Essential book
All about flamenco vocals and flamenco styles
By Domingo Manfredi Cano
This book appeared in the 1950s and was a small revolution, as the author himself explained. However, Geografía del Cante Jondo did not take long to become one of the most complete and important research works on cante jondo. Today, his conclusions are still valid today and, above all, the detailed analysis of the different flamenco styles and palos. The book is licensed under Creative Commons and can be downloaded or read online.
Domingo Manfredi (Seville, 1918-Alicante, 1998), in addition to being a prestigious flamencologist, was a novelist, poet, short-story writer, lecturer… a fully-fledged intellectual. He is also the author of Cante y baile flamencos, was a member of the chair of Flamencology in Jerez de la Frontera, author of the lyrics of Mi Huelva tiene una ría and a regular lyricist for songs by Manolo Caracol, among other artists.
Manfredi’s prologue for the second edition of Radiografía del Cante Jondo in 1988
“When this book first appeared in print it was a novelty. Cante Jondo was a subject that was little-treated, almost cursed. “Quincalla meridional”, Ortega y Gasset had called it, making a package with singing and dancing and I think even the flamenco guitar, a family shame of the classical guitar, like that cousin that exists in all good families, dedicated to the old and necessary trade of the bad life. I overcame the publisher’s resistance, and endured the pitying looks of the writers when I confessed to them that my next book would seriously deal with the Flamenco Art.
Now the subject is in general use, and authors of books, commentaries and lectures on flamenco are coming out of the woodwork. It’s not bad. On the contrary, it is very good. And one of my glories is to have spent my life studying the land, the people, and the folklore of Andalusia”.