What do you think about the following? Chatting recently with the entertainment director of a high-level cruise ship, I happened to ask him whether the program of shows ever included flamenco. Since I\u2019d worked for years on cruise ships, it seemed like a normal question. The man said they used to do that, but flamenco of any kind is no longer programmed (now comes the good part), \u201cbecause the Spanish clients complain<\/i>\u201d. In other words, while non-Spaniards \u201ctolerate\u201d a flamenco show, the Spanish clients don\u2019t even want it for free\u2026literally…because the shows on a cruise ship charge no admission.<\/p>\n
So I ask myself\u2026I ask all of you: at what point did the average Spaniard begin to feel ashamed of his own heritage? What sort of music, dance or singing would people like to represent their country and culture? Obviously you aren\u2019t going to put a flamenco singing recital in an international nightclub venue, but how can a Spaniard not enjoy a woman dancing\u00a0alegr\u00edas<\/i>\u00a0with\u00a0bata de cola<\/i>, or a couple\u00a0por sole\u00e1<\/i>, a man alone dancing\u00a0farruca<\/i>\u00a0or several people doing\u00a0tangos<\/i>\u00a0with guitar and singing? I don\u2019t pretend to know the answer, but feel it\u2019s a troubling social failure and a cultural tragedy of great dimension.<\/p>\n
An anecdote\u2026 The most bizarre flamenco job I was ever given was when I was asked to show up at 7 o\u2019clock in the morning at JFK airport in full costume with a small group, singer, dancer and guitarist, with \u201ccastanets, polkadots and much gaiety\u201d, as per the agent\u2019s explicit instructions, to welcome the director of the IBM company who was returning from Madrid. The contract stipulated that we were to launch directly into singing and dancing the moment we identified the man of honor, and accompany him through the airport all the way to his car without stopping the music-making at any moment. The money was good, so I got the best people available and we took the instructions very seriously.<\/p>\n
What an avid flamenco fan this gentleman from IBM had to be to appreciate the art-form to such an extent, at such an ungodly hour and in such a place! The president had gone to Madrid on business, and during the short stay his hosts took him to see flamenco at various tablaos throughout the capital. Only afterwards in the parking-lot did the gentleman explain to me that he\u2019d sent a message from Spain to the home office in which he complained he was fed up with all the clicking castanets and footwork, and was anxious to return to the U.S. as soon as possible to get away from it all. The flamenco welcome at the airport had been nothing more than a practical joke set up by the IBM board of directors. I didn\u2019t know whether to laugh or cry.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s when I stop to think that maybe the flamenco \u201cfrom before\u201d, the historic flamenco, the singing and dancing of our grand-parents, that sweetness, the innate grace and the subtlety\u2026I don\u2019t know\u2026 Today\u2019s flamenco is often aggressive, or worse yet, cold and aloof. World Cultural Heritage and all that, but no one\u2019s writing the script, the genre sets its own pace and the rest of us, raiders of the lost art, scurry along behind trying to make sense of it all.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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