Why Does Majorca Not Love Flamenco?

When Paco de Lucía passed away in February last year, the association between Majorca and the world's greatest exponent of the flamenco guitar died with him. A few years before his death, but already a resident of the island, he became the last in a line of celebrity faces that the regional tourism ministry felt might help with promotion. Famous though he undoubtedly was, the choice seemed a little odd, though not perhaps any odder than there having been a German model (Claudia Schiffer) or a Russian tennis player (Anna Kournikova) as faces of Majorca. Nevertheless, what did a flamenco musician have to do with Majorca or the Balearics? Flamenco isn't Majorcan music.

When de Lucía decided to uproot and move to Majorca, he did so because he was looking for somewhere to enjoy peace and quiet. In Toledo, where he had been living in a six-storey mansion, he had tired of Japanese tourists flashing their cameras at the impressive gate. His house had been featured in tourist guides and on tourist routes.

Toledo lies not so far south of Madrid, a city which, despite being a fair old distance from the birthplace of flamenco in de Lucía's native Andalusia, was and is a centre of the flamenco tradition. It is said that Barcelona is also such a centre, which might seem a little surprising. Flamenco is synonymous with Spanish culture, even if it is a culture largely of Andalusia and of the capital: when Madrid was being promoted for the 2020 Olympic Games, the video featured flamenco strongly.

Away from Toledo, away from Madrid, de Lucía was able to enjoy the quiet life he craved. He would go with his family to the occasional village fiesta. He might play. But he had no interest in drawing attention to himself. He was content with being part of a community, mingling with the local people, unmolested by them.

That someone of his fame was able to achieve this says much for his humility, but what did it say of flamenco? Of course he was famous, enormously famous, a global superstar. He had been able to pack the main hall at Palma's auditorium in late 2010, but otherwise, what was the island's relationship with this music, with this tradition?

Take yourselves back to the days of early mass tourism in Majorca, and there was a culture to be promoted which was pretty much mandated from Manuel Fraga's ministry for information and tourism. It wasn't a Majorcan culture but a Spanish one. From the ubiquitousness of souvenirs to the bullfight to the music, it was Spanishness that was for sale, and flamenco was one of the products.

Flamenco had suffered badly because of the Civil War and its aftermath, not because it was proscribed but mainly because it was being lost amidst the poverty in Andalusia. It wasn't until 1956, when a "cante jondo" contest was held in Cordoba, that its revival started. The Franco regime was to cotton on to its renewed popularity as a tourism money spinner, and what was good for the Costa del Sol was also good for the Costa Brava and Majorca.

Come forward fifty years to the current day, and flamenco in Majorca, while it still has its place in the tourism scene, is a quite different beast. It is everywhere in its more serious guises - its music and its dance. Consult what's on pages, and you will find, especially in summer, flamenco seasons, flamenco nights, flamenco as part of music festivals (those of a classical nature), flamenco and dinner events. Majorca appears to be almost drowning under the sheer weight of flamenco, further bolstered by Andalusian cultural fairs that have sprung up in many a town.

Yet despite all these events appearing in what's on listings, despite there being a significant Andalusian population in Majorca, promoters of flamenco are bemoaning the fact that it simply isn't capturing the general public's imagination. They attribute this partly to a lack of promotional visibility, but how can this be? As I say, flamenco seems to be everywhere, and be it somewhere like the Embat beach chiringuito at Es Trenc or the Santanyi International Music Festival, promotion seems anything other than invisible.

Flamenco in a different, more of-the-moment guise - flamenco chill - is undoubtedly popular, but this genre differs quite significantly from more traditional flamenco and in one very important way: the singing, which is all but absent. There are various forms of singing, such as the "cante jondo", but it has to be said that it is an acquired taste. Vocally, flamenco can grate.

Is this a reason for not capturing the public's imagination? Maybe it is. Or maybe it is a memory of how traditional Majorcan music was sidelined by the Spanishness of early tourism. And maybe, quite simply, because it isn't Majorcan music.

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