Concurso de Cante Jondo

[1] Conceived and initiated by composer Manuel de Falla, it enjoyed early and strong support from the poet Federico García Lorca.

The composer had devoted years developing his intuitive ability to craft its stream of color, to etch it shimmering contours in classical scores.

Enlisting the support of Spanish intellectuals was considered crucial, to counter the then-current flood of antiflamenquismo raised by the generación del '98.

These Spanish reformers were activists in the sweeping effort to modernize and transform Spain and its culture, yet in the process they judged flamenco harshly as frivolous and regressive.

Of course, including artistic circles of flamenco, its musicians and aficionados, but especially to encompass 'luminaries', guiding figures in the wider world of art and culture, to afterward sing in praise of cante jondo.

Lorca publicized, popularized the event by staging his oral presentations descriptive of Flamenco arts; he also published essays on its dramatic style and little-known history.

Added support came from two influential professors: philosopher Francisco Giner de los Ríos and Catalan musicologist and composer Felipe Pedrell (Falla's early music teacher).

"[47] So it was that Falla hoped that the Concurso y Fiesta del Cante Jondo,[48] sponsored by its many musicians and cultural figures, and by the Centro Artístico of Granada, would "restore all the purity to these marvelous songs, that rightly constitute one of the best natural achievements of European music".

Adherents praised the antiquity and purity of the flamenco art form, whose mysterious source lay in the very fountainhead of the human soul.

Their critics pointed out the sometimes lesser quality of the music and the mixed milieu of flamenco performances, which at propriety's edge could include some notorious venues.

[60][61] Debate over the nature of flamenco in its many guises continues, at times in a cauldron boiling with such politically-charged ingredients as social class, and ethnic origins.

[66] Yet the performance of flamenco is very difficult and demanding; only someone who devotes a great deal of their life's nurture to the art will be able to express its subtleties and nuance, its drama and simplicity.

[67] The elimination of all professionals from the contest was considered a mistake by many in flamenco, because there remained established practitioners of 'flamenco puro' who, while not fallen prey to the era's commercialism, might lack recompense.

On the other hand, flamenco styles explicitly forbidden (e.g., for a perceived lack of antiquity or profound expression) included: Malagueña, Granaínas, Rondeña, Sevillanas, Peteneras.

[77][78] The Concurso was held on the grounds of the Alhambra,[79] at the Plaza de Aljibes on the palace's west end, overlooking the Torre Bermeja and the old city of Granada to the southwest; to the north lay the rising slopes of the Sacromonte (the Gypsi quarter).

[80] Perfumed by cypress trees, and with French lavender scattered on the ground for the event, the plaza lay across the crest of a ridge, to which one ascended, entering by way of the Torre de la Justicia.

It was decorated for the occasion by the artist Ignacio Zuloaga, whose visual display employed brilliant embroidered textiles and mantones [capes] of Andalucia.

[84][85][86] A long-retired flamenco cantaor of seventy-two years, Diego Bermúdez Cala (El Tenazas), became a surprise star of the Concurso.

[87] Evidently, thirty years before a punctured lung suffered at knife point had forced him to retire early from the flamenco circuit.

To many aficionados, Tío Bermúdez appeared as if he'd learned his cante directly from the legend, Silverio Franconetti; although for others he didn't know how to sing, but only flirt.

[90][91] Listening to el Tío Tenazas ["Uncle Tongs"] "hurl into the air his song", Antonio Chacón exclaimed, "¡Válgame Dios, lo que oigo!"

Despite a reputation for a flamenco puro style, in his prime starting in the 1930s, he greatly prospered by commercially mixing his cante jondo with popular trends and tastes.

[98] Altogether there were ten amateur contestants who won prize money of varying amounts, which the public funding and ticket sales evidently covered.

[104] Hired by the Concurso were three guitarists who for the occasion became a trio: José Cuéllar, Ramón Montoya, and the extraordinary es:Manolo de Huelva.

"[107] At an early Concurso performance, while Antonio Chacón was singing accompanied by Ramón Montoya on guitar, a poorly dressed, elderly Gypsy woman who had been seen quietly weeping, rose to her feet, drew her head back, and began to dance the soleares with remarkable style and grace.

A Madrid magazine published soon after the event described the Concurso as "unforgettable", with its alternating displays of yearning, vehemence, superstition, or fervor, "a simple seduction of sound, rhythms linear in the flesh".

In Madrid, press comments included the declaration: "Muy grande ha sido el éxito del Concurso.

Although it could be argued that the general results of the Concurso were somewhat mixed,[115] success could well be claimed for the event itself, an enjoyable and seminal gathering of performers and aficionados.

[117] For example, La Caña: "[A]n ancient cante with religious overtones and chant-like passages that have made it a popular vehicle for the misa flamenca--the catholic mass performed to flamenco music.

[119] A new era in the art's development was dawning, the period of Ópera flamenca, now often disparaged for its theatrical airs, its brand of syncretism and merger with other musical styles.