Sonidos Negros: On the Blackness of Flamenco (Currents in Latin American and Iberian Music)

How is the politics of Blackness figured in the flamenco dancing body? What does flamenco dance tell us about the construction of race in the Atlantic world? __Sonidos Negros__ traces how, between 1492—when Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula coincided with Christopher Columbus’s landing on Hispaniola—and 1933—when Andalusian poet Federico García Lorca published his “Theory and Play of the __Duende__”—the vanquished Moor became Black; and how the imagined __Gitano__ (“Gypsy,” or Roma) embodies the warring images and sounds of this process. By the nineteenth-century nadir of its colonial reach, Spanish identity was paradoxically enacted in terms of a minstrelized Gitano, a hybrid of Spanish and American representations of Blackness. Flamenco’s imagined Gypsy, teetering between ostentatious ignorance and the humility of epiphany, references an earlier trope: the __pastor bobo__ (foolish shepherd), who, seeing an angelic apparition, must decide whether to accept the light of Christ—or remain in darkness. Spain’s symbolic linkage of this religious peril with the Blackness of abjection scripts the evangelical narrative which defeated the Moors and enslaved the Americas. The bobo’s confusion, appealingly comic but holding the pathos of the ultimate stakes of his decision—heaven or hell, safety or extermination—bares a teeming view of the embodied politics of colonial exploitation and creole identity formation. Flamenco’s __Sonidos Negros__ live in this precarious balance, amid the purposeful ruckus cloaking danced resistance, the lament for what has been lost, and the values and aspirations of those rendered imperceptible by slavery and colonization. Cover Sonidos Negros On: the Blackness of Flamenco Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Foreword Sonidos Negros Epigraph Introduction : The Moor Inside Some Theoretical, Methodological, and Etymological Touchstones La ida y la vuelta Chapter 1. Good Shepherd, Bumpkin Shepherd: Distinction in Villano Gambetas and Zapatetas Chapter 2. Concentric Circles of Theatricality: Pantomimic Dances from the Sacred to the Secular Chapter 3. Parody and Sorrow Chapter 4. Nonsense of the Body Chapter 5. Tilting across the Racial Divide: Jacinto Padilla, “El Negro Meri,” and the Flamenco Clown Chapter 6. Jaleo de Jerez and Tumulte Noir: Juana Vargas “La Macarrona” at the Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1889 A Body of Knowledge “The Gitanos are Ours, The Gitanos are We” I. Changing Places Figuring Race and Empire in the Eighteenth-Century Fandango 1. Good Shepherd, Bumpkin Shepherd Resisting the Bourbons 2. Concentric Circles of Theatricality Nadadores de Penca (Swimmers under the Lash) and Bailadores en la Horca (Dancers on the Hangman’s Noose) Calenda, Chica, Cumbé, Chuchumbé, Panaderos, Fandangos: Spanish Pantomime and Africanist Vacunao A Ruptured Mirror: The Ethics and Politics of Dancing Schools “Neglita gitana huachi”: The Guaracha as a Mixed-Race Villano II. A Modernist Becoming The Power of Blackness 3. Parody and Sorrow El Tío Caniyitas 4. Nonsense of the Body Mungo, the Blackface Clown Harlequin (Friday) “Jim Crow” Jumps! 5. Tilting across the Racial Divide Tightropes and Wild Horses: The Dance of the Blackface Clown Jacinto Padilla, “El Negro Meri” 6. Jaleo de Jerez and Tumulte Noir Preparing Tricorne : July 1917 Articulating the Other: Fantasies of Spain at the Dawn of Modernism “Reality Check” The Enormity of Beginning The Queen of the Gypsies, La Reina der Mundo Déhanchements Full of Promise Silk and Burlap: Macarrona as Burlesque Afterword : “Lily-White Maidens” and “Black Gitanos” Notes Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Afterword Selected Bibliography Index "Sonidos Negros traces how, in the span between 1492--the year in which Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula coincided with Christopher Columbus's landing on Hispaniola--and 1933--when Andalusian poet Federico García Lorca published his 'Theory and Play of the Duende'--the Moor became Black, and how the imagined Gitano ("Gypsy," or Roma) embodies the warring images and sounds of this process. By the nineteenth-century nadir of its colonial reach, Spanish identity came to be enacted in terms of a minstrelized Gitano, a hybrid of American and Spanish representations of Blackness. The imagined Gypsy about which flamenco imagery turns dances on a knife's edge delineating Black and White worlds. Teetering between ostentatious and damning confusion and the humility of epiphany, this figure relates to an earlier Spanish trope: the pastor bobo (foolish shepherd), who, seeing an angelic apparition, must decide whether to accept the light of Christ--or remain in darkness. Spain's symbolic linkage of this religious peril with the Blackness of enslavement constitutes the evangelical narrative which vanquished the Moors and enslaved the Americas, an ideological framework that would be deployed by all the colonial slaving powers. The bobo's precarious state of confusion, appealingly comic but also holding the pathos of the ultimate stakes of his decision--heaven or hell, safety or extermination--opens up a teeming view of the embodied politics of colonial exploitation and creole identity formation. Flamenco's Sonidos Negros live in this eternal moment of bulla, the confusion and ruckus that protect embodied resistance to subjugation, the lament for what has been lost, and the values and aspirations of those rendered imperceptible by enslavement and colonization"-- Provided by publisher How is the politics of Blackness figured in the flamenco dancing body? What does flamenco dance tell us about the construction of race in the Atlantic world? Sonidos Negros traces how, in the span between 1492 and 1933, the vanquished Moor became Black, and how this figure, enacted in terms of a minstrelized Gitano , paradoxically came to represent Spain itself. The imagined Gypsy about which flamenco imagery turns dances on a knife's edge delineating Christian and non-Christian, White and Black worlds. This figure's subversive teetering undermines Spain's symbolic linkage of religion with race, a prime weapon of conquest. Flamenco's Sonidos Negros live in this precarious balance, amid the purposeful confusion and ruckus cloaking embodied resistance, the lament for what has been lost, and the values and aspirations of those rendered imperceptible by enslavement and colonization. How is the politics of Blackness figured in the flamenco dancing body? What does flamenco dance tell us about the construction of race in the Atlantic world? 'Sonidos Negros' traces how, in the span between 1492 and 1933, the vanquished Moor became Black, and how this figure, enacted in terms of a minstrelized Gitano, paradoxically came to represent Spain itself. 0The imagined Gypsy about which flamenco imagery turns dances on a knife's edge delineating Christian and non-Christian, White and Black worlds. This figure's subversive teetering undermines Spain's symbolic linkage of religion with race, a prime weapon of conquest. Flamenco's Sonidos Negros live in this precarious balance, amid the purposeful confusion and ruckus cloaking embodied resistance, the lament for what has been lost, and the values and aspirations of those rendered imperceptible by enslavement and colonization How is the politics of Blackness figured in the flamenco dancing body? What does flamenco dance tell us about the construction of race in the Atlantic world? 'Sonidos Negros' traces how, between 1492-when Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula coincided with Christopher Columbus's landing on Hispaniola - and 1933 - when Andalusian poet Federico Garc ia Lorca published his 'Theory and Play of the Duende' - the vanquished Moor became Black; and how the imagined Gitano (Gypsy, or Roma) embodies the warring images and sounds of this process How is the politics of Blackness figured in the flamenco dancing body? What does flamenco dance tell us about the construction of race in the Atlantic world? 'Sonidos Negros' traces how, between 1492-when Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula coincided with Christopher Columbus's landing on Hispaniola - and 1933 - when Andalusian poet Federico García Lorca published his 'Theory and Play of the Duende' - the vanquished Moor became Black; and how the imagined Gitano (Gypsy, or Roma) embodies the warring images and sounds of this process