El Concurso del Cante Jondo (Contest of the Deep Song) was a fiesta of

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura a ...

arts, music, song, and dance, held in

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

in 1922. Conceived and initiated by composer

Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first ...

, it enjoyed early and strong support from the poet

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

. The two-day evening event was held outdoors at the

Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ar, الْحَمْرَاء, Al-Ḥamrāʾ, , ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of ...

. The show included the best of well-known flamenco artists, but the contest's prize money was reserved for amateur performers.

Producing the artistic event

Falla's purpose

The Spanish classical composer

(1876–1946) was the principal organizer of the ''Concurso''. He sought to encourage and enhance the music of ''cante jondo'' (literally "deep song", referring to a key element of flamenco, as opposed to "cante chico", the "lighter" more accessible element), which he sensed had fallen into a period of decadence. Falla simply recognized in flamenco an art form of great beauty and drive. The composer had devoted years developing his intuitive ability to craft its stream of color, to etch it shimmering contours in classical scores. He had heard its refrains since his gaditano childhood, from friends of the family, Gitano cantaores and tocaores. The aim of the ''Concurso'' was not merely to celebrate the music, but to nourish and elevate it. Enlisting the support of Spanish intellectuals was considered crucial, to counter the then-current flood of ''antiflamenquismo'' raised by the generación del '98. These Spanish reformers were activists in the sweeping effort to modernize and transform Spain and its culture, yet in the process they judged flamenco harshly as frivolous and regressive. For the ''Concurso'' to succeed, Falla aimed for not only to produce a stellar musical event but also to draw an influential audience as witness. Of course, including artistic circles of flamenco, its musicians and aficionados, but especially to encompass 'luminaries', guiding figures in the wider world of art and culture, to afterward sing in praise of ''cante jondo''. Lorca CloseUp

Falla first gathered together an impressive group of musicians and artists to help sponsor and promote the ''Concurso''. Among them,

. At twenty-three, the granadino poet became a ''Concurso'' activist second only to Falla. Lorca publicized, popularized the event by staging his oral presentations descriptive of Flamenco arts; he also published essays on its dramatic style and little-known history. A third important figure was the Basque painter Ignácio Zuloaga. Among the broad array of music figures enlisted were classical composers Joaquín Turina, Federico Mompou,

Conrado del Campo Conrado del Campo y Zabaleta (28 October 1878 – 17 March 1953) was a Spanish composer, violinist and pedagogue. Career Del Campo was born in Madrid and became professor at the Real Conservatorio de Música in Madrid in 1915, where he was an ...

, and

Óscar Esplá Óscar Esplá y Triay (5 August 1886 – 6 January 1976) was a Spanish composer. The Conservatorio Superior de Música ( conservatory) of the city of Alicante is dedicated to him. The ''Premio internacional de composición Óscar Esplá'' (Ós ...

, pianist and composer María Rodrigo, New York composer and conductor

Kurt Schindler Kurt Schindler (17 February 1882 – 16 November 1935) was a German-born American composer and conductor. Biography He was born on 17 February 1882. He came to the United States in 1905 to serve as an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Oper ...

, various orchestra directors, classical guitarist

Andrés Segovia Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (21 February 1893 – 2 June 1987) was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were students of Segovia or their students. Segovia's contribution to the m ...

, Polish singer :es:Aga Lahowska, and popular guitarist Manuel Jofré. A local association, the es:Centro Artístico, agreed in the early stages to assist the ''Concurso''. Andalusian poet

Juan Ramón Jiménez Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón (; 23 December 1881 – 29 May 1958) was a Spanish poet, a prolific writer who received the 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which in the Spanish language constitutes an example of hi ...

