Flamenco: Gypsy Soul

Flamenco - a beguiling mix of guitar, song and dance

forged by the ancient Andalusian gypsy.

Its themes of joy and sorrow were an expression of the gypsy way of life,

and I have come to southern Spain to see if it still exists.

I want to know if flamenco is still relevant to the gypsies,

evoking what they call el duende,

a mysterious power that everyone feels but nobody can explain.

I'll be travelling deep into the heart of Andalusia,

from Malaga to Cadiz,

to discover how this ancient gypsy art has evolved,

and what it has to say about Spain today.

Of all world music, flamenco is perhaps the most misrepresented.

For decades, we Brits have thought of it as a soundtrack

to two weeks on the beach.

But behind the postcard image

lies a music full of passion and beauty,

and you don't have to look too far to find it.

My journey starts in the very heart of the Costa del Sol,

where I've come to meet Spain's biggest flamenco star.

Estrella Morente stands at the pinnacle of an art form

that has little in common with the tourist cliche.

Many of us think that flamenco is a Spanish folk music,

but historically, it was only to be found in one province - Andalusia.

How it became synonymous with Spain has much to do

with how the country was sold to sun-seekers

by Western Europe's most enduring dictator.

HE SINGS

I want to find the reality behind flamenco's postcard image.

My next stop is Granada,

where I want to get a sense of flamenco's ancient roots,

and meet my first gypsies.

For many centuries, Granada's gypsies lived in caves

hewn out of the soft hillside of the Sacromonte.

Many of these caves survive,

and I'm off to one to watch a Zambra,

a flamenco dance alleged to be as old as flamenco itself.

The gypsies arrived in Andalusia in the 15th century,

during the Christian reconquest of Spain.

This was the time of Ferdinand and Isabella,

Catholic monarchs hellbent on purging Muslims and Jews,

and the gypsies were caught up in the persecution.

The gypsies were outsiders in Christian Spain,

but they were not alone.

It is believed that flamenco evolved out of their mixing

with other minority cultures.

When they came, Andalusia had plenty of Moorish people,

Jewish also,

and then we have also a folklore, a natural folklore.

We have a lot of people from Africa, slaves.

So, the mix of Seville, or Cadiz, was amazing.

So the flamenco, the gypsies with all those influences,

they make something very concrete and strong.

This Zambra dance is unique to Granada.

Its timeless feel transports you back to ancient Spain.

-ALL:

-Ole!

Granada also has a pivotal role in 20th-century flamenco.

I really want to understand how this gypsy music has become part

of Spanish popular culture.

And to do that, I have had to come to one of the most beautiful places

in Andalusia.

Built by the Moors in the 10th century,

the Alhambra palace was the site of the flamenco competition in 1922

which would catapult gypsy music into the national psyche.

Local artists,

including Spain's greatest poet, Frederico Garcia Lorca,

passionately believed in the deep song of the Andalusian gypsy,

and organised a concurso de cante jondo

to promote it to the wider world.

I have come to the very square in which the competition was held

to meet Granadan singer Juan Pinillar.

So, Juan, why was this place so important -

or why is this place so important - for flamenco?

Flamenco wasn't considered... a kind of important music.

At this moment, in 1922,

flamenco was considered by the population

like a music for gypsies, poor people, you know.

It wasn't considered by the intellectuals.

The concursa would propel gypsy music

into the national consciousness,

launching careers for a golden generation of gypsy artists,

such as joint first-prize winner Manolo Caracol.

Only 12 at the time, he would go on to be both a famous singer

and star of Spanish film.

Incredible, actually, to be here in this place

where this competition took place,

knowing that they were here

and the sound would be bouncing off these walls.

It must have been extraordinary.

Yes. It was the first time that it happened.

And, for me, it was so important, because after this concurso,

after concurso,

flamenco grew up.

The concurso marked the moment when flamenco

became an accepted art form,

opening up new opportunities for its exponents.

Gypsies can now make a living from flamenco,

but traditionally, they worked as blacksmiths.

Now, I'm really lucky, because I'm off to Cabra

to see one of the last working forges

and find out what the connection is

between the forge and flamenco.

HE SINGS

For the first 300 years of their existence,

Spain's gypsies survived as opportunists

on the fringes of Spanish society.

As blacksmiths, they got by shoeing warhorses

and sharpening weapons for those willing to pay.

It was in the forge that flamenco is believed to have begun,

an unaccompanied private document of their suffering.

Enrique is one of the very last

in a distinguished and skilled gypsy tradition.

HE SINGS

The earliest forms of flamenco

were sorrowful, unaccompanied laments of gypsy life,

and to the uninitiated, they're almost unrecognisable as flamenco.

The instrument that gave it a trademark sound

was a Spanish icon borrowed and adapted by flamenco

in the 18th century.

I am about to meet one of flamenco's great guitarists and scholars.

Paco Pena was the world's first flamenco professor,

and he has a special relationship with Britain.

