Travel bucket list idea:
Andalusia, Spain
Bucket List Experience
Credit Shutterstock.com/VDV
Andalusia expresses its passionate soul in the guitars, singing and twirling, stamping steps of its native flamenco – declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2010.
Most scholars believed the seeds of flamenco arrived in the 15th century with the Roma from India. Over the centuries they slowly migrated west with their castanets and tambourines, absorbing songs and dances in the Middle East and North Africa along the way. The Spanish at first considered it a foreign art, or ‘Flemish’ – hence flamenco.
By the 19th century flamenco as we know it emerged – popularized by Bizet’s Carmen – with shows performed in cafés cantantes (singers’ cafés), the forerunners to the modern tablaos. These are intimate venues with small wooden stages, perfect for the exhilarating machine gun-like zapateado (dancing).
You can hear flamenco’s eastern origins in the singer’s cante jondo (‘deep song’), evoking pain, sorrow and joy, while dancers express each emotion with their bodies, driven by the pulsing percussive strumming of the guitars.
A good show, and there are many here, can send chills down your spine with their duende, the ecstatic ‘demon’ spirit that brings listeners out of themselves.
Cordoba, Andalusia, Spain
Experience
Very professional Flamenco club founded back in the 1990s near La Mezquita with only 50 seats, but plenty of passion; several of its seven talented artists have won national prizes for their guitar-playing and dancing.
Adult price 20
Good for age: 13+
Duration: 1 hour
When: Daily
Granada, Andalusia, Spain
Bucket List Experience
Experience
Andalusia is the birthplace of flamenco, which still pulses through its blood; Book in for a show at one of Granada’s excellent theatres.
Adult price 15
Good for age: 13+
Duration: 90 minutes
When: Daily
Freq: daily
Seville, Andalusia, Spain
Bucket List Experience
Experience
Andalusia is the birthplace of flamenco, which still pulses through its blood. Book in for a show at one of Seville’s excellent theatres.
Adult price 15
Good for age: 13+
Duration: 90 minutes
When: Daily
Freq: daily
Cordoba, Andalusia, Spain
Experience
Very professional Flamenco club founded back in the 1990s near La Mezquita with only 50 seats, but plenty of passion; several of its seven talented artists have won national prizes for their guitar-playing and dancing.
Adult price 20
Good for age: 13+
Duration: 1 hour
When: Daily
Always book tickets for a tablao or club in advance, either via an organised tour or on the websites of the clubs. Options usually include a show and a drink or tapas or dinner with a choice of set price menus. Performances run around 90 minutes.
Most clubs put on two shows every evening, usually around 7pm and 9pm.
Destination guides including or relevant to this experience
Andalusia, Spain
Destination guide
A big dazzling region, packed with fascinating cities, beautiful landscapes and beaches, colourful fiestas and oodles of sunshine.
Andalusia, Spain
Destination guide
A fascinating city of labyrinthine lanes and Roman and Moorish monuments, including one of the world’s greatest buildings: the Mezquita.
Andalusia, Spain
Destination guide
Crowned by the dreamlike Alhambra, this vibrant Spanish-Arab culture capital