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<\/p>\n\u201cWhy don\u2019t you research men?\u201d, my father, a keen aficionado, asked me when he learned about my commitment of giving a voice to female flamenco artists,\u00a0flamencas<\/i>, who had been silenced through history, His reaction is not unusual, because for many people it\u2019s still hard to understand that, well into the 21st century, we women still have the need to vindicate ourselves\u2026 Even more so in the world of flamenco, which has such renowned female artists as the great Pastora Pav\u00f3n. We must also acknowledge that male chauvinism and inequality exist in this art, although not in greater measure than in the society where it develops. That is, there is male chauvinism in flamenco, but just at the \u201cnormal\u201d level.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t say that I\u2019ve been the victim of flamenco sexism or discrimination myself, because, fortunately since I entered this world, as aficionada and pushy researcher, I\u2019ve always been treated very well in the different flamenco environments I\u2019ve been to. Yet, I\u2019ve been the witness or confident in some situations which have been, to say the least, shocking and unappropriated for our days. For example, a young artist told me that, when she started to perform as\u00a0palmera<\/i>, she was held to a much higher standard than her colleagues, just because she was a woman.<\/p>\n
Nowadays, when it comes to percussion, as well as flamenco guitar, the role of women is virtually as a token, as there are still people who think that the sense of rhythm is determined by chromosomes. Something similar happens regarding certain\u00a0cantes<\/i>, such as the\u00a0seguiriya<\/i>, which Fernando el de Triana, in 1935, called \u201cmasculine\u201d. Much more recently, around 2016, I was astonished when I heard, in a forum of flamenco researchers, that women had a hard time performing that particular\u00a0palo<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Yet, that\u2019s not the end of it. Well into the 21st century, women are still judged by their physical appearance\u2026 Whoever doesn\u2019t believe this can talk to a young and successful\u00a0cantaora<\/i>\u00a0who was invited to sit on the stage of a\u00a0pe\u00f1a<\/i>\u00a0before starting her performance, in order to\u00a0decorate<\/i>\u00a0the space. In the extreme opposite, a few weeks ago I was telling the story of the mother of a pre-teen artist in the same type of venue who was told to change her daughter\u2019s outfit because, for some strange reason, apparently\u00a0cante<\/i>\u00a0doesn\u2019t sound as good when the artists wear a skirt.<\/p>\n
To finish my stories, as I don\u2019t want to make people to feel bored, last year I attended a course of flamenco in the University of Seville, where great performers of\u00a0sole\u00e1<\/i>\u00a0were mentioned, such as La Andonda and Merced La Serneta. My initial joy soon became rage when I realized that the only information given about them referred to the men with whom their reportedly shared their beds. It\u2019s not that this detail is not important, because the personal lives of artists have a significant influence in their creativity. However, it seems that this logic only applies to women, because the professor giving the lecture never mentioned the relationships of Silverio, Chac\u00f3n or Mairena.<\/p>\n
Situations like these make evident that, despite all the advances in the last few years, many prejudices and stereotypes that have nothing to do with reality still prevail, and the only antidote to destroy them is knowledge.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why researching flamenco is so important, in order to bring to light the stories and testimonials of so many forgotten female flamenco artists who still have a lot to say: women like Adela Cubas, Matilde Cuervas or Victoria de Miguel, who were very successful guitarists in the early 20th century, great performers of\u00a0seguiriyas<\/i>\u00a0such as Mar\u00eda la Serrana, Isabelita de Jerez, Luisa la Pompi or Mar\u00eda Borrico, who also created the\u00a0seguiriya de cambio<\/i>\u00a0which bears her name, and famous stars of this art such as Trinidad Cuenca o Juana la Macarrona, who were admired and acclaimed in the international scene. All of them make clear that in flamenco, just like in life, there is no goal, no matter how ambitious, that women cannot achieve.<\/p>\n
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\u00c1ngeles Cruzado Rodr\u00edguez<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWhy don\u2019t you research men?\u201d, my father, a keen aficionado, asked me when he learned about my commitment of giving a voice to female flamenco artists<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,258],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-signature"],"yoast_head":"\n