These are some of my thoughts on Spain and flamenco (if you see them posted somewhere else w/o my name, they are my own thoughts for better or worse)
Most Spaniards hate to be associated with flamenco -for a bunch of reasons.Not least of which is their chauvinism-[in the original meaning of the word (however it is supposed to be spelled } Flamenco is Andalucian, and if you are a Gallego or Catalan, you have your own music {But you probably know deep down and in your heart, that your local music ain't worth (censored) compared to flamenco }

Moreover, in Andalucia, there is folkmusic and there is flamenco-sometimes they overlap, but not always.
For example fandangos with compas -the various fandangos de Huelva, fandangos de Alosnso Fandnangos de Arecena, and the fandangos of Malaga - verdiales, rondenas (also fandangos de Lucena)- which have a sort of different recognizable compas,(Like Lecunas "Malaguena") are usually folk and played by bands "eg verdiales "pandas") often danced by groups or couples and accompanied by guitar, bandurria and violin. They are called "aflamencado" because they are so close to flamenco, and libre versions (ge fandangos naturals, malaguenas, granainas) are flamenco
Then there are other really nonflamenco Andalucian folk song-like the ones Lorca collected "El Vito" , Los Contrabandistas de " etc)
And sevillanas- folk, but not flamenco

Flamenco always had a strange position in Spain

I don't know if you've been reading history of flamenco,
In the "late beginning" of the Romantic Period, (1830-40s)it started to get recognized as one of the important {as they then called nonacademic music and dance} "National Musics"

But later, for example ,the Spanish poets of the so-called Generation of (18) 98" spent half their time writing against flamenco -which was very popular at the time (Yet when you read some of it, some of these poets were clearly very very knowledgable about flamenco)

Then you had the poet Generation of (19)27 -Alberti, Machado, Lorca, etc who wrote pro-flamenco. But since flamenco had reached a low point with "cante bonito" they wanted to bring forward pure flamenco cante and say "This is great music" (Hence the Concurso of Cante of 1922)
Much later, in the 1960s, when the reality started to come forward ,(end of Franco and post Franco) that Spain did not have to remain a backwards agricultural and tourist place, but an "industrial player" in the First World, well.........

Industrial world ?- Two days off from work to get a little drunk and have a juerga? ("Juerga" same word as "huelga" which is a word for "a
strike") Non settled Gypsies???????
My God-It's bad enough that it is too hot and we don't yet have enough electric power for air conditioing work places, to be able do away with the long midday siesta , and work like Americans English and Germans with a one hour lunch break....
And then , to compound the problem, just as 'we" Spaniards are ready to be able to downplay flamenco and stick it in a back corner, along comes a bunch of First World countries saying "Hey-That flamenco- that's REALLY GOOD music!!"

What's a "modern" Spaniard to do!!!!

Franco and Flamenco
A myth has somehow arisen that Franco "promoted" flamenco

Franco wanted to encourage tourism. But certainly in no way promoted flamenco the way it was promoted as his regime wound down and after his death.National prizes etc came after he died when demoracy was restored.
It wss then that socialist and communist governments were allowed and able and willing to support the music of the "pueblo"
As for fiestas - Well I believe it was Franco's idea, not bar owners' , to put up signs that said "Cante es Prohido" That would be in line with Fanco era law that forbade gatherings of more than a few people w/o permision form the Guardia Civil or the authorities.
As for trying to encourage tourism. In Franco's time, there was an"embargo" and "boycott" by liberal democracies on doing business with or visiting Spain (Just last night I mentioned to some of my Phil students that I had lived in Spain in Franco's time. and my guilt about living there at the time "rose up" again
I was guilty of what the Greeks called "akresia"- Doing something you know is wrong.And, yes, most of the time I pushed out of my mind the knowledge that-unlike most there -I had a passport and a pretty rich (by comparison) country I could go back to and find work if things got bad for me
The fact became up front for me, when Spaniards started to openly demonstrate against Franco

By the way-The embargo was openly broken by Eisenhower who decided that having sea and airbases against the threat of communism was more important than refusing to give money to support fascism

Here's a good flamenco website -with tiny bits of Bienal videos, history of flamenco (In Spanish) and letras
The only bad section IMO is a bunch of cantes explained and sung by someone who looks and sounds (both when he is singing and not) like a university professor (no insult to myself intended )
http://www.folcloreyflamenco.com/index. ... ropologia/

Very interesting as always, Jacinto. I think many flamenco aficionados, go easy on Franco not realizing what history tells us his intentions were. I think he saw flamenco as a threat against the church because of its cultivation by gypsies that had their own "religion" and way of life and were not easily converted. I think the Jewish influence on flamenco also found disfavor by the crown. Franco had every intention of abolishing flamenco in my opinion. However as you have pointed out, other countries played a major role in changing the course that Franco had charted for flamenco. The choreographed, rehearsed, and staged fashion shows with a flamenco theme gave a new vibrancy to Spain.

The Sevillanas as you say is folk. It was incorporated into flamenco and accepted by many as flamenco, but still is Spanish folk. Same with Taranta IMO. It is the folk music of the Southeastern Spanish miners. It was incorporated into flamenco and in my opinion became popular because of the freedom allowed to the solo guitarist. The result is many concert virtuoso Taranta compositions that smack of classical guitar and occasionally jazz. Usually it is an exercise in technique ... ligato demonstration or lightening arpeggiation (if you will allow me to invent a word here). Usually cold and meaningless although at times very entertaining.

The question of what is real "blood" flamenco and what became accepted and labeled as flamenco by adoption, will always be a debate. I think the term "blood flamenco" might be appropriate for the mother palos.

Bipolar disorder? Yes, I agree and a common medication for bipolarity is an anti convulsion medication. When one takes an anti convulsion med to alter nerve function by blocking sodium receptors, two things result. It blocks certain nerves from firing and also partially depletes sodium, an electrolyte. The blocked nerve function serves to stop the drastic personality change, a good thing, but other body systems suffer from sodium depletion, which can be a bad thing. No matter how much sodium one eats, it gets blocked. I think this applies to Spain and Franco perfectly. Franco medicated Spain with his ideals (the anti convulsion med) that included blocking flamenco, and the result was a social (electrolyte) imbalance that opened the door for the new tourist flamenco with all the flamboyance. It left an illusion that Franco promoted flamenco....

Sam
Gypsies almost always take on religion of country they settle in. In Spain that was Roman Catholicism
As fro "traditional" Roma cutoms or religions-As Borrow pointed out as far back as 1830s- Spanish Gypsies had lost more of those tradtions- even the ability to speak Romani -and in many places couldn't even speak Calo


During Franco's time, the ONLY legal religion was Roman Catholicism (semi-secret tiny synagogues wee "tolerated")
Post-Franco-an interesting situation-religious liberty. That coincided with the unfortunate heroin epidemic which hit gitano yout very hard

But Evangelical Christians came in and had great success dealing with heroin addiction- but, at the same time forbad flamenco, drinking,etc (They loosened up about the flamenco over the years)
They started getting more and more converts-which worried the Catholic Church
So "by coincidence" Pope John Paul rushed through the canonization
of the first gitano saint
A gitano, -oddly enough for gitanos,- died defending the Fascists during the Guerra Civil

PS I do not believe (and have argued elsewhere) there is any Jewish influence on flamenco (lest you get the wrong idea about my motives, I am a Jew)That is a whole other discussion.

That said, "Franco" is a Sephardic name (I forget teh other half of his apellido, but it is Sephardic too)
He was,of course, very pro R Catholic- BUT- any Jew who could prove Sephardic heritage was allowed by Franco to enter Sapinand thus escape the Nazis