Carmen Amaya, Queen of Flamenco

ARTIST + MUSE

CARMEN AMAYA

QUEEN OF FLAMENCO

Her fierceness and perseverance is so inspiring, especially for a woman of her time. I hope this story inspires the artist and muse inside of you too. 

Spain has inspired a host of distinguished artists known the world over for their innovative creativity. Architecture has visionary Antonio Gaudi’s to thank for Barcelona’s unique Art Nouveau resurgence and Catalan Modern Architecture, classical art was redefined by Salvador Dali’s enthralling Surrealist paintings and Pablo Picaso’s brain melting Cubist sculptural expression.

Yet it’s Spanish Flamenco that most directly conveys the pride, passion, and romance at the heart of Spanish culture.

Many Spanish artists, painters and architects are embedded in the zeitgeist, yet flamenco music and dance is at first somehow left without any particular artist credited for its expression or popularization.

Before visiting Spain for myself, I envisioned sipping Cava in some smoke bar, listening to sultry Spanish guitar accompanied by the tapping and clapping of a flamenco dancer’s heartfelt performance, the stage a swirl of red rose petals, black and white polka dot ruffles, and fringe, yet no one artist’s face stood out in my mind. 

That changed on a recent visit to Granada, in Andalusia of Southern Spain. I fell in love with flamenco and learned about the OG Queen of flamenco herself, Carmen Amaya.

When she dances she vibrates from head to toe, she writhes, shakes and stands up in histrionic haughtiness, and her steel feet clatter with deafening fury, obsessed by the crescendo of the guitar, topped by an abrupt, explosive display at the end.”

SEBASTIÁN GASCH

While in Granada, I was on a mission to experience authentic flamenco in its birthplace, so I booked it out. The night started with dinner at Farala, a gorgeous second story restaurant at the end of a narrow cobblestone street in the shadow of the Alhambra, followed by a performance from the local flamenco troupe at Casa del Arte, on the ground floor just below.

Promenade in Granada [©VictoriaSmithLiving]

When in the Andalusia region of Spain, you must go to Granada to see the Alhambra. More on that later. For dinner one night, head to Farala to enjoy a delicious, chic dining followed by an impassioned flamenco performance. The show honestly left me with a euphoric high and craving a smoke and a glass of porto. 

Best seat in the house @ Farala [©VictoriaSmithLiving]

Anyway, after the show, on the wall opposite the flamenco stage, I noticed a floor-to-ceiling, high contrast black and white portrait of a flamenco dancer, fiercely posed with dark fiery eyes that transfixed me.

One of the dancers kindly explained that her name was Carmen Amaya. I had to know more! 

Like myself, many don’t realize that Carmen Amaya, Spain’s greatest Flamenco dancer/singer and Sabicas flamenco’s greatest composer/soloist are the two Spaniards to thank for making flamenco loved and accessible around the world. Both Spaniards of Romani descent and from humble beginnings, they started perfecting their craft out of necessity at a very young age, to help their families survive in poverty. 

Carmen’s story begins on a dark and stormy night in 1913, She was born in a coastal shanty town in the Somorrostro district of Barcelona, Catalonia.

I was born by the sea. My life and my art were born of the sea. The sea taught me to dance… I will die if I have to give up dancing.

CARMEN AMAYA

From the age of four, she sang and danced to her father’s guitara, walking from bar to bar starting at nightfall till dawn, hopeful for tips from an inspired bystander with something to spare. 

It wasn’t long before her remarkable talent gained recognition and Carmen began performing all over Europe. During the Spanish Civil War, Carmen traveled to Argentina along with Sabicas looking for safe haven along with many Spaniards at the time, and brought Flamenco with her.

She danced in public performances filling theater after theater, she danced for President Roosevelt at the White House, and appeared in several International and American films.

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In England, she performed with special invitation from the Queen, during which she exuded such a regal confidence that the meeting and performance was recounted by The Press with the provocative headline, “Two queens, face to face.”

Carmen is an inspiration, both an Artist + Muse. She rose from poverty against the odds and became one of the most important ambassadors of Spanish culture of our time. With her, there was no dainty tiptoeing or feigned coyness as demanded of women in so many cultures of the day, including Spanish culture. She was all power and free flowing raw emotion. She often danced solo and took command of the space, leaving no room for a male partner.

Nicknamed “el Capitan,” Carmen broke gender barriers both on and off the stage. She fashioned many of her signature looks after the flamboyant, bedazzled and equally Spanish, but exclusively male matador at a time when a women in pants was still considered quite scandalous.

Her choice to don matador inspired costumes feels especially revolutionary, under the context of the social status men attained as esteemed bullfighters in Spain. Throughout Spain at the time, the matador’s social status and wealth was only rivaled by that of the Catholic patriarchy; the pinnacle of social standing and authority in Spain.

Carmen traveled the world for much of her life and won dozens of awards, yet she remained loyal to her roots and always longed to return to the sea, to be among kindred spirits in her old hometown. Independent to the end, she did return home and lived out the end of her days in her coastal homeland of northern Catalonia. 

She lived and breathed Flamenco in a way that all people hope to be consumed by and successful from devotion to their passion and talent. She was acutely expressive, exuding powerful emotions in every gesture, something which women are so often taught to repress.

Mural of Carmen in Barcelona, Spain [Mural by BTOY]

Her free flowing sorrow, struggle, furry, and passion were respected and praised instead of shamed and minimized. When you watch one of her performances it’s clear that any attempt to minimize or control her would be futile.

Her fierceness and perseverance is so inspiring to see in a fellow woman. I hope this story inspires the artist and muse inside of you too. 

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