Song of the Outcasts: An Introduction to Flamenco

I am a flamenco dancer but never really read about why flamenco. This book will teach you. It comes with a cd so you can refer to the music when required. Great book for all flamenco lovers.

This is a book which works in a number of different ways, sometimes well, sometimes not so well.As an introduction to the music itself it is excellent, especially in the chapter in which the author gives a commentary on the different flamenco styles and the examples contained on the accompanying CD, giving typical time signatures, subject matter of the songs and their likely origins. He explains key concepts such as compás (rhythm), although compás on one occasion suffers the indignity of becoming "compass", presumably because of our trusty false friend the spellchecker.As a history of flamenco it is good enough, though this clearly is not Totton's principal area of interest for the book. Flamenco's roots are shrouded in the mists of time, permitting all kinds of people to claim it without possessing much in the way of proof. However, the chapter dealing with Gypsy identity is interesting: the Calós of Spain first appeared, from North Africa, in significant numbers, in the 15th Century. Their language has Sanskrit origins, hence their journey is inferred to have started in India, giving strength to the claim by some, such as sitarist Anoushka Shankar, that flamenco's roots lie in the subcontinent.As a purveyor of song lyrics it is fine in Spanish and disastrous in English because of the inexplicable desire to bend the "translation" to rhyme, hence losing a great deal of the feeling and nuance in the Spanish, as where "trenzas", plaits, is translated as "long hair". It isn't the same, is it?Finally, as a political - there's no other way of describing it - tract it does little other than reinforce the image that it's next to impossible, unless you're a gypsy born and bred in the Albaicín, Triana or similar, to ever get to see real flamenco.In that sense, flamenco is the most frustrating of musical forms. There seems little doubt about what it is in principle. But it is set about by intense arguments, mostly centred on what constitutes authenticity in flamenco. Going to see "flamenco" looks easy. Cities such as Granada and Seville offer myriad venues at which it is possible to watch and hear flamenco artists, but authors such as Totton, with an apparent "inside track", caution that these are all too often tourist-trap tablaos.So why not ask a local? I did. In Jerez de la Frontera, one of the supposed spiritual homes of flamenco, I asked the friendly dueña of a restaurant where I could get to see some. Nowhere but during the festival, she told me. But have you seen the photographs of the festival? They seem the epitome of what Totton denigrates, with bunches of would-be bailaoras in spotty dresses dancing in formation in the street. Even Totton suggests there are good places to visit in Jerez. Then doesn't give addresses! Go to the tourist office, he suggests, where they will probably press on you some glossy flyers from the tablaos.Books such as Totton's are both useful and dangerous. They warn of the possibility that what the unsuspecting audience may be watching is the cultural equivalent of fish and chips in Torremolinos. But they can also establish a suspicion in that potential audience that nothing is going on but a rip-off. Nobody likes to be duped. They therefore deter people from visiting some establishments: I for one have felt a great reluctance to visit the establishments advertising flamenco in the Sacromonte district of Granada. He references the Zambra de María la Canastera there, but having seen what's on the Internet about that place I shan't be rushing over. Unfortunately, looking through Totton's list of potential venues in any of the cities he mentions I didn't feel helped at all.I have personally seen a fair number of flamenco performances. One in Barcelona was fun but quite clearly a tourist spectacle and the tourists were packed in to the rafters, to the extent that I for one spent much of the performance checking the quickest way to the fire exit, and who I'd have to climb over to get there. My first performance, at a tablao in the El Arenal district of Seville, was a little more satisfactory, but the best I have seen have been at the former Upsetter in Granada (now Le Chien Andalou) and La Carboneria (an old coal distribution depot) in Seville. These latter two were rough and ready, but felt the better for it. I agree with Totton that, as enjoyable as they may be, the "flamenco" shows put on at Sadler's Wells deserve the parentheses. But he extols Paco Peña's shows there, even though some in Spain, such as my Spanish tutor, a resident of the Albaicín, don't consider him to be at all authentic. You hear about him abroad, but he's not mentioned in Spain.But what is flamenco? I'd challenge anyone, notwithstanding Totton's strictures against (spit it out!) fusion, to say Enrique Morente's song Omega, recorded in collaboration with Granada rock band Lagartija Nick, is not flamenco. The music of Ojos de Brujo maybe isn't quite flamenco, but it is flamenco-inspired. The trouble is, it's possible that Totton has paid too much attention to those with vested interests in preserving some imagined golden age of flamenco in aspic, and not enough to those who respect the tradition but feel artistically constrained by it.Nevertheless, this is a better treatment than you'll find in Lonely Planet, and certainly more positive than the Claus Schreiner-edited book, Flamenco, which was my previous read on the subject. But the more I read, the more I feel like doing the fieldwork and writing the book myself.

