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<\/p>\nTry doing this: get the right corner of your mouth closer to the nearest ear, and leave the other side of your mouth rigid, immutable. Rise your left eyebrow and breath in some air. Snort it out saying this Word: \u201cpurista<\/i>\u201d. Do it with a long \u2018p\u2019 and almost omitting the \u2018s\u2019, even if you\u2019re not from Andalusia, Extremadura or the Caribbean. Don\u2019t make it sound like a whisper, but say it with disdain, and if the audience is suitable, add a gesture of revulsion.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m suggesting this performance due to something I\u2019ve noticed recently. That word is spoken in this manner by people who have just become interested in flamenco and others who don\u2019t really care about it, but ask me about this topic anyway, because they\u2019re interested in what I do, and I appreciate that very much. None of them have ever heard of\u00a0La Serneta<\/b>, or have ever listened anything from before\u00a0Camar\u00f3n de la Isla<\/b>, and even as some recognize the name\u00a0Mairena<\/b>, I always find out they mean Juan, the fictional teacher of rethoric created by the poet\u00a0Antonio Machado<\/b>, and not the cantaor from Mairena del Alcor.<\/p>\n
Which such flamenco background, there are many who now and again dare to say things such as: \u201cOh, the purists will have a fit when they listen to the new album by Whathisname\u201d. They say \u201cpurists\u201d as above, and sometimes they change \u201cWhatshisname\u201d by \u201cWhatshername\u201d, yet the moral authority with which they utter that particular word is always there. Occasionally, they even wink at me, as if expecting complicity.<\/p>\n
Sometimes I ask them what they mean by \u201cpurist\u201d. \u201cBackward\u201d and \u201coutdated\u201d are some of the synonyms they\u2019ve offered. With those I\u2019m better acquainted with and have more musical sensibility and understanding, I\u2019ve suggested listening to\u00a0Chac\u00f3n<\/b>,\u00a0Pastora<\/b>,\u00a0Chocolate<\/b>\u00a0and, lately (so I don\u2019t go too far back) I give them the lastest album published by\u00a0David Pino<\/b>. They have not only\u00a0not<\/i>\u00a0complained, but they have even realized that cante is something more difficult and complex than what is suggested by the clich\u00e9s and the mainstream media.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve met some of these so-called \u201cpurists\u201d and I know that they care more about protecting a history and a heritage than embalming flamenco and covering it with dust. Loving it, respecting it and putting it in its rightful place. Some are more open to change, others less so, but I don\u2019t want anything to do with those who are too close-minded and consider flamenco a relic rather than an art form.<\/p>\n
I want flamenco to be open, free and very diverse. I don\u2019t mind experiments, no matter how they end up, because I believe ethics and esthetics are also cemented with compromise. I accept any musical instrument that turns out to be suitable for flamenco and, even as I was reluctant to accept this before, I believe that any language is fitting for the\u00a0are jondo<\/i>, ever since I listened to\u00a0Jordi Fornells<\/b>\u00a0singing\u00a0tientos<\/i>\u00a0with verses by\u00a0Miquel Bau\u00e7\u00e0<\/b>. Yet, I still get dirty glances whenever I refuse to fall into traps, and by traps I mean easy, sweetened, unoriginal, disguised flamenco. Sometimes I can picture those giving me dirty looks snorting \u201cpurista<\/i>\u201d at me, as soon as I turn around.<\/p>\n
Having said that, I have a confession: when I was a youngster, I also used this word in a bad way. For example, when an adult came to tell me that\u00a0Camar\u00f3n de la Isla<\/b>\u00a0was a fake. Hurt, pretending to be older than I was, I would get my chin up, breath in, and with a thick \u2018p\u2019 I\u2019d replay \u201cWell, you\u2019re a purist!\u201d<\/p>\n
I hope I\u2019m forgiven. I didn\u2019t really mean to insult anyone. I just wanted to grow up and sometimes, with all that \u201cthis is right\u201d and \u201cthis is wrong\u201d and so much Pygmalion, they didn\u2019t let me to.<\/p>\n
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Silvia Cruz Lape\u00f1a<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Try doing this: get the right corner of your mouth closer to the nearest ear, and leave the other side of your mouth rigid, immutable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,258],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-signature"],"yoast_head":"\n