This March 8th, coinciding with Women's Day, ALL FLAMENCO launches a special television program with some of the greatest artists of the flamenco scene of today and always. In their honor, we want to review the merit that women like them, artists, gypsies and empowered, have come so far in the world of flamenco, which like so many others, has been generally reserved for men.

We will review the milestones of women such as Ostalinda Suárez, the first gypsy flautist, passing through titans of flamenco singing such as Carmen Linares, María Terremoto and Esperanza Fernández, to finish with some of the greatest figures of flamenco dancing, such as Macarena López, Rafaela Carrasco and Sara Cano.

Women instrumentalists

Ostalinda Suárez, the first gypsy flute player

In the flamenco world, until recently, it was rare to see women instrumentalists. That is why the fact that Ostalinda Suárez, genius of the transverse flute, claims to be a flamenco, gypsy and instrumentalist woman is a milestone in the history of flamenco.  

This vindication is the essence of her show Acaná, in which symphonic music is mixed with avant-garde and flamenco tradition, aspects that she gathers from the family tradition and especially from her father, Paco Suárez.  

Ostalinda herself commented in an interview for El Periódico de Badajoz (where she is from) the moment when she felt she was truly a musical reference for gypsy women. According to her, when she organized a flute course for the Badajoz Conservatory, up to six gypsy students enrolled. One of those small, everyday gestures that show how times are changing for the better.

Flamenco singers

Carmen Linares, Princess of Asturias Award

Carmen Linares has long been one of the titans of flamenco singing, who recently won the Princess of Asturias Awars for more than 50 years of musical career. Already in 2011 she also received the National Award for Music and Interpretation, being the first woman to receive such a tribute.

Carmen Pacheco Rodríguez is one of the living legends of flamenco singing inside and outside Spain. To such an extent that she has been the teacher and voice of young singers such as Miguel Poveda, Marina Heredia, Arcángel and Estrella Morente.

María Terremoto, cradle of Jerez singing

María Fernández Benítez, known as María Terremoto, is destined to become a legend of Jerez flamenco singing. Through her veins runs the blood of great flamenco artists, such as her father, the cantaor Fernando Terremoto, and her grandmother, the legendary cantaora Fernanda de Utrera. 

From a young age she learnt flamenco at home and, starting to perform at a very young age, she made her debut at only 16 years old. Since then, she has performed at numerous prestigious flamenco festivals and stages in Spain and around the world, such as the Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla, the Festival de Jerez and the Flamenco Festival London. 

In an exclusive interview she gave to ALL FLAMENCO, she stated that her recent motherhood had changed "the perspective of everything in a vital way". Although her successes take her further and further and fill her agenda even more, what really moves her is "giving herself to her people". A real woman-earthquake.

Esperanza Fernández, flamenco roots

This tribute could not miss a woman who says she will die "with her boots on". The cantaora Esperanza Fernández is an example of how to make her way among men.

Even as a child, in her neighborhood of Triana, despite her natural talent in her first shows, she was called "Curro Fernandez's girl" and not by her own name. But when she performed at the Teatro Maestranza, everything changed.  

Since then, she has performed on countless stages all over the world: New York, Paris, Bergen, Lisbon, Tampere, Brasilia, Marrakech, Brussels, Rome, Toulouse, Connecticut, Thessaloniki, Athens, Jerusalem, etc. All these places have led her to put her voice at the service of other musical genres, such as jazz or symphonic music, without ever leaving aside her flamenco DNA.

Flamenco dancers

Macarena López, a personal bet

After making her debut as a soloist dancer in the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía, Macarena López decided to create her own show, En mi sentido, with which she won the First Prize for Solo Choreography in the Spanish Dance and Flamenco Choreography Contest in Madrid.

Macarena López not only bets on her own dance, but always looks for her own style. Her goal, as she told us in an interview, "is not to tell, is to make people feel. That no one remains indifferent".

Rafaela Carrasco, a constant fighter

Due to her success, the dancer and choreographer from Seville needs no introduction. A woman devoted to flamenco since she was a child. When she was only 12 years old, Rafaela Carrasco was already teaching sevillanas to be able to pay for her dance academy. Since then, she has dedicated her life to dance. 

Since then she has danced in important companies, has received the main awards in the XI Contest of Spanish Dance and Flamenco Choreography, has been director of the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía and has even created her own eponymous company.

Rafaela Carrasco breaks the mold because her purpose is to rethink, investigate and personalize flamenco. Her goal has been to create her own vision of dance: warm, elaborated, conceptual and conceived for a corps de ballet in a scenic space.

Sara Cano, contemporary queen

"My body is contemporary, but my marrow is made of earth, of roots that delve into the imaginary of our folklore and our precious flamenco". But not only she thinks so, also the critics have awarded her with the Max Award for Best Choreography and other awards that position her as the greatest exponent of contemporary and flamenco dance in Spain.

In her show Mujer de Pie, Sara Cano pays tribute to "resilience and the power of reinvention", two elements that are present in life and in flamenco, which is increasingly resilient, more open and more prone to reinvention, elements that could not be so without the presence of women.