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The heritage of the the Guitar in Flamenco Spanish Music

The origin of the Spanish guitar can be traced back to the 15th century. During this period various

instruments from the Islamic tradition progressively were adapted to finally arrive at a version of

the contemporary Guitar.Although the terms to decribe the two types of Spanish guitar are

interchangeable, the reality is that they are different, but related. The smaller Flamenco guitar, is

made of cypress and spruce woods to give it a more forceful,penetrating tone, while it's Classical

cousin, has a large body and warmer tonality.

To simulate interest in the authentic form of Flamenco music - Cante Jondo ("deep song") one of

Spain's (and the World's) greatest poets teamed up with one of that countries foremost musical

composers to present what they called "The Fiesta del Cante Jondo. Federico Garcia Lorca, the

poet and Manuel de Falla were hoping to open ears to what they felt were the, at that time

"unfashionable" true roots of Flamenco Music.

Flamenco had it's origin, as do many folk musics, as expressions of repression by the poor. This

was the case in the Spanish province of Andalusia where it became a musical outlet for

repression suffered by the local population. Like most folk arts, Flamenco is passed down from

generation to generation in an oral tradition.

Flamenco is a tripartite art, involving singing, dance and the guitar simultaneously - as well as

rhytmic punctuation (by hand-claps and other methods) that is considered an art form.

The first three were thrown together by the general persecution that followed the expulsion of theMoors in 1492.Flamenco was eventually created by the fusion of the cante gitano with Andalusian

folk music.

The accompaniment of the singing by the guitar is a later phenomenon although it is recorded by

travellers in Andalusia in the 18th century.

Andalucian folk songs had in the past been accompanied by different instruments including

bandurria, violin and tambourine, but now the guitar predominated.

Flamenco Guitar Music, and the dance it accompanied, first became a public, performing art in

the second half of the nineteenth century, with the emergence of the cafe cantante.

The first cafe cantante opened in Seville in 1842, and attracted very little attention. An audience of

aficionados from all classes and occupations watched the performance.They could expect to be

entertained by a group comprising perhaps one or two singers, three or four female and two male

dancers, accompanied by two guitarists.

Good guitarists were in great demand, the competition was fierce. In their efforts to outdo each

other, the players introduced new techniques, and sometimes even resorted to tricks and

outrageous acts of showmanship such as playing with a glove at one hand or with the guitar held

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above their head.