Book - "Flamencos from Gañanía"- Estela Zatania

Technical sheet

• EAN: 9788488409706
• ISBN: 978-84-88409-70-6
• Publisher: Giralda Editions
• Edition date: 2021
• Binding: Hardcover
• Dimensions: 18x25 cm
• Language: Spanish
• No. of pages: 200

Synopsis

As stated in the introduction, this work aims to value the importance of rural flamenco environments in lower Andalusia, focusing mainly on the provinces of Seville and Cádiz; and during the period beginning in 1939 onwards.

Although it deals with the prevailing need of humble families to follow the campaign work through the Andalusian geography, it does not touch on the pilgrimage that was made from the east and the west.

At some point in the reading we remember the foreigners of romanticism who came to Spain looking for Andalusian Scenes of exoticism and the topic. The author's American nationality helps this memory. This will also be the explanation for his reasoning about Andalusian singing and gypsy singing (in line with the doctrine of Antonio Mairena and Ricardo Molina), or about the lower-Andalusian magic triangle compared to the rest of Andalusia, to which he assigns much less specific weight in the configuration of flamenco. Insignificant information for the study, taking into account the period to which it refers.

After explaining in a very graphic way the atmosphere of the gañanía, as well as its structure and economy, he goes on to reflect on such a determining topic as the “transmission of cantes”. This chapter is almost an anthropological treatise on the functioning of the humble Andalusian family, of the unwritten rules and the most deeply rooted customs. He also knows how to contextualize it at the time with respect to the trends of the moment.

In a much more superficial way, he deals with the influences exercised in those environments of fatigue and flamenco, to go on to collect some lyrics related to the peasant environment. The selection criteria for these letters are not clear to me, since many of them are prior to these dates under study, and were previously recorded by artists not linked to the gananía.

From the testimonies that make up the field work, there are many conclusions that can be drawn, in addition to the coincident information:

Uncle José de Paula, uncle Juaniquí de Lebrija, Juanichí el Manijero and Frijones are the indisputable references for all those interviewed, whether they are artists or not.

Flamenco developed without a guitar. Only the compass made with percussive elements was used as the only accompaniment.

El Chozas de Jerez (although he was from Lebrija) is undoubtedly one of the most loved and respected characters in the gananías environment. (This is something that the author shows by dedicating a chapter to it).

The flamenco that developed in the gañanías is family flamenco, since entire families lived there for long periods of time.

And the most obvious thing is that Gañanía is an important breeding ground for the development and maintenance of this Andalusian music. What is worth asking is if we are facing what could be the configuration of Jerez flamenco or simply, it is a circumstantial space. In any case, this circumstance favors that Jerez flamenco is quite homogeneous, coming close on many occasions to the concept of folklore as opposed to the artistic line that suggests the difference.

The pity is that this study was not carried out when people who have already disappeared could have given more direct testimony about those singers who are now part of flamenco mythology. We must thank Estela Zatania for this very interesting and necessary work for the general knowledge of flamenco, as well as for the idea of ​​carrying it out.