(1956 Nobel Prize) joined the ''Concurso''. Writers

Ramón Pérez de Ayala Ramón Pérez de Ayala y Fernández del Portal (9 August 1880, in Oviedo – 5 August 1962, in Madrid) was a Spanish writer. He was the Spanish ambassador to England in London (1931-1936) and voluntarily exiled himself to Argentina via F ...

and :es:Tomás Borrás, and surrealist painter :es:Manuel Ángeles Ortiz, contributed. Added support came from two influential professors: philosopher

Francisco Giner de los Ríos Francisco Giner de los Ríos (10 October 1839 in Ronda, Spain – 18 February 1915 in Madrid) was a philosopher, educator and one of the most influential Spanish intellectuals at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Bio ...

and Catalan

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

and composer

Felipe Pedrell Felip Pedrell Sabaté (Spanish: Felipe) (19 February 1841 – 19 August 1922) was a Catalan composer, guitarist and musicologist. Life Pedrell was born in Tortosa ( Catalonia), and sang as a boy soprano at Tortosa Cathedral from age 9, where ...

(Falla's early music teacher). Later came the French ''hispaniste'' fr:Maurice Legendre, and musicologist :es:Adolfo Salazar critic at Madrid's '' El Sol'', along with producers, and publicists, and nods from

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

and

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

Flamenco and Falla

In previous classical compositions Falla often had been inspired by the artistry of flamenco, e.g., in his ''La vida breve'' (1904–1905, 1913), '' Noches en los Jardines de España'' (1909–1916), '' El Sombrero de Tres Picos'' (1917, 1919), and '' El Amor Brujo'' (1915, 1925). To promote the ''Concurso'' Falla wrote an essay, ''El "cante jondo" (canto primitivo andaluz)'', in which he held on technical grounds that the primary foreign influences contributing to the origins of

Flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura a ...

music and dance in Spain were three: Byzantine church music coming from the eastern Mediterranean; Moorish music from North Africa and Arabia; and especially the folk music of India, its distinctive

rhythms Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...

and tone, brought by

Gitanos The Romani in Spain, generally known by the exonym () or the endonym ''Calé'', belong to the Iberian Cale Romani subgroup, with smaller populations in Portugal (known as ) and in Southern France. Their sense of identity and cohesion stems f ...

who began arriving in Spain five hundred years ago. These separate traditions acculturated and blended with native Spanish music to yield ''el cante jondo''. For a century European classical composers had been drawing on the rich heritage of the

music of Spain In Spain, music has a long history. It has played an important role in the development of Western music, and has greatly influenced Latin American music. Spanish music is often associated with traditional styles such as flamenco and classical ...

, with

being a favored source. Included would be Glinka, Bizet, Rimsky-Korsakov, Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky. The interest and acclaim given flamenco by the international music world contrasted unfavorably with what Falla then saw as the art's current debased state, and with a lack of respect shown flamenco by Spain's cultural elite. A recent book on Manuel de Falla portrays his intent concerning the ''Concurso'':

The ''cante jondo'' contest grew out of the conviction--shared by Falla, Lorca, and a host of Spanish intellectuals--that flamenco was being overtaken by urban popular song. The organizers' stated desire to hear the 'admirable sobriety' of classical ''cantaores'' shows the extent to which the contest was, in effect, a classicizing gesture... ."

So it was that Falla hoped that the ''Concurso y Fiesta del Cante Jondo'', sponsored by its many musicians and cultural figures, and by the Centro Artístico of

, would "restore all the purity to these marvelous songs, that rightly constitute one of the best natural achievements of European music". Yet this "rescue-fantasy" view has been further challenged by another recent critic as advancing a fiction: the false notion of a "purity" in flamenco origins.

Public funding

Financial support was obtained for the ''Concurso de Cante Jondo'' from the City of Granada, but not without spirited opposition. Adherents praised the antiquity and purity of the flamenco art form, whose mysterious source lay in the very fountainhead of the human soul. Their critics pointed out the sometimes lesser quality of the music and the mixed milieu of flamenco performances, which at propriety's edge could include some notorious venues. The ''Concurso'' supporters, who saw themselves as saviors of the true and vernerable ''art'' of flamenco, evidently felt somewhat vulnerable to their opponent's challenge. Already, to escape the reproach regarding flamenco's unwanted baggage, the ''Concurso'' referred to the art form as ''

Cante Jondo ''Cante jondo'' (Andalusian ) is a vocal style in flamenco, an unspoiled form of Andalusian folk music. The name means "deep song" in Spanish, with ''hondo'' ("deep") spelled with J () as a form of eye dialect, because traditional Andalusian pr ...

