Camaron

It's cooold and rainy in Santiago today, so I'm going to escape a bit from the cold with my warm and sunny Sevilla memories. While living in Sevilla in 2003 I took a class called about the linguisitics of flamenco. As any Spanish speaker can tell you, in Andalucia (southern Spain) there is an accent unlike any other in the Spanish speaking world. It is an accent that turns "Joder, qué calor" to "Joé, que caló" and "pescado" to "pecaó". But beyond the dilectal differences this class journeyed into the sounds, rythms and movements of flamenco, going far beyond the commerical image of flamenco It was easy to go to the class one evening a week, sitting in the University that was once the Royal Tobacco Facory where the opera Carmen was inspired, and listen as my Gypsy professor strummed his guitar and brought in his family to sing and dance for is as he explained the rythmic differences of a Fandago versus a Buleria. Although I don't remember much about the differences in the rythms, the duende spirit that inspires the sudden outburst of song and dance still haunts me. Camaron de la Isla is the king of this music and the gipsy culture that surrounds it. Enjoy this video.