Spain is proud of its flamenco music and dance. Tourists love to visit parties and festivals where this fiery art form takes center stage. UNESCO recognizes it as intangible cultural world heritage. It is widely celebrated as a pillar of Spanish identity. All very positive. But that wasn’t always the case. Since flamenco emerged around 1775 in the provinces of Murcia and Andalusia, the artists who introduced this music had to battle a tidal wave of disgust from various layers of society.
To understand why many Spaniards looked down on flamenco with deeply rooted negative feelings, we need to dive into history. At the time flamenco began to rise, Spain was in the middle of a deep identity crisis. After the end of centuries-long domination, especially in South America, the country was thrown back from world power to ‘just another nation’. There was a yearning for a new sense of national pride. Spain wanted to embrace the modern world. And flamenco, in the eyes of many, clashed with the search for progress.
So what was wrong with flamenco? Damning judgments like "a vulgar and pornographic spectacle" were common at the time. Many saw it as a scourge for their nation. Descriptions such as "entertainment that lulls the masses to sleep" were deeply rooted. Especially in intellectual circles, passionate performances were associated with the much-maligned gypsy population in shady urban areas. It was seen as adding fuel to the fire of Spain’s negative image in the world, consisting of sadistic colonial rulers, cruel bullfighters, and gypsies.
The Catholic Church also joined the anti-flamenco camp. Clergy viewed the wild shows as destructive to family values and as a celebration of immodesty. Others saw flamenco as a symbol of a backward country. People in union circles who aimed to improve workers' living standards saw it primarily as exploitation of the poor and a distraction for laborers in their fight for a fairer existence.
Strangely enough, flamenco as a passionate form of music and dance was meanwhile gaining more and more fans around the world. People abroad were not infected by Spain’s difficult search for a new identity.
While flamenco remained marginal in Spain due to local resistance, the names of flamenco artists shone in large letters on posters of major festivals in America and Europe.
The bizarre journey from disgust to pride took a dramatic turn in the 1950s. After years of international isolation, the Franco regime needed money. The foreign love for flamenco proved to be the answer. With a newly found love for the art form, Spain was suddenly proudly promoted as the land of flamenco. This gave a big boost to the tourism industry. The stereotypical image of Spain that many had long resisted was now suddenly seen as something positive.