Is flamenco influenced by Arabic?

As flamenco artists and critics began to explore the elements of gitano performance, they rediscovered the rich Arab influence in flamenco. The art form’s basic building blocks—sung poetry and music—were borrowed from the Arabs and Berbers who ruled al-Andalus from 711 to 1492, when the Moors were expelled from Spain.

How did Arabic influence Spanish music?

The Muslim presence in the locality also influenced Spanish music, from the musical instruments to melodies. These were later replaced by the guitar and flamenco music. The Arabic influence extended to Spanish cuisine, evident in their use of spices and herbs that originally came from Africa’s northern region.

What religion is flamenco from?

Flamenco History. Flamenco is a song, music and dance style which is strongly influenced by the Gitanos, but which has its deeper roots in Moorish musical traditions.

What is the flamenco influenced by?

Hailing from southern Spain’s outcast populations, flamenco dance and music drew early influences from Greek and Roman and later from Indian, Moorish, and Jewish cultures.

Is flamenco dance Arabic?

Many of the details of the origins of flamenco are lost in Spanish history. The mysteries of the passionate, classical music and dance of Spain, also extend to the very word “flamenco”. Flamenco is used to describe a way of life centered around this uniquely Spanish music.

Is flamenco music Arabic?

Flamenco music was born, and still lives, among the scenic green hills of Andalusia in southern Spain. Flamenco was born in these marches where Arabs, Jews, Christians and gitanos mixed freely. …

Why is Spanish music similar to Arabic?

Much of the Arabic influence upon Spanish came through the various Arabized Romance dialects that were spoken in areas under Moorish rule, known today by scholars as Mozarabic. This resulted in Spanish often having both Arabic and Latin derived words with the same meaning.

How did Arabs impact Spain?

“Arabs have influenced Spanish architecture, design, food, science and philosophy. Though Granada, the last of the Muslim-ruled cities, fell in 1492, Spanish Christians adopted many Arabic customs, including architectural design motifs and Arabic words modified for their Romance languages.

Why is flamenco called flamenco?

According to the father of the autonomy of the region of Andalucia, the word “flamenco” was derived from the Arabic term “Felah-Mengus”, which together mean “wandering country person”.

Who invented the flamenco?

The roots of flamenco, though somewhat mysterious, seem to lie in the Roma migration from Rajasthan (in northwest India) to Spain between the 9th and 14th centuries. These migrants brought with them musical instruments, such as tambourines, bells, and wooden castanets, and an extensive repertoire of songs and dances.

What culture is the flamenco from?

southern Spain
flamenco, form of song, dance, and instrumental (mostly guitar) music commonly associated with the Andalusian Roma (Gypsies) of southern Spain. (There, the Roma people are called Gitanos.)

What does flamenco represent?

Flamenco is a difficult form of art which transmits passion in each of its three components: song, dance and music. It is also a living art which represents a way of perceiving and interpreting life.

Is flamenco music untouched by Arab music?

Indeed, cultural historian Lois Lamya’ al-Faruqi found few elements of flamenco untouched by Arab music.

What is flamenco music?

Flamenco music dates back to the Middle Ages, a time of turmoil in the Iberian peninsula. The once-mighty Muslim kingdoms of al-Andalus were in a state of slow but steady decline, while the Catholic powers of central and northern Spain steadily pushed south (See Aramco World, January-February 1993).

What makes Hispano-Arab music so special?

The resulting Hispano-Arab music is extraordinary. Sinewy flamenco guitar lines weave between the plaintive tones of the kamanjeh, a kind of Moroccan violin, underpinned by the frenetic clatter of castanets and a bedrock of darabukkahs, or Arab hand drums.

What kind of music do the Moroccans listen to?

The Moroccans are mostly musical groups, principally the orquestas andalusi of northern Morocco. Like flamenco, Andalusi music has both classical and folk traditions.