The Hindu : New Delhi News : Spanish Flamenco has an Indian connection

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Tuesday, Dec 20, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Spanish Flamenco has an Indian connection

NEW DELHI: Foot-tapping dancing and music evocative of abundant grief and exuberant joy omnipresent in Spain today traces its origin to Rajasthan's sandy deserts and parts of northwest India, particularly Punjab.

Sixty-nine-year-old Pedro Soler, strums the wooden, six-stringed guitar resting on his knee as he effortlessly churns out Flamenco music believed to have been brought to Andalucia, the southernmost part of Spain by nomadic Indian gypsies.

``Among friends in parties and social gatherings in Spain today Flamenco dancing and music is very popular,'' explains the French artist who was recently in Delhi as part of a ten-city tour countrywide tour organised by Alliance Francaise, and the French Embassy.

The guitar maestro explains that shades of Indian influence in his music are but a natural ``contribution of gypsies who are thought to have migrated from Rajasthan and taken the route to Spain through Hungary somewhere in the 15th century.''

The wandering clusters of gypises with their bright flaming coloured skirts, multicolored beads, charming chants and skilled in variety of obscure professions such as reading palms and fortune telling never settled down in one place even as they assimilated local traditions and cultures into their lifestlye.

Even Flamenco believed to be a corrupted combination of felag (peasant) and mengu (fugitive) is an assimilation of Indian, Pakistani, Jewish, Arabic and other songs and dances mingled with those from Spain.

On his second visit to India Soler has already experimented with local artistes like tabla player Nandalal Banerjee, violinist Pandit Atulkumar Upadhye, and flautist Rajendra Kulkarni.

In Chennai recently, the guitarist had accompanied violinists Padma Shankar and Atul Kumar and also created music with flute player Rajendra Kulkarni. He says he looks forward to playing with Indian artistes and if given a chance he would love to experiment with other artistes too.

For the Spanish-born maestro who started playing the guitar at the young age of 11, music is a passion that he has worked hard to build on.

``In my family there is no musician so I was not taught music at home or in a school,'' he says.

Initially playing with exiled Andalusian refugees who fled Spain after the Spanish Civil War he emigrated to the French southwest city, Toulouse.

He picked up the ropes step by step by performing in several flemenco companies and later famous singers and dancers who taught him various techniques. Now Pedro Soler is a heavyweight in the Flamenco world and performs solo across the world in Europe, Africa and Flamenco.

Since the Spanish style is filled with songs using arbid words and clapping of hands and chants it can easily blend in with Indian ragas and dances like Bharatanatyam and Kathak.

Granadinas (Grenada), Malaguenas (Malaga), Rodenas (Ronda) and Sevillanas (Seville) found a place among the range of musical scores that Soler demonstrated to a select audience at the Capital recently. All of them are named after the Andalusian towns where they have gained popularity.

Soler equated Soleares one of the more popular songs with the raag Bhairavi.

Symbolising grief and emotion at being mistreated and downtrodden by every civilization they have encountered, the Flamenco is also the sacred Hindu dance themes of bliss and agony are at the heart of Flamenco's inner drama. Flamenco flourished, in mountain caves at night with robbers, highwaymen, common criminals and other clandestine groups who feared political and religious persecution. It soon became the voice of protest of outlaws and those who dissented norms of organised religion.

In the present form of flamenco dance we can trace certain similarities to the kathak style from the north of India.

Never mind the history, for Soler it is repeatedly about rythym and passionate expression. He fondly reminisces about the time when he accompanied a 90-year-old woman who danced beautifully to his five stinged guitar that has a tappuing plate.

The plate complements the rhythmic footwork of the flamenco dancer who dons special shoes which has dozens of nails on its soles and heels.

Soler points out that the best place to listen to original Flamenco is with a small circle of friends, at midnight somewhere in southern Spain with the song, a guitar and dancers in the moonlight. - PTI

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