'' rather than by its more common name ''flamenco''. Here the ''Concurso'' followed the lead of Falla the aficionado, whose opinion was: "Queremos purificar y hacer revivir ese admirable ''cante jondo'', que no hay que confundir con el cante flamenco, degeneración y casi caricatura de aquél." The war of words over municipal financing was inconclusive; the funding continued. In the event, the funding seemed to meet expectations. Debate over the nature of flamenco in its many guises continues, at times in a cauldron boiling with such politically-charged ingredients as social class, and ethnic origins. Yet more commonly-contested are each performer's individual sound, drama, authenticity, inspiration. A developed art form with a history, flamenco often provokes different, opposing, conflicting views. Protagonists might identify with a local neighborhood, or loyally follow a particular star. Professors, ''flamencologos'', sourced in

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

contributed. Although often rife with music-culture controversy, as frequently such disputes are all together explicitly ignored. Expectations of a larger turn-out grew as the date neared. The venue was changed from the plaza de San Nicolás del Albayzín to the more spacious

Events of the ''Concurso''

Flamenco artists

An announced aim of the ''Concurso'' was to discover unknown, unrecognized talent thought to be hidden, perhaps in remote rural areas. As a result, no professional over the age of 21 was allowed to compete for prize money in the ''Concurso'' contest. Yet the performance of flamenco is very difficult and demanding; only someone who devotes a great deal of their life's nurture to the art will be able to express its subtleties and nuance, its drama and simplicity. Often but not always such refinement will eventually attract the attention and acclaim of aficionados of the art. The elimination of all professionals from the contest was considered a mistake by many in flamenco, because there remained established practitioners of 'flamenco puro' who, while not fallen prey to the era's commercialism, might lack recompense. The ''Concurso'', however, apart from the contest, did directly encourage the song and dance of professionals. The composition of the 'Jury' for the ''Concurso'' included four famous flamenco performers:

Antonio Chacón Antonio Chacón (1869–1929) was a Spanish flamenco singer antaor Chacón was born in Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz Province. He began earning a living by performing flamenco around 1884. He toured Andalucia with his two friends, the Molin ...

, Pastora Pavón (La Niña de los Peines),

Manuel Torre Manuel Soto Loreto, known as Manuel Torre or Manuel Torres (1878 – 1933), was a Romani (Kalo) flamenco singer. Beginning Torre was born in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, in the neighbourhood of San Miguel, which together with the neighbou ...

, and Juana la Macarrona. Another jurist was the well-known Spanish classical guitarist

. Although the ''Concurso'' made diligent efforts to find the flamenco 'diamond in the rough', few unknowns were discovered. The poet García Lorca did meet a blind and aged woman who could sing a type of cante (the ''liviana'') thought to be extinct.

Favored styles

Contestants were invited to perform certain palos tylesof flamenco song, those referred to as ''

'' (or ''Cante Grande''), grouped as follows: 1)

Siguiriyas ''Siguiriyas'' (; also ''seguiriyas'', ''siguerillas'', ''siguirillas'', '' seguidilla gitana'', etc.) are a form of flamenco music in the cante jondo category. This deep, expressive style is among the most important in flamenco. Unlike other pa ...

gitana; 2) Serranas, Polos, Cañas, Soleares; and, 3)

Martinetes ''Martinetes'' (, sing. ''martinete'') are a flamenco '' palo'' belonging to the group of the ''tonás'' or '' cantes a palo seco''. As the rest of the songs in this group, it is sung with no accompaniment. In some dance shows for the stage, thoug ...

