What I find most remarkable is the suggestion that Flamenco is not folk music . . although there is commercial flamenco (and tourist flamenco, more's the pity) it certainly remains a music which is firmly "of the people". Visiting a flamenco club on the eve of holy week in 1998 the usual programme was replaced by an evening of sacred songs associated with semana santa, and poetry reading (mainly if not exclusively Lorca). Some aspect of the evening were naff in the extreme, but the singing was amazing. One young woman (mid-twenties, I'd guess) had one of the finest voices I've had the fortune to hear; the comparison I'd make is with June Tabor (and regular readers may have notices how highly I regard June's singing). In the interval we asked this girl whether she or the others had recorded their performances. Once persuaded that this was a serious question she laughed - though pleased at the praise, she clearly (and mistakenly!) considered what they were doing to be unremarkable; commonplace, even.

Interestingly, the audience covered a wide age range; clearly this was a living tradition. Also, there'd been no admission charge, and drinks were at "normal" bar prices.

[There's a name for the songs being performed; perhaps someone can remind me of it. One of them is sung as each float of the Semana Santa procession enters the cathedral/church at the end of its procession, if that helps.]

G.