National Flamencoism

Abstract

Carlos Sanz and José Manuel Morales discuss in their contribution the politicization and exportation of flamenco music and dance by Franco's dictatorship in Spain. From its origins, General Franco's regime did not hesitate to use culture as an instrument with propagandistic goals, especially when it tried to foster a particular representation of the Spanish nation amid the international public opinion. Based on a wide range of primary and bibliographic sources, this contribution aims to highlight the underlying motivations which contributed to the election of a popular musical tradition as an ambassador of Franco's regime abroad, to the point of merging flamenco music and dance with Spanish identity and generating »national flamencoism« as an exportable cultural product. It was a choice with long-lasting effects on the crystallization of a cultural cliché regarding Spanish culture, with effects still visible today.