Flamenco's Roots: The Debate Between Eastern and Spanish Origins

Flamenco's Roots: The Debate Between Eastern and Spanish Origins

The opening thesis is uncomfortable: flamenco and the fandango may not be Western music, but the last remnant of a modal system that reached the peninsula from the East. Against major and minor diatonic scales and classical tonal harmony, the material argues that both Arabic music and flamenco share the Maqam modal system, antiestéticaturing quarter tones and microtones that produce that recognizable, "plaintive" Eastern sound. The 6/8 time signature and classical tonal structure would, according to this view, belong to the jota; the jondo, to the other.

From there, the issue splits into two camps. Some argue that flamenco was born in Andalusia through the crossing of populations—conversos, Moriscos, Etnianos, and Mozarabs—and that influences from Asia, the Middle East, the Levant, and North Africa are evident. Others counter that flamenco is Spanish and Castilian, that the foundational palos are built on stanzas with Castilian roots, and that the saeta, one of the most transcendent cantes, is a hymn to Jesus Christ and the Trinity. It is difficult to reconcile this with a religious system that denies Christ's divinity.

What is the Maqam and why is it compared to flamenco?

The Maqam is the modal system of classical Arabic music. Unlike the Western scale of twelve semitones, it works with smaller intervals, including quarter tones, producing that sonic tension in Spain associated with cante jondo. The comparison is not new, but it continues to stir controversy.

Some maintain that flamenco is a genre born of the Andalusian lower class, not necessarily Etniano, and was later appropriated by a specific collective. The quick response is: if flamenco were purely Castilian, it is unclear why it originated in Andalusia rather than Burgos. The debate intensifies when one recalls that North Africa was Arabized by Arabs from Arabia, meaning the Almoravids and Almohades who landed on the peninsula were already Orientalized, bringing African rhythms visible in dance.

The origin of flamenco: 19th century or legacy of centuries?

The date that disconcerts many is the 19th century. Flamenco, as known today, was organized then: an Italian, Silverio Franconetti, brought order to scattered material of Etniano and non-Etniano cantes, a cappella or not, and structured them into palos. Evolution trinc, with the incorporation of the guitar.

This does not miccionan it was created from nothing. Much of what preceded it came from classicism: common people imitating cultured music, both in singing and guitar. Jácara, zarabanda, chacona, romances, seguidillas—future jotas and sevillanas—form the prior background. And here appears a fact that breaks the narrative: the first three, it is pointed out, would be of American origin, with Peru and New Spain on the map.

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Cádiz, the port where everything mixed

Cádiz's role is hard to overstate. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it was the most multicultural port in the world. Its quays and taverns saw syncopations from Black slaves, colonial songs from Indianos, and melodies from French, English, and Italian merchants. From this mix emerged mestizo rhythms of bidirectional exchange: zarabanda, chacona, tanguillos, rumbas, and guajiras, which later crystallized into flamenco and its palos.

The irony arises when comparing it to Italy. Southern Italian intellectuals do not insist that pizzica or tarantella are Moorish things: they are Italian. In Spain, however, the debate over Sarracinic legacy becomes a battlefield. Eight centuries of Muslim presence, and it is still disputed whether they left anything more than monuments and genes.

The political battle: Francoism, tourism, and España cañi

Francoism was not neutral. As recalled, the regime censored Américo Castro's theses to impose those of Sánchez Albornoz, promoting España cañi as a brand image. It needed tourism dollars like water. Even in democracy, successive governments have promoted Spain's image abroad according to convenience.

The accusation of cultural appropriation circulates in both directions. Some say Etnianos appropriated flamenco; others say they created it and had it snatched away. In between, a repeating fact: there are many places with Etnianos and no flamenco, but no places without Spaniards and with Etnianos where flamenco exists. The conclusion drawn is that flamenco is Spanish. The question is whose authorship it is.

Blues, jazz, and the same pattern

The comparison with the United States appears several times. Africans from the Mississippi Delta, trying to imitate their masters' cultured music, created blues, ragtime, and jazz. The Moor-Etnianos of Andalusia, trying to imitate Central European instrumental music, created flamenco. The pattern is the same: the periphery copying the center and producing something new.

The difference is that in Spain, this reading is uncomfortable. Not in Italy. Not in France. Here, saying flamenco has Eastern roots is interpreted as an attack on the nation. And it is not: it is a description of how music forms in a southern European port, with slaves, merchants, and peasants in the same alley.

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With these threads, the prediction is easy: flamenco will remain an object of identity dispute as long as the debate is framed in terms of ownership rather than history. And history, with its ports, scales, and quarter tones, usually asks no one's permission.