela, etc.
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