In the swinging '60s, Paco Pena came to London

and turned British audiences on to flamenco guitar.

So, it was very influential.

That time for me was critical.

Terribly important.

In the end, I played with Jimi Hendrix in the Royal Festival Hall.

-When was that?

-I think it was '69.

-Fantastic.

-It was amazing!

It was a packed Royal Festival Hall, with the...

The star was the guitar, but in different forms, you know?

So they accepted flamenco, and the top of the bill was Jimi Hendrix.

Would you believe it?

But the guitar as a solo instrument is more a modern creation,

and its traditional role is far more basic.

Paco, can you tell us about the role of guitar in flamenco?

I'll be absolutely blunt - the singing is it.

The guitar follows the song.

There is a rhythmic structure

provided by the guitar, which is called the compas.

The compas is a measure,

it's a number of bars, or something,

divided in a particular way with particular accents, and so on,

in different flamenco styles.

For example, the solea -

which is an absolutely fundamental flamenco form.

It has 12 beats,

and there are accents on beats three, six, eight, ten and 12.

If you imagine one, two,

three, four, five,

six, seven, eight, nine...

I can't count when I play, because we just feel the rhythm.

Eight, nine, ten, 11, 12.

One, two...

three, four, five,

six, seven,

eight, nine,

ten, 11, 12.

In the modern era, the crossover appeal of guitar

can be attributed to another Paco - de Lucia.

The explosion came when Paco de Lucia appeared -

this wonderful artist, you know!

But from then on, a lot of people have followed his,

if you like, his lead.

And there's a million young guitarists doing fantastic work.

So it's very healthy, really, at the moment.

Seville is the capital of Andalusia,

and from the 18th century onwards,

it was also known as the capital of flamenco.

The city and, in particular, its historic gypsy quarter of Triana

produced generations of flamenco dynasties.

I'm crossing the river Guadalqivir

to see if Triana still resonates to the sound of gypsy flamenco.

SPANISH BRASS BAND PLAYS

By chance, I have arrived during Triana's Festival of Corpus Christi.

HE SINGS

The gypsy dynasties of Triana were reputed to be the most

important in flamenco.

They were all descendants of blacksmith tribes,

and to them, flamenco was a way of expressing

how they felt at a particular given moment.

The Poligono Sur is a housing estate in South Seville.

It's a barrio created by Franco in the '70s,

to gather together Seville's marginal and poor.

Including its gypsies.

I'm wondering if gypsy flamenco survived this relocation.

SINGING NEARBY

This party is hosted by the Jimenezes and Gonzales

But rather than ancient styles, they play lighter flamenco rumba.

THEY LAUGH

-ALL:

-Ole!

That was really good fun.

There was a real celebration, a sense of celebration

and a kind of expression of community.

It was great.

And life here is clearly very tough,

but that's where the music comes from.

The cante jondo, or deep song,

expresses the most profound emotions of sorrow and grief in flamenco.

Purists consider it to be the only true flamenco,

and to find it I must leave Seville

and reconnect with a timeless Andalusia.

I've been tipped off about an old goat herder

whose speciality is the quintessence of the cante jondo,

the mournful seguiriya.

HE SINGS

No.

SINGING CONTINUES

In the seguiriya, I think I've begun to find the soul of flamenco

that I have been searching for.

And it's not surprising, considering where I am.

The heartland of gypsy flamenco lies on a line

that stretches from Seville to Cadiz

and I'm now deep within it.

My next stop is Moron de la Frontera,

a town with one of the richest gypsy heritages.

Like all the places I've visited,

flamenco in Moron has a distinct sound

that its current inhabitants adhere to.

But what makes it especially interesting here

is that the style can be traced to just one gypsy.

Diego del Gastor rarely recorded.

For him, flamenco was the private music of gypsy life.

Diego's family still live largely by this philosophy today.

It feels such a privilege to be here amongst this gypsy family,

who have four generations of incredible musicians,

and it's still very much a part of everyday life.

It's an extraordinary feeling.

-ALL:

-Ole!

DRUMS BEAT

Andalusia lies at the very bottom of Spain.

It's barely on the cusp of Europe.

MUSIC: "Sketches of Spain" by Miles Davis

I'm getting a sense here that even in the 21st century

time stands still.

I've come to Cordoba for the feria

and it feels as if I've wandered into the set of a spaghetti western.

It's quite surreal.

There's music blasting from all the casitas

and smells of food and...

horse manure, actually.

And there's heroic amounts of drinking and smoking going on,

which I'm told is essential, fundamental,

to the flamenco way of life.

But the music we've come to see is the Sevillana,

which is the party music of flamenco,

which is known throughout Spain,

but it's happening here today.

FLAMENCO GUITARS PLAY

MALE SINGER SINGS SEVILLANA VERSE

CHORUS JOINS IN

Sevillanas is born into the flamenco,

but it's a popular dance.

Flamenco is so much professional

and a difficult dance and difficult dancing and the music,

but a Sevillanas is a dance every people can enjoy and can dance.