-Carceleras,

Tonás Tonás () is a palo or type of flamenco songs. It belongs to the wider category of Cantes a palo seco, ''palos'' that are sung a cappella. Owing to this feature, they are considered by traditional flamencology to be the oldest surviving musical fo ...

, Livianas, Saetas Viejas (these last four being unaccompanied cantes a palo seco). On the other hand, flamenco styles explicitly forbidden (e.g., for a perceived lack of antiquity or profound expression) included: Malagueña, Granaínas, Rondeña,

Sevillanas ''Sevillanas'' () are a type of folk music and dance of Sevilla and its region. They were derived from the Seguidilla, an old Castilian folk music and dance genre. In the nineteenth century they were influenced by Flamenco. They have a relat ...

Peteneras The Petenera is a flamenco palo in a 12-beat metre, with strong beats distributed as follows: 2'' 2] '' 5] '' '' '' '' 0'' 1 It is therefore identical with the 16th century Spanish dances zarabanda and the jácara. The lyrics are in 4-line stanz ...

The audience

The event ran the two evenings of the Corpus Christi (feast), Corpus Christi holiday. It was attended by about four thousand supporters and aficionados. The large gathering was described as both elegant and jubilant. Its stir and buzz would subside when the performers began. Then the audience might seem to collectively come together, attentive, expectant, focused. A storm threatened the first night, but the air remained light. The second night a rain began to fall, yet the audience remained.

'Alhambra' venue

The ''Concurso'' was held on the grounds of the

, at the ''Plaza de Aljibes'' on the palace's west end, overlooking the ''Torre Bermeja'' and the old city of

to the southwest; to the north lay the rising slopes of the

Sacromonte Sacromonte, sometimes also called Sacramonte, is a traditional neighbourhood in the eastern area of the city of Granada in Andalusia, Spain. It is one of the six neighbourhoods that make up the urban district of Albayzín and borders the n ...

(the Gypsi quarter). Perfumed by cypress trees, and with French lavender scattered on the ground for the event, the plaza lay across the crest of a ridge, to which one ascended, entering by way of the ''Torre de la Justicia''. It was decorated for the occasion by the artist

Ignacio Zuloaga Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta (July 26, 1870October 31, 1945) was a Spanish painter, born in Eibar (Guipuzcoa), near the monastery of Loyola. Family He was the son of metalworker and damascener Plácido Zuloaga and grandson of the organizer and d ...

, whose visual display employed brilliant embroidered textiles and ''mantones''

apes Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...

Andalucia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

. After sundown the plaza setting would become a colorful region of lights beside the Arab palace. Granada had been acclaimed as a fitting place for the cultural event. "La Granada de 1922 era el símbulo de la Andalucía renaciente y fecunda. Un núcleo de artistas, un grupo de professores jóvenes, unas tertulias literarias... ." The initial performance perhaps seemed ironic to some: Falla's classical composition ''Homenaje a Debussy para la guitarra'', played by Segovia. Yet Debussy had led Falla to rediscover his flamenco inspiration.

The contestants

A long-retired flamenco

cantaor The cante flamenco (), meaning "flamenco singing", is one of the three main components of flamenco, along with ''toque'' (playing the guitar) and ''baile'' (dance). Because the dancer is front and center in a flamenco performance, foreigners ofte ...

of seventy-two years, Diego Bermúdez Cala (''El Tenazas''), became a surprise star of the ''Concurso''. He had walked the hundred or so kilometers to Granada from his home in

Puente Genil Puente Genil () is a Jonian city in the province of Jonia, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is situated about 45 miles (70 km) from the provincial capital, Córdoba. It has a population of around 30,000 people. Etymology The name of t ...