Song of the Outcasts – Robin Totton – customer reviewMarch 2003, Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz, Andalucia.This was the date and the venue for the VII Festival de Jerez and for my first pilgrimage as a student of flamenco guitar to this beautiful little city of orange and jasmine trees, to sit outside the cafes in the sun in March drinking coffee, to see as many as three flamenco performances in a night, and then on to the penas, to witness genuine flamenco Jerez-style in a preferred intimate venue, and to drink copious amounts of delicious local fino, the inevitable consequence of which was to be late for guitar classes the next day and for El Carbonero to laugh and to tell us we were becoming Spanish.After another wonderful performance (this time Belen Maya and Mayte Martin) at the Teatre Villamarta, I heard a friendly yet authoritative English accent behind me and the voice was discussing the regional characteristics of female dancers, or bailoras. I considered that to gain this knowledge firsthand, one would first have to put in some serious study, ie invest a considerable amount of time in lingering over fino, talking to flamencos. The owner of the voice turned out to be one Robin Totton, and I wondered how I might bleed him of a little of his knowledge. The answer was soon to be found. I heard about the book not though his self-promotion but through a poster in the Centro Andaluz de Flamenco, an important research centre of flamenco. Bearing in mind there are very few books in the English language discussing flamenco with any genuine firsthand knowledge, and bearing in mind I had heard this guy talk (I unashamedly eavesdropped, in other words), I was confident that he knew his stuff and I took a note of the ISBN and determined to track it down once I returned home.Song of the Outcasts is described as an ‘introduction to flamenco’ – which is a bit like describing a Secondary Education as a ‘taster session’. It serves well as an introduction, but there is a wealth of essential information to young(ish) confirmed aficionados (or obsessionados) like me. It is a book to be revisited, until the different song forms, or palos, start to become familiar. Or if you already know your Peteneras from your Martinetes then you can allow the book to take you further in your flamenco journey, that you can understand the heritage of this wonderful and beautiful art.The book sets the foundations with a historical, cultural and ethnic analysis of the original evolution of flamenco (why, what, where, who?) and then takes us through the various song forms, through the voice of the cantaores, the singers, who remain of fundamental importance. Then we are given analysis of the dance and of the accompaniment of the guitar. To help us who know little about flamenco, or indeed those of us who should know better, we get an compilation CD which we are advised to listen to as he guides us through the harmonic and rhythmic characteristics of each palo, and helps us to understand the origin and the emotional intent, with some translated examples of the lyrics.Robin Totton is a thoroughly entertaining and informative author. I would enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone with a genuine desire to expand their appreciation of Spanish and Andalucian culture. I would in particular recommend it as indispensable to students of flamenco.A big warm thank you Robin, and see you in Jerez next year!

I enjoy flamenco but have never been able to "get inside it". This book does that job, and it makes enjoyable reading, too. The author has the kind of direct, personal style that makes you feel he is talking to you. He does not assume the reader has learnt to read music yet, thanks to the accompanying CD, he is able to convey the music without ever being patronising. The CD is a real joy. Instead of using famous singers (whom you can hear on CDs at any time) he makes each example of the song-forms personal and often surprising: almost all are used to illustrate a different aspect of flamenco, just as he experienced it. I don't think that there is any other book that does these things. If you want to understand flamenco, or understand it better, then this is the book for you.My own interests include both things Spanish and Gypsies. I am glad that the author devotes a chapter to the Gypsies of Andalusia, among whom he seems to have so many friends.

Finally a book by someone who knows what he's talking about.Robin has lived in Jerez for many years and has become intimate friends with many Flamencos, gypsy and non-gypsy all over Andalusia.Apart from that he's a scholar (linguist) and a guitarist besides, so he understands the subject from all angles. And most important: he knows how to convey all this in a laid-back and understated manner with lots of humour (not always obvious!). For me: a must for any Flamenco aficionado. Great CD too!

This is an excellent book, well informed and a good read. The CD is equally good, my favourite being the Tiento y Tangos recorded in Cadiz. Essential material.