Despite its close association with modern Flamenco music, the guitar did not play much of a role in the early days of the art form. Since Flamenco was an essential expression of workers’ joys and sorrows, a mirror of their everyday lives, its early players accompanied themselves with tools they used in their trades, one example being the blacksmith’s hammer in the Martinete. Clapping their hands, beating sticks on the ground in simple accompaniments, these musicians shared their music as they worked, celebrated, and mourned the events of their daily lives. Guitars were not, therefore, a factor in the early development of Flamenco music.
That, however, soon changed, for assimilation and integration were, and continue to be, the key components in the evolution of this truly multicultural music. In its journey, Flamenco incorporated some kinds of Andalusian folk music, South American songs, and even later, jazz and European popular music. None of these, however, mark the guitar’s entrance onto the Flamenco scene. To discover how the guitar made its debut into Flamenco music as we know it today, one must return to the music’s origins in Islamic communities, particularly those in North Africa and Asia.
An oft-repeated myth claims that the Gitanos, having heard the ‘classical’ guitar, adapted its techniques to accompany the Flamenco Cante, as its performers grew in popularity and renown. The techniques, however, are so widely divergent that one would be hard-pressed to make that connection. In fact, in the percussive rasgueos, the accented phrasing more closely resembles techniques which date back to the time of the Moors, techniques which were used in Arabic music composed for the ‘ud and other stringed instruments. Flamenco guitar techniques, therefore, have more likely evolved from early Mozarabic and other ancient Andalusian instrumental music.
