What is flamenco? The origin of flamenco cannot be pinpointed exactly to a specific people. However we give a lot of credit to the gypsies who traveled from northern India into Spain. To put it simply, the art form originates in Andalucía (Southern Spain) and consists of three core elements: singing (cante), guitar playing (toque), and dancing (baile). Therefore, flamenco is not only a kind of dance, but also a kind of music which was influenced by various cultures, including Arabic, Moorish, and South American.
Furthermore, what is your impression of flamenco? Most people think it is passionate, joyful and powerful, but it can represent anger, pain and sorrow, too. The reason why flamenco is full of strong emotion is related to the persecution of the gypsies. They overcome the despair and hopelessness by singing and dancing, so some people also describe flamenco as a spirit of life!!!
The below video is one of my favorites, and you can see the three core elements: cante, toque, and baile.
See also
What flamenco isn’t http://herso.freeservers.com/images/isnot.gif
So that is the flamenco!
ReplyDeleteWhen it talks about gypsies, many people consider it to curse, thief and music. However, they take the discrimination as a power, and displays in their dancing, and that is the reason why flamenco has so powerful emotions. I’m fortunately to read this article.
It is interesting to learn that flamenco can not only be passionate and joyful but also painful and sorrowful. What you have mentioned reminds me of the songs which made by black people who were under the control of white people during the previous time.
ReplyDeleteMusic have magic powers which can makes people feel relaxing, exciting or depressing, depends on the different genre of music. I think, maybe, each kind of music can be seen as a spirit of life.
To lazytree& Annie
ReplyDeleteI agree that difficulty can inspire people to be more creative! Nowadays, there are many non gypsy dancers, but I still think only the gypsies who don’t have perfect dance training can display the spirit of flamenco vividly!
Thanks for leaving messages to me. =)