{"id":19496,"date":"2020-05-11T13:08:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T11:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expoflamenco.com\/archivo\/?p=19496"},"modified":"2020-05-11T13:08:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T11:08:00","slug":"grandpa-and-the-difference-between-cantaor-and-cantante","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/archivo\/en\/bordonazo-new\/grandpa-and-the-difference-between-cantaor-and-cantante\/","title":{"rendered":"Grandpa and the difference between cantaor and cantante"},"content":{"rendered":"

-Grandpa, the other day there was this huge controversy in the social networks about the difference between \u201ccantaor\u201d and \u201ccantante\u201d(1) in flamenco. What\u2019s your take on this? <\/strong><\/p>\n

-Your grandma, may she rest in peace, thought that this social network thing was more like a mafia network. I\u2019m too old for these things. You should be careful our you\u2019ll end up sleeping with the fishes.<\/p>\n

-Believe it or not, grandpa, the only discussions about flamenco these days are in the social networks, because radio stations don\u2019t want anything to do with flamenco, not to mention TV, let\u2019s not even talk about it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

-So what\u2019s the deal with the cantantes and cantaoras?<\/p>\n

-Nothing really. People just started talking about this due to Maria Toledo\u2019s performance in Seville the other day, and some criticism about that concert.<\/strong><\/p>\n

-Manolo, people either are, or aren\u2019t, cantaor (or cantaora). Did you know that Tom\u00e1s Pav\u00f3n didn\u2019t refer to Ni\u00f1o Marchena as \u201ccantaor\u201d, but rather as \u201cartist\u201d? Also, Camar\u00f3n called Enrique Morente \u201ccantante\u201d, not to make fun of him, but because he liked his style, the way he dressed. In that respect Camar\u00f3n imitated Enrique, his looks, which certainly broke the mold of the traditional cantaor, stiff-faced and wearing a cordovan hat.<\/p>\n

-So what does it take for a cantaor to be considered as such, grandpa?<\/strong><\/p>\n

-That\u2019s a though question, kid. Look, in the XIX century, when a cantaor was asked about his profession at the civil registry, he would reply \u201ccantador\u201d (which is how people said it back then), yet the civil servant, not having a clue about flamenco, would write down \u201cday laborer\u201d, unless he was a butcher, a blacksmith or a potter, which were accepted professions, very common among flamencos. And if the person was a cantaora, then the occupation would be written down as \u201chousewife\u201d. Silverio used to show up as \u201cartist\u201d, and Manuel Torres as \u201ccanta\u00f3\u201d(2). Chac\u00f3n, oddly, once appears as cantante. No joke.<\/p>\n

-Yet, Chac\u00f3n was a cantaor, right? <\/strong><\/p>\n

-Of course, Manolo. One of the great cantaores of his time. His style was very different than that of Manuel Torres\u2019, but he was 100% cantaor, no doubt.<\/p>\n

-Then, grandpa, Estrella Morente, Mar\u00eda Toledo, Miguel Poveda and Pitingo, to name well-known artists, are cantaores, or cantantes aflamencados? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

-It\u2019s a matter of mentality, of attitude. Sincererly (and I\u2019m trying not to offend anyone), I believe that they are good artists and good cantantes, who feel that way and live in that world. That\u2019s really not a bad thing, because, among other things, society still looks down on flamenco cantaores. Yet, the more generic cantante label is more widely accepted. A cantante sings any kind of music, a cantaor only sings flamenco.<\/p>\n

-I bet there\u2019s more to it, right? <\/strong><\/p>\n

-Of course. The cantaor or cantaora stops being such thing when they aspire going beyond flamenco, abandonning the role of cantaor to evolve towards a more commercial style that\u2019s easier to understand by the general public. They flee from the serious flamenco aficionados, preferring a public that knows nothing of cante, convinced that they\u2019re too good to be \u201cjust\u201d a cantaor. That\u2019s odd, because being a cantaor is something very special and very demanding. Not \u00a0just anybody can become a cantaor, even with lots of study and training. To be a cantaor is not just being able to sing a sole\u00e1 or a petenera, but to feel like a cantaor, to live like a cantaor, to think like a cantaor and to believe that there\u2019s nothing more important in life than to be a flamenco cantaor.<\/p>\n

-That\u2019s quite interesting, grandpa. So, to summarize (as the rice for my arroz a la cubana(3) is already boiling), why is that some artists get upset if they\u2019re called cantante?<\/strong><\/p>\n

-The truth is that those who get upset haven\u2019t yet noticed that they\u2019re no longer cantaores. They love to be perceived as having that romantic aura of the cantaor jondo, which is so highly prized in flamenco these days. Yet, they\u2019re not cantaores anymore. Manolo, when a cantaor or a cantaora stops feeling feeling like one, I stop caring about them. I cannot stand the cantaor who is more preoccupied with the stage lights than with cante, or the cantaora who is more concerned with her hairdo than with comp\u00e1s. Look, I enjoyed Manuel Agujetas singing, slouched on a chair, hair coming out of his moles, and I also enjoyed Marchena, singing upright and smelling of expensive perfume, but he never stopped being and feeling like a cantaor.<\/p>\n

-Grandpa, today you have earned a good bottle of mosto which, although doesn\u2019t quite go with arroz a la cubana, is from Umbrete(4)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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