Flamenco

Flamenco is a Spanish musical genre with strong, rhythmic undertones and is often accompanied with a similarly impassioned style of dance, el baile flamenco, characterised by its powerful yet graceful execution, as well as its intricate hand and footwork. The roots of flamenco are not precisely known, but it is generally acknowledged that it grew out of the unique interplay of native Andalusian, Islamic, Sephardic, and Gypsy cultures that existed in Andalusia prior to and after the Reconquest of Spain. Latin American and especially Cuban influences have also been important in shaping several flamenco musical forms, and recent research has revealed that there might even have been an influence of Sub-Saharan African music on flamenco's prehistory. This developed from the folk music and dance of African slaves held by the Spanish in the New World in the sixteenth and seventeenth century.

Although consisting of several musical strains, flamenco is generally defined by its famed emotional intensity and passion, a result, no doubt, of its origins among the lower levels of Andalusian society who endured great suffering. The Muslim Moors, Gitanos and Jews who were so influential in flamenco culture were all historically persecuted under Spanish rule and were among those expelled by the Inquisition in 1492. Although conventionally passed down the generations by oral tradition alone, flamenco has, since the 1980s, become an increasingly well-documented art form and has enjoyed something of a revival.

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