The peñas flamencas came into being as an initiative by groups of aficionados who would share the cost of the stews and drinks, later becoming more organized as non-profit societies, with monthly fees and their own regulations in the civil governments of each province. Then came the politicians offering public subsidies and appointing party members to the peñas’ board of directors or as their presidents, aiming to secure votes for upcoming elections.

First came the federations, and later the Confederación Andaluza de Peñas Flamencas, an umbrella organization for the provincial federations. That resulted in the politization of the peñas flamencas, with party members taking part in the board of directors both of the peñas and the provincial federations and also of the Confederación.

For almost forty years, the peñas have been surviving thanks to, in part, the meagre subsidies of the Junta, city councils and, occasionally, financial entities such as Cajasol, to name the one who has contributed the most in behalf of flamenco and its promotion. With the political change that has recently taken place in Andalusia, some leaders of the world of peñas who are members of some political parties in this province, such as the Partido Socialista, have started to speak against budget cuts, claiming that the future of the peñas is now bleak.

The complaints have been particularly loud from the Confederación, an entity which has seen its subsidies cut, as there are more than two hundred thousand euros which have not been properly accounted for, as the organization seems to be run on the buddy model, with no transparency or paper trails, precisely because in the world of the directors of peñas, there’s a sizable number of members of the socialist party and other parties who seem to act as if public money was their own. After forty years of silence, with the recent political change they’ll start saying (as they’ve done so already) that the parties of the right have returned to ruin an art form with two centuries of history.

There is no doubt that the Partido Socialista has promoted flamenco and that the Junta de Andalucía has done a lot in behalf of this artistic genre. Yet, there has also been a deplorable interference and we know what happens when politicians interfere with art. Thus, it’s fair to thank the Junta and the Partido Socialista for all they’ve done in behalf of flamenco, but those who for forty years shamelessly politicized this art should stop whining.

The new government at the Junta should take in account the importance of flamenco and all its evolution in the last three or four decades, particularly because it’s an important source of income for the province’s coffers. Also, because it’s a well-known art form all over the world, and it would be inconceivable that it started being neglected. So, it’s too early to whine.

Translated by P. Young