5 books of Flamenco history

Flamenco is one of the most important artistic expressions in Spain. Emerging in Andalusia at the end of the 18th century, flamenco is a fusion of popular Andalusian music, dance and poetry.

Throughout its more than 200 years of history, flamenco has undergone many changes and transformations, but it has always remained faithful to its Andalusian roots. Flamenco is a living art that continues to evolve and captivate audiences around the world.

If you want to learn more about the history of flamenco, here is a list of 5 books on the subject:

1. A HISTORY OF FLAMENCO
José Manuel Gamboa

A global and updated vision on what is known about the genre called flamenco in its different facets, and that is far from everything published so far.

2.NEW HISTORY OF FLAMENCO
   Juan Verguillos 

This work is essential for the enormous amount of new data it offers for the understanding of cante, toque and baile jondo in its historical context. But also because of the novelty of its approach: it shows that flamenco is an evolution of the national songs and dances of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It also provides the hypothesis, completely novel, that bolero dances and today’s Escuela Bolera are different genres, both chronologically and in terms of repertoire and aesthetics.

3. AMERICA IN FLAMENCO
Fustino Nuñez

This book is not only about the cantes de ida y vuelta, those songs of obvious Hispanic-American origin that, after being conveniently flamencoized, ended up being integrated into the flamenco repertoire. It is a question of putting in solfa the history of flamenco and placing it in an Atlantic perspective. The task has not been easy, the subject is delicate to face with the rigor that is expected of a well-documented study. In order to carry it out, it has been necessary to check a good part of the more or less accepted dogmas about the processes that gave rise to flamenco.

4. THE ART OF FLAMENCO
   D. E. Pohren

This book is one of the first works in English on flamenco. Pohren provides an overview of flamenco, from its origins to its development today.

5. FLAMENCO
   Carlos Saura

Carlos Saura reconstructs in these pages a contemporary history of flamenco through its most relevant figures, from Camarón de la Isla and Paco de Lucía to Lola Flores, Cristina Hoyos and Antonio Gades, passing through Laura del Sol, Farruco, Farruquito, Matilde Coral, Manolo Sanlúcar and many others. More than a hundred images, mostly unpublished, and an introduction by the author himself convey the intensity and energy of flamenco art.