Understanding Flamenco in the African Diaspora
So you saw the film Gurumbé: Afro-Andalusian Memories, about the omission of slavery from the history of Spain, and how the Atlantic slave trade is tied to the development of music in flamenco. You attended the presentation about the omission of Africans in flamenco and the story of race in the art form, given by the American author of the new book Sonidos Negros: On the Blackness of Flamenco, You experienced the performance at Red Light Café, by a flamenco dancer of African descent, accompanied by a Seville-born singer who created song lyrics especially meant to underscore the message of the African Diaspora in flamenco.
Now what?
Each of these events was presented Oct. 29 – Nov. 2, 2018 across metro Atlanta and Dahlonega, in an effort to introduce residents to new perspectives of race, the arts, and history. As an introduction to the information, it was meant to be educational. As educational moments, presenters, scholars, and artists involved knew it would also be controversial, because the information challenges, even strikes down, previously held beliefs about history. As an introduction of new information, it was meant to be a beginning. In hindsight, the perspectives provide a new lens through which to consider the history of slavery, civil rights, and equality, looking toward the future.
“I hope the stories I tell you today will surprise you,” said Meira Goldberg, Ed.,D., as she began her talk about her book Sonidos Negros: On the Blackness of Flamenco, on Nov. 2, in the Rialto Theater lobby. The talk was presented by the GSU School of Music, in an effort to broaden horizons about African influence in the arts in Spain. Golderg knew that she would introduce the audience to facts that, when connected, would draw questions that might spark a conversation about race and racism. Her talk was packed with details, from the origin of the concept of race to the juxtaposition of white and black as a metaphor of good and bad in Christianity, during the years when a monarchy wanted to rid the region of non-Christians. Blackness was projected upon West and Central Africans who were enslaved, as well as Roma and the Moors. Goldberg led the audience through an analysis of dance steps caught on film at the turn of the 20th century and again in the 1980s. She pointed out how the African dancer Jacinto Padilla, “El Negro Meri,” performed a jump that almost 100 years later was performed by the famous dancer Antonio Montoya Flores. Padilla was only recently identified in the film, by the Lumière Brothers.
During a question and answer session following a screening of the film presented by the Spanish Department at the University of North Georgia, Gurumbé director Miguel Ángel Rosales was questioned about the reaction of his countrymen to his film. Spaniards have not been taught in school about slavery in Spain, and for that reason, they are shocked, he explained. One young American student attending the University of North Georgia, said about the film, “I have never heard about this information before.” Imagine, being her age, all of 20 years old, and going forth for the rest of your life having heard the message of the film: that careful study by archaeologists, sociologists, historians, and musicians, has brought to light not only that there was slavery in Spain, but that flamenco, as well as other genres of music and dance, were shaped by the slave trade.
Dancer Yinka Esi Graves brought the message of the African Diaspora to students in four classes and a performance while in Atlanta, underscoring the common points between flamenco dance and music and African traditions that she has practiced. She showed audiences her own creations in flamenco, including unique footwork rhythms and a relationship of movement to the feeling of self. As with Goldberg and Rosales, Graves’ use of her knowledge of the arts and history outside of flamenco, makes her stand out among her peers in the genre.
In each case, the discussion of India as a contributor to flamenco was not highlighted in discussion. It is well known that the Romani people, whose image is synonymous with flamenco, traveled to Spain during a long migration from India, the place of their ancestors. This week was dedicated to revealing flamenco as an Africanist art form, to help question how the notion of blackness was transferred from Africans to the Romani prior to the development of flamenco.
In each case, the experts involved used their knowledge in other fields to examine aspects of flamenco in history and society. The importance of entering a study of flamenco from a field outside of the art form was prominent in discussion throughout the week-long visit by these scholars and artists to Atlanta, perhaps in part due to the rise of empirical research in the humanities. The assertion of a hypothesis and the search for data to support or refute a claim demands more than the anecdotal evidence that has been present in much of the writing about flamenco history in the 19th and 20th centuries. With the wide accessibility of information and the speed of its exchange, the pace of such research as it relates to flamenco can happen relatively quickly.
The week of events surrounding flamenco and the African Diaspora fell on the ears and eyes of people living in and near Atlanta, a city that is a hub of hip hop, the scene of one milestone after another during the civil rights movement, and a metropolitan giant in the South. So, now what? That is the question for those who participated in these events, which are not meant to be the end but a beginning of a view of history that stands to draw connections across distances of geography and time, as well as people.
More information:
Auburn Avenue Research Library, now housing a copy of film Gurumbé: Afro-Andalusian Memories >>
The Spanish Department at UNG, now housing a copy of film Gurumbé: Afro-Andalusian Memories >>
Trailer, Gurumbé: Afro-Andalusian Memories >>
Sonidos Negros: On the Blackness of Flamenco, by K. Meira Goldberg >>
The Body Questions: Celebrating Flamenco’s Tangled Roots: 2018 Conference >>
Transatlantic malagueñas and zapateados in music, song, and dance: 2017 conference >>