Foot Works

Posted on Sunday, January 30, 2011 in health

Acquiring a Better Perception of Flamenco as a Cultural Performance

Music is a primary form of art that uses sound as its medium; fundamentals of music are pitch, melody, harmony, tempo and rhythm. In a number of culture in all countries, music presents different types of vital roles, such as, entertainment, religious acts, traditions, and a lot more.

Music also has an essential role in Spain’s culture and history; the biggest influence in Spain’s music is the Roman culture because they have been a major cultural reign for hundreds of years, even introducing the influence of Greek music. In time, the Visigoths came, an East Germanic tribe, followed by the Jews, then the Moors; these series of several different influences has amounted to Spain’s diverse musical styles and form. To fully understand the art and music of Spain, you must know their language and understand their culture, and the simplest way to do that is by exploring websites like Rocket Spanish which offers free basic Language lessons and free basic cultural lessons. Rocket Spanish or Bust is a Computer Assisted Language Learning that can help you speak Spanish fluently.

A world wide popular music that comes from Spain is Flamenco which a lot of people believed it is widely spread all throughout Spain. Contrary to numerous people’s notion, Flamenco is only considered popular in just one region; Andalusia, an autonomous community in Spain that is known for the history of Flamenco as well as considered the second largest in terms of land area in Spain. The neighboring regions surrounding Andalusia have varying music because the number of countries that greatly influenced Spain’s culture and music.

Flamenco originated from the Andalusian regions and contrary to what it is now, it used to be only famous in the Andalusian regions and nowhere else in Spain. The rapid steps and transitions as well as the loud, fancy foot works defines the Flamenco apart as a dance technique. Flamenco also symbolizes the complex music and practice of Spain; however, researches exploring the origins of Flamenco until today have inconclusive findings.

Flamenco came from the lower levels of society in Andalusia; it was a turbulent time and a lot of people have prejudgments against Gypsies, which many believe have an influence on the origins of Flamenco. Studies also shows that there’s a connection of gypsy dance culture and the descendants of Moorish music in the 8^th century until 17^th century in the ancestry of Flamenco; still many also believe that apart from gypsy dance and Moorish music, there is also influence of music from Egypt, India, and the Byzantine church which played a big part in creating this art form. During the era when Flamenco first became a music and dance form in Spain, Gypsies were prejudiced all over the world; Spain was no exception in that during those times, Gypsies were persecuted and discriminated. The locals of the Andalusian regions are also some of the most persecuted people during the inquisition; the fact that they were also illiterate didn’t help their circumstance so if the historians didn’t record the nuances surrounding the increased knowledge of Flamenco as an art form, they only passed on the history through oral tradition which tends to die out eventually.

Even though much of the Flamenco’s ancestry is kept unknown and the art form itself has evolved through the being passed on by oral tradition, it’s still quite an influential music and dance form. However, one reality remains which is that Flamenco has influenced dance cultures worldwide.

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