Classical Guitar and the Duende

Serious Song:

Classical Guitar and the Duende

by Emma Markham

Set deep in the caves of Sacramonte the cry begins, the stomping of feet and the whirl of chords sweep up the dust of the earth and send the tears of its people flying into a frenzy of sound. Serious song has begun. But what is it that makes this music cry, and causes a shiver to run through all those who witness it? An onlooker from any walk of life who hears this music and feels its pain and passion rush through their blood knows that it is something special and it is something that all art longs for. Flamenco is a form of music that is completely dedicated to expressing the emotions of the individual. It was born from the suffering of a people generally referred to as the Gypsies of the southern Spanish region known as Andalusia. These people have experienced an extensive history of being ostracized, underprivileged, and segregated from the populations that surround them. These experiences spawned a collective trauma amongst the Gypsy people, and are the fuel that ignites the intense power and passion behind their music.

This discussion aims to outline the basic pattern of psychological behavior that results in the serious song of flamenco. The process begins with a seed of emotional trauma, from which comes an emotional wound within the group or individual. From this wound comes an emotional struggle with oneself in relation to that wound–this being referred to as the duende. And then, once the duende exists and the internal tension has festered, there comes a need for an externalization–this being the cathartic act of song. This moment of catharsis is cherished and celebrated openly and enthusiastically in the flamenco community through their musical practices; however it is something that can be translated into all forms of art, specifically the art of classical guitar music. If paired with an audience that brings an attitude and atmosphere that encourages catharsis, then the classical performer is presented with an opportunity to become a translator for the duende across cultural and musical boundaries.

Flamenco’s roots are generally attributed to the Gypsies of Andalusia, Spain. However, this music is a result of many different racial and religious groups’ traditions, including those of Sephardic Jews, the Moorish people who ruled the peninsula from 711 to 1492, and the migratory Roma people from India who later became known as the Gitanos, or Gypsies of southern Spain (Pohren, 39). These different cultures undoubtedly had their own folk songs, dances, and stories that later would meld together into what is now known as flamenco music (Pohren 49). The first recorded appearance of Gypsies in Spain occurred around 1447 after large numbers of Indian refugees migrated into the peninsula, later becoming labeled as the Roma people (Pohren 49). In 1492 the Moors were finally defeated at their stronghold of Granada and the new Christian monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabel, took control of the country (Boase). They swiftly began to expunge all minority groups from Spain by forcing them to convert to Christianity or leave, concluding between 1609 and 1614 (Boase). However, many of these peoples remained in the mountains and desolate outskirts of the region and began to draw the attention of the Inquisition, which targeted those who would not abandon their traditions (Pohren 50). Because of this persecution these different groups, the Jews, Arabs, and Romanis, united under their hatred for the Inquisition and began to form common philosophies and lifestyles as they traveled along the outskirts of modern Spanish society.

This group, now becoming what is broadly referred to as Gypsies, had become a nomadic people who traveled from region to region and would carry with them only the basic necessities for survival. They believed that material possessions were futile and unnecessary and that in holding a daily job, “He [the non-Gypsy] lives in fear and anxiety” (Pohren 43). Through this commonality in lifestyle the melding of their histories and musical traditions flourished, culminating in the original flamenco serious song.

Traveling in clans made up of fifteen to twenty members, the Gypsies would perform on the streets of the cities or sell second-hand items to make just enough money to feed their families for the day (Pohren 41). This lifestyle was looked down upon by the middle and upper classes that surrounded the Gypsy people because to the ignorant onlooker they appeared to be nothing more than beggars, thieves, and lowlifes. This distain created a traumatic wound in the Gypsy people and consequently created a culture that was obsessed with struggle, pain, and conflict, which in turn was reflected in their music.

The catharsis of serious flamenco will be the foundation of this discussion because it is what can enable other forms of music, specifically classical guitar music, to elevate their passion and emotional impact. The light flamenco, which developed as a commercialized off-shoot of serious flamenco has strayed too far from this idea of catharsis to be of any importance in this discussion other than to prove that without the duende, traditional flamenco is conceptually altered into an entirely different musical practice.

This shift occurred during the cafes cantantes, a period beginning in the 19 century, when flamenco became commercialized and performed as entertainment instead of catharsis. As Andalusia became more industrialized the Gypsy people started to lose their nomadic tradition and were forced to adopt a more capitalist lifestyle. They began to use their unique musical style as a way to make money by forming groups that would perform in the tabloas of the middle and upper classes. During this time technical virtuosity and upbeat dance music became the desirable style because it was more impressive and entertaining to those who were paying to see an evening of music in the nightclubs. This is how the light category of flamenco was created. Light flamenco is flamenco that does not contain the duende, does not require the voz afilla (the unique singing style of traditional flamencos), and does not deal with such somber themes in the text of the coplas (the verse of flamenco song) (Pohren 67). Because of the lack of these elements, light flamenco cannot be considered a form of catharsis; it has become a monetary means of survival instead of an emotional one. This shift in the motivation behind flamenco is evidence that the duende, and the artist’s commitment to accessing and expressing it, is what creates catharsis in flamenco and in turn creates the truly moving serious song.

The need for catharsis stems from the collective trauma of the Gypsy people. Because of the mandates of the Inquisition, the religious intolerance of their government, and the resulting stigma attached to their culture, the Gypsies of Andalusia were living in the sixteenth century as an extremely traumatized people. It is this trauma that spurred a need for catharsis. This idea of trauma and catharsis, and how the two are linked, is outlined in Writing History, Writing Trauma by Dominick LaCapra. The serious song is a natural result of this process because of its physical relief, its communicative words, and its ability to evoke spiritual emotions. These songs were originally sung as a way to work through struggles and to find the strength to live another day with the traumatic wound. This wound, and the individual’s relationship with their wound, would later be defined as the duende, which is the centerpiece of all serious flamenco performances and will be discussed in detail shortly.