FEMALE SINGS SEVILLANA VERSE

What's actually going on in the dance?

Sevillanas is like a love story.

It has four times

and in the first you dance with the man,

you move your body, but you cross with your back.

But in the end, the fourth, you cross side-by-side, OK.

It is like the end is love,

it is the perfect final.

-The flirting.

-Exactly.

FEMALE SINGS SEVILLANA VERSE

CHORUS JOINS IN

The Sevillanas originated as a type of traditional Spanish dance,

but sometime in the 19th century it garnered a flamenco look that stuck.

Generations of Spaniards love it to this day.

SEVILLANA CHORUS

APPLAUSE

Like Franco's tourist flamenco, Sevillanas is

a light version of a profound music.

I'm back on the gypsy trail in Lebrija.

A town that lies within the heartland of flamenco,

between Seville and Cadiz.

I've come to see the Pinini clan,

a family famous for their dolorous interpretations

of the cante jondo, the deep songs of the Andalusian gypsy.

GENTLE GUITAR RIFF

When flamenco reaches its most emotive and transcendental,

the gypsies say it evokes a duende.

WOMAN SINGS DEEPLY

WOMAN: Ole!

MAN: Ole!

WOMAN: Ole!

My encounter with gypsy flamenco has been characterised by sadness.

You can almost call flamenco the blues of Europe,

but that would not reveal the whole story.

GUITAR AND CLAPPING

Jerez rivals Seville for the title of flamenco capital.

Not only is the town famous for sherry,

the popular buleria was invented here.

WOMAN SINGS, CLAPPING

But what makes Jerez really stand apart

is the way gypsies have been treated here.

WOMAN SINGS, CLAPPING

Many gypsies came here to work in the vineyards

and the fields

and they allowed them

to settle down here, to become integrated.

WOMAN SINGS

Garcia Lorca, for instance, said that Jerez was the gypsy city,

because gypsies integrated so well in the local society.

That doesn't happen in other parts

of Andalusia or even Spain.

GUITAR PLAYS

Duende here is not a spirit of the woods,

it comes in a glass.

The maturation process, the ageing process,

that is used here in Jerez,

has strong connections with

the way that flamenco has developed in Jerez

because old wine

is mixed with new wine.

SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Unlike Seville, Jerez has retained its gypsy quarters

but I'm wondering if the gypsy way of life

really remains untouched here.

I've come to Santiago to meet lifelong inhabitant,

the singer Juana La Del Pipa.

HE SINGS

On my journey through Andalusia, I have been really privileged

to steal a glimpse of a lost way of life.

But I'm left with the one question.

How did this parochial music break out of southern Spain

to become the international phenomenon that we know today?

Hala!

HE SINGS

I am in San Fernando to find out more about the man

they called "The Shrimp of the Island."

Camaron de la Isla was the king of the gypsies

and the Jimi Hendrix of flamenco.

HE SINGS

Well, I think the gypsy people

have the necessity to have a king or a prince, always.

So Camaron, from the beginning, was accepted for the gypsy people

in one way like a god.

Between 1969 and '77, Camaron recorded nine albums

with Paco de Lucia,

the pair forging a living as a formidable duo

around the venues of Madrid.

HE SINGS

And then, in the middle of his career, he became a hippie.

I mean, he came to Seville, by the time we had the American bases,

so we had all the best records, the best music,

rock, like Bob Dylan or Janis Joplin.

This music came before to Seville, and with the music came the LSD.

HE SINGS

In 1979, Camaron recorded La Leyenda Del Tiempo,

an album influenced by the poetry of Lorca

that threw out the traditional styles and featured rock instrumentation.

Camaron was the crossover artist who put flamenco and gypsies on the world map.

But in true rock star fashion,

the gypsy king's lifestyle got the better of him in 1992.

CROWD CHANT: Camaron! Camaron!

Camaron unlocked flamenco to a new audience,

just as Spain took its first faltering steps as a democracy.

Today, the three pillars of flamenco - song, guitar and dance -

stand stronger than ever before.

SINGING AND CLAPPING

Flamenco belongs to gitano and payo alike -

an art form deemed fit for the world's most prestigious stages.

One of the world's leading flamenco festivals is held

annually at Sadler's Wells.

This year, top artists such as Eva Yerbabuena

are mixing up the traditional forms

to create an experimental spectacle.

The big star of 2013 is Farruquito.

Heralding from one of Seville's leading gypsy dynasties,

he is best placed to understand the conflicting pull

of the modern and the ancient.

I've reached the end of the road in Cadiz.

In fact, I can't go any further.

On this amazing journey, I found that flamenco is a vibrant

and joyous music. People consider it to be a way of life.

And I've discovered what that means is that you have to live

completely in the moment.

Although flamenco is deeply rooted in the Andalusian soil

and the Andalusian way of life, those themes,

those common human themes - joy, pain, love, sorrow - connect us all.

And so the music speaks to us all.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd