Flameco fire: Festival Flamenco Gitano comes to Redondo Beach
La Farruca will perform as part of the Festival Flamenco Gitano USA 2012 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts next week. The Spanish word duende cannot be explicitly translated to any one English word. In fact, even Spanish definitions of the word vary from person to person, meanings ranging from “elf” or “goblin” to “magic.” However, according to Spanish folklore and its usage in the Spanish arts, duende describes the mysterious, looming presence of heightened emotions in response to the raw, authentic, character of music or the spoken word. It’s a feeling or physical response that comes from inside a person when they hear a certain guitar chord or when a singer’s shrieks send chills down your spine. Although all arts are capable of duende, it finds greatest resonance in flamenco gitano [pronounced hee-TAH-no, meaning gypsy], Flamenco’s most traditional and authentic form of dance and song. Originally performed in the homes and private gatherings of gypsies in southern Spain, flamenco’s raw character stems from the spontaneous creation of song and dance that tells stories about bygone eras of joy and sorrow. “Flamenco gitano is the expression of cultural identity of the…
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