. Evidently, thirty years before a punctured lung suffered at knife point had forced him to retire early from the flamenco circuit. The ''Concurso'' allowed him the "grand moment of his life" in which, very flamenco, he performed old palos that seemed to summon the

duende A duende is a humanoid figure of folklore, with variations from Iberian, Ibero American, and Filipino cultures, comparable to dwarves, gnomes, or leprechauns. In Spanish ''duende'' originated as a contraction of the phrase or , effectivel ...

of an earlier era. To many aficionados, ''Tío'' Bermúdez appeared as if he'd learned his ''cante'' directly from the legend, Silverio Franconetti; although for others he didn't know how to sing, but only flirt. "''El Tenazas'' knew the old time ''cantes'' and was extremely flamenco and true in his interpretations." He sang with a purity not heard in decades, especially his

siguiriyas ''Siguiriyas'' (; also ''seguiriyas'', ''siguerillas'', ''siguirillas'', '' seguidilla gitana'', etc.) are a form of flamenco music in the cante jondo category. This deep, expressive style is among the most important in flamenco. Unlike other pa ...

, soleares, and cañas (a Franconetti favorite). Listening to el ''Tío Tenazas'' Uncle Tongs""hurl into the air his song",

exclaimed, "¡Válgame Dios, lo que oigo!" Lord help me, what I hear!" Falla later carried a copy of his recordings (''Cantos de Diego Bermúdez'') with him into exile in Argentina. For the moment, ''El Tenazas'' enjoyed his sudden renown and celebrity. On its strength he soon made a flamenco tour of Spain; yet the following year would be his last. The other first place prize winner for song was a twelve-year-old ''cantaor'' named Manolo Ortega, called later ''El Caracol''. The youth came from a well-known Gitano family (bullfighting and flamenco). El Caracol would win great renown in his day, yet his edgy personality also attracted controversy. Despite a reputation for a ''flamenco puro'' style, in his prime starting in the 1930s, he greatly prospered by commercially mixing his ''cante jondo'' with popular trends and tastes. Another winner was the popular ''cantaor'' of Granada, Francisco Gálvez Gómez (''Yerbagüena''), a friend of bull-fighters and politicians. In an inspired moment he created a lasting impression as he improvised flamenco lyrics in response to news of a local church fire. He received a prize. es:María Amaya, a relative of then four-year-old Carmen Amaya, won a prize as cantaora. Also while at the ''Concurso'' she acquired her stage name ''La Gazpacha'' (the cold soup of Spain). Two guitarists split the prize for tocaor: :es:Manolo de Huelva and José Cuellar. Altogether there were ten amateur contestants who won prize money of varying amounts, which the public funding and ticket sales evidently covered.

The professionals

Active flamenco professionals were honored at the ''Concurso'', although not eligible for prizes. Among those especially acclaimed and invited as guests of honor and as judges urados the cantaora Pastora Pavón (''La Niña de los Peines''), the cantaor

, and the bailaora Juana la Macarrona. Especially esteemed was the cantaor

, chosen as the presiding judge. These four were then each quite well known, ''estrellas'' of the flamenco world. Also chosen as a judge was the popular tocaor Amalio Cuenca, an

impresario An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. His ...

who managed a flamenco cafe in Paris. Professionals came to the event from all regions of Spain and from abroad. During the ''Concurso'' fiesta some events of

were remembered. Manuel Torre sang

alegrías ''Alegrías'' () is a flamenco palo or musical form, which has a rhythm consisting of 12 beats. It is similar to Soleares. Its beat emphasis is as follows: 1 2 '' 4 5 '' 7 '' 9 0'' 11 2''. Alegrías originated in Cádiz. Alegrías belongs to ...

to palmas by local Gypsy women of the

. To Pepe Cuéllar's guitar, es:María Amaya ''La Gazpacha'' sang

bulerías ''Bulería'' (; interchangeable with the plural, ''bulerías'') is a fast flamenco rhythm made up of a 12 beat cycle with emphasis in two general forms as follows: This may be thought of as a measure of followed by a measure of (known ...

