The Subtle Protest of a Passionate Art: Flamenco as Protest (original) (raw)

All protest music is political music, but not all political music encourages positive social change. Some political music may celebrate repressive regimes and reinforce a status quo, while other music may incite or agitate. In the flamenco community, there is a debate about whether or not flamenco itself is a form of social protest – a debate spurred by the recent death of Pete Seeger. Several scholars claim that flamenco’s political sentiment is too “invisible,” subtle, or personal to qualify as protest music. Although this certainly characterizes much of flamenco’s repertoire, it does not speak to the full breadth of flamenco’s subject matter, e.g., labor issues expressed in miner’s laments, the dissent of flamenco’s anti-Franco Left, and recent flash mobs materializing in Spain’s banks. Examining flamenco’s history, lyrics, select performances, and contemporary social media, I reveal how sentiments of protest and dissent form the core of flamenco’s ethos. Working from R. Serge Denisoff’s model of protest music, I contend that flamenco has encouraged activism (magnetic protest) and identified the marginalizing social conditions of Andalusia’s working-and-underclass (rhetorical protest). Its dance, music, song style, and performance context always embody dissent, yet flamenco is not limited to its function as a form of protest. It remains both an expression of deep personal emotion and a public display of unity, often in the same performance.