(noticia) Flamenco - new beat for Japan's hip-hop boys

March 05 2006 at 03:26PM

By Chris Wright

Madrid - "Ichi, ni, san, yon (one, two, three, four). O, que frio!"

On a cold Madrid morning, a wooden-floored schoolroom might seem an odd venue for a group of young Japanese tourists to begin their day's "sightseeing".

But today, the Spanish capital's museums and even Real Madrid's mythical Santiago Bernabeu stadium have to play second fiddle to a growing new passion among Japanese men.

'They feel a bit strange at first'
Flamenco dancing.
For decades, the cacophonous art has mesmerised young Japanese women, thousands of whom have traipsed over to Madrid and Seville to learn the trade in specialist schools, their passion kindled largely by a landmark 1978 tour of Japan by the legendary Merche Esmeralda.

But, slowly, their menfolk are getting hooked.

(leer +) [vía iol]