and tarantas. Hired by the ''Concurso'' were three guitarists who for the occasion became a trio: José Cuéllar, Ramón Montoya, and the extraordinary :es:Manolo de Huelva. To their tocaores danced the elder maestr
Juana la Macarrona
including ''por alegrías''. Antonia Mercé la Argentina, after watching la Macarrona dance during the ''Concurso'', later knelt down at her feet, took off her shoes, and carried them away! La Macarrona, at various moments during the ''Concurso'', would famously cry out, "¡Lapoteosis! ¡Es lapoteosis!", her expression somewhat like crying "thunder strike!" At an early ''Concurso'' performance, while Antonio Chacón was singing accompanied by Ramón Montoya on guitar, a poorly dressed, elderly Gypsy woman who had been seen quietly weeping, rose to her feet, drew her head back, and began to dance the '' soleares'' with remarkable style and grace. She turned out to be ''La Golondrina'', many decades earlier a famous bailaora.

News of the event

The Spanish press generally spoke in praise of the ''Concurso'', in contrast to the depressing news of the Moroccan war then current. A Madrid magazine published soon after the event described the ''Concurso'' as "unforgettable", with its alternating displays of yearning, vehemence, superstition, or fervor, "a simple seduction of sound, rhythms linear in the flesh". About the audience it said:

"The moon didn’t attend, but the place was swarming with gnomes, elves, and even ''diablos''. A huge box-office hit. Not an empty seat. And it was a disciplined, cultured audience dominated by women, many of whom were wearing 1830 dresses, and others were in old trousers, and all of them with that poise which is the privilege of women from Granada. With fans, the crowd rumored and fluttered, unless suddenly a copla paralyzed them with its emotion... ."

''La Alhambra'' of Granada hailed the ''Concurso'' as "unas cuantas noches de brillantísima fiesta." In Madrid, press comments included the declaration: "Muy grande ha sido el éxito del Concurso." Nonetheless Manuel de Falla became dissatisfied.

Aftermath

The event's performances were well received and memorable. Although it could be argued that the general results of the ''Concurso'' were somewhat mixed, success could well be claimed for the event itself, an enjoyable and seminal gathering of performers and aficionados. In addition, there followed a steady rise in status of flamenco among the

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.T ...

and intellectual leaders of Spain. Recordings were made of the various cantes, some little known, some rediscovered. For example, ''La Caña'':

" ancient ''cante'' with religious overtones and chant-like passages that have made it a popular vehicle for the ''misa flamenca''--the catholic mass performed to flamenco music. ''La Caña'' had all but disappeared by the twentieth century, but was partially revived after the Granada contest of 1922, when it was recorded by the contest winner, El Tenazas."

On the other hand, the stated aim of elevating the root purity of flamenco performance was not to be achieved as a result of the ''Concurso''. A new era in the art's development was dawning, the period of '' Ópera flamenca'', now often disparaged for its theatrical airs, its brand of syncretism and merger with other musical styles. Hence, with such developments Manuel de Falla, who much admired the pure 'deep song' of flamenco, was not satisfied. Yet similar flamenco gatherings followed, as that same year both

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

and

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

celebrated Flamenco ''Concursos''. Several decades later in 1956, the city of Córdoba celebrated the first ''Concurso Nacional de Cante Jondo''. Its "manifesto de convocatoria" expressed reasons and motives similar if not the same as those articulated by the 1922 ''Concurso'' in

. In 1962

Jerez de la Frontera Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway bet ...

held its ''Concurso Internacional de Arte Flamenco''. Such events have become a regular feature of flamenco culture.Manuel Ríos Ruiz, ''Introducción al Cante Flamenco'' (Madrid: Ediciones Istmo 1972), p. 65 (map of Andalucia showing 37 locals where "concursos y festivales flamencos" are held.

Notes

External links

"Granada. El Concurso de Cante Jondo"
(June 23, 1922), an English translation at ''Flamenco World'', with photograph.

(short description of the ''Concurso's'' contest in English at ''Flamenco World'').
"Aquel Concurso de Cante Jondo de Granada"
(short blog by Francisco Arias Solis, in Spanish at ''Hispavista''). {{DEFAULTSORT:Concurso De Cante Jondo Flamenco Andalusian music Music festivals in Spain Folk festivals in Spain Music festivals established in 1922