(enlace) Flamenco music gets the blues

By SHELLY MERON
SENTINEL STAFF WRITER

Andrea "La Canela" Black says flamenco is a lot like the blues.

"A really good way to compare (flamenco) is to look at the blues in America," says the dancer who’s been involved with flamenco for the last 25 years.

"It was a mixture of American culture that came together to develop it."

The same kind of cultural mixing was the root of flamenco in Spain, Black says. Flamenco music and dance originated with the persecuted gypsies and spread to other groups targeted during the Spanish Iquisition of 1492, such as Jews and Muslims.

While trying to survive and resist conversion to Christianity, members of these groups found themselves intermingling, sharing dance and music traditions with one another.

"When someone had to go into hiding, they would often mix with gypsies," Black explained.

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