Flamingos from Gañanía - Estela Zatania

Technical data sheet

• EAN: 9788488409706
• ISBN: 978-84-88409-70-6
• Publisher: Giralda Editions
• Publication date: 2021
• Binding: Hardcover
• Dimensions: 18x25 cm
• Spanish
• Number of pages: 200

Synopsis

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

Although it deals with the urgent need of humble families to continue the campaign work throughout Andalusia, it does not touch on the pilgrimage that was carried out from the east and west.

At some point in the reading, one is reminded of the foreigners of Romanticism who came to Spain looking for Andalusian Scenes of exoticism and clichés. The author's North American nationality helps this memory. This will also be the explanation for her reasoning on Andalusian and Gypsy singing (in line with the doctrine of Antonio Mairena and Ricardo Molina), or on the magical triangle of lower Andalusia compared to the rest of Andalusia, to which she assigns much less specific weight in the configuration of flamenco. Information that is irrelevant 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 a topic as decisive as the “transmission of songs”. This chapter is almost an anthropological treatise on the functioning of the humble Andalusian family, of the unwritten rules and the most deep-rooted customs. In addition, he knows how to contextualize it in the period with respect to the trends of the moment.

In a much more superficial way, it deals with the influences exerted in those environments of fatigue and flamenco, to go on to collect some lyrics related to the rural environment. The criteria for selecting these lyrics 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 peasantry.

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

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

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

El Chozas de Jerez (although he was originally from Lebrija) is, without a doubt, one of the most beloved and respected characters in the gañanías environment. (This is something that the author makes clear by dedicating a chapter to him).

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

And what is most evident is that Gañanía is an important breeding ground for the development and maintenance of this Andalusian music. What is worth asking is whether we are facing what could be the configuration of flamenco in Jerez or whether it is simply a circumstantial space. In any case, this circumstance favours the fact that flamenco in Jerez is quite homogeneous, often approaching the concept of folklore as opposed to the artistic line that suggests difference.

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