An example of music born from suffering that may be more familiar to non-Spaniards is that of the African-American slave and their music, the blues. They were a people who existed within a society that did not accept them and turned them into social outcasts. These themes of pain and struggle are prevalent in the songs of the blues and to this day are critical to the success of any blues performance. The idea of suffering is the seed of many folk genres because the goal of the music is to act as a form of catharsis for the people who created it. Catharsis is possible only when proceeded by strong emotional tension, a condition we identify as suffering.

This process of catharsis can be identified by examining the lifestyle and history of the Gypsy people, the similarities found during flamenco performances to religious cathartic acts, the text of flamenco coplas, and the bodily acts which occur when the duende is accessed by a performer.

The traditional setting for flamenco cante was the late night Gypsy juerga (small get-together or fiesta), when clan members would gather at the end of the day, drink wine, talk about their days and their lives, and when words failed to express their pain, eventually begin the serious song. The song would start as a sort of moan by one member of the clan, usually not containing any sort of text but sung on a nondescript syllable, which would grow into the singing of a copla. These verses were never written down, but were passed down aurally from generation to generation, as is common in most folk music traditions. This song would be accompanied only by the cries of “ay!” or spontaneous rhythmic clapping from audience members known as palmas. These contributions would be added when the singer had expressed an emotion that resonated in an almost religious way with the listeners.

In a religious setting these cries are done in a desire to purify the soul, as is the goal of any cathartic act. Another common exclamation from the audience is “Ole!,” which traces its linguistic origins to the cry of “Allah!” during Islamic religious experiences, hence illustrating the Moorish influence on the music as well as the connection to religious passion and enthusiasm (“Play and Theory” 46). These exclamations signify the moments in which a cathartic experience is reached and the performer has done their duty within the community. During the juerga the cantaor (singer) is taking the role of preacher. He is speaking to his congregation, who are prepared and open to experience this purification that the preacher, or cantaor, is building towards.

Through looking at the text of the flamenco coplas it becomes clear that the singer wishes to express in words that which they cannot say. In The Art of Flamenco, D.E. Pohren translates many coplas including a siguiriya (139),

This verse exemplifies the themes of loss of hope and submission to a life filled with pain and struggle. This is only one example of countless coplas, both transcribed and unwritten, that express similar ideas. The Gypsies dwell on these themes so relentlessly in an attempt to understand them and to come to some sort of acceptance of them by communicating these ideas to one another, this being the ultimate cathartic goal.

Catharsis is universally associated with bodily images of physical torment, tears, screams, acts of rage and moments of submission, all of which are brought to the stage in a performance of pure serious flamenco. This moment is illustrated by Federico Garcia Lorca in his speech Deep Song, “The Gypsy siguiriya begins with a terrible scream that divides the landscape into two ideal hemispheres. It is the scream of dead generations, a poignant elegy for lost centuries, the pathetic evocation of love under other moons and other winds” (4). In many societies to scream and to cry are merely ways of letting one’s pain out, however, in flamenco these acts are elevated to the status of art. The duende is again described in conjunction with physical symptoms in William Washabaugh’s Flamenco: Passion, Politics, and Popular Culture, “Eventually, one or another of the singers produces a texture of sound that sets teeth on edge, induces chills, and raises goosebumps. This is the quintessential moment of flamenco song” (2). In the moments when the duende is expressed in a flamenco performance, performers and audience members react in extremely physical outbursts. Artists and aficionados have been known to rip their clothing, shed tears, and even bite people around them. In Richard Wright’s narration of his first encounter with flamenco while attending a Gypsy woman’s dinner-party he says (201),

Then a miracle happened. Lita turned to me and opened her mouth; her eyes were blank, hollow; her throat quivered and I could see a bluish vein throbbing in her throat; and out poured a stream of pure, drenching, melancholy song. The others came to attention, looked at me with moist eyes, and joined Lita’s singing. When the last tremor of song had died, we sat and joked about how to make oneself understood without words.

This song was spurred by a previous conversation that had brought up the death of Lita’s husband, and hence a flood of very painful memories and emotions. It is clear that this scene possessed a physical quality that involved the body, as well as the spirit of these women in extremely cathartic acts. In this moment Wright embodied the critical role of the audience to witness this woman’s performance. Because he possessed the ability to recognize her emotion and was open to understanding it, both parties were able to find a release from this suffering and communicate on a more intimate level.

Lorca states that, “All arts are capable of duende but where it finds greatest range, naturally, is in music, dance, and spoken poetry, for these arts require a living body to interpret them, bring forms that are born, die, and open their contours against an exact present.”(“Play and Theory” 47). He is stating that the duende is expressed, most naturally, through a bodily outlet. In William Washabaugh’s section “The Body” within Flamenco: Passion, Politics, and Popular Culture, he quotes Franko, “[in flamenco] the body is not responding directly to its own sensations of harmony but rather imitating those of the soul, which cannot move of itself.” (90). If in flamenco the body is imitating the soul and, as stated in the film series about flamenco “Rito y Geografía del Cante,” cante is the song of the soul, then it must be true that flamenco cante is inextricably linked to the actions of the body in its expression of catharsis, therefore lending further evidence that flamenco song exists as a form of catharsis for the human soul.