FlAmEnCo………
Did you know that “Flamenco” is not just a traditional Spanish dance but that it consists of four different elements?!?
Flamenco implies the guitar playing, the vocals, the dance and the ‘palmas’ (handclapping). Of course, the element mostly associated with the word ‘Flamenco’ is the dance.
But what does the name mean? Does it have got something to do with the ‘flamingo’ (the pink bird you all know) ?
Indeed, it has! ‘Flamenco’ is Spanish for ‘flamingo’! Some people said, that the music was given this name, because the dancing was similar to the movement of the flamingo, but this is rather unlikely. The word ‘flamenco’ also means ‘Flemish’ (the people of the Dutch-speaking side of Belgium) and it has been said that the music may have some of its roots in that part of Europe. There is also a third theory which argues that it comes from the Arabic ‘felag mengu’ which means ‘peasants without land’(-the labourer who sings). Despite all these totally different theories, it’s real origin is lost in history.
In order to give you an impression of how it looks like, here again a little video:
In case some of you might be interested in dancing it his/herself now, I did some research where to do so: Check this out!
Hasta pronto, Natalie
Oh my god, great that you’ve chosen this topic!!! I adore flamenco! Just like tango it’s real passionate music and also the dance is special. I got the chance to listen to someone playing the flamenco guitar and it totally fascinated me! You can get really lost in that music. Even though no one knows the real origin of the word “flamenco” I appreciated that you gave us some possible explanations.
all the best,
fm =)