Catalonia remembers flamenco legend Carmen Amaya
Carmen Amaya is considered the best flamenco dancer in history whose passionate and wild style changed the conception of flamenco. Born in Barcelona in 1917, Amaya travelled around the world and triumphed in Latin America, United States and South Africa. This year marks the 50th anniversary of her death and the Catalan Government has proclaimed 2013 Carmen Amaya Year, with the intention of recognising the career of one of the best-known Catalan artists.
Barcelona (CNA).-Catalonia is not the land of flamenco but its open and cosmopolitan character has allowed some of the great flamenco artists to grow up here. Among them is the representative of the quintessential flamenco dance: Carmen Amaya. Carmen Amaya is considered a genius of flamenco and her career has been nationally and internationally recognised. The artist born in Barcelona in 1917 was member of a traditional Flamenco gipsy family. Amaya changed Flamenco dance patterns, turning the traditional dance into something unique and timeless. Her spontaneity crossed over her artistic and personal life.
Carmen Amaya’s father decided not to enrol her in a dance academy in order to retain her pure and instinctive dance style. As a child she was a prodigy and at the age of 10 she performed in Madrid and other Spanish cities. Carmen Amaya also appeared in many Spanish films. But her international recognition arrived when she left Spain in 1936, when the Civil War broke out. She travelled first to Lisbon and then crossed the Atlantic to settle in Latin America for four years. In 1941 she went to United States where she obtained a great success that captivated even President Roosevelt.
When she came back to Spain she was a legend in the Flamenco world and one of the most international Catalan stars. Amaya died in Begur, a town on the Costa Brava, in 1963. Fifty years later the Catalan Government has decided to establish 2013 as the Carmen Amaya Year in order to rediscover her, pay tribute to her and disseminate the artistic legacy of the dancer. Among these activities we can discover a photography exhibition that invites the visitors to a chronological tour around Amaya’s last year of life. Colita, one of the photographers, became close to Carmen Amaya during her last few months. She defends that “Carmen was one of the most important dancers of the 20th century, comparable to Nijinsky o Diaghilev”.
The recent Ciutat Flamenco 2013 Festival was held in Carmen Amaya’s honour and included many tribute concerts. Furthermore, a hall has been named after her in Mercat de les Flors, the theatre considered the nerve centre of dance in Catalonia. Also the National Theatre of Catalonia will offer a piece called ‘La Capitana’ (The Capitan), Carmen Amaya’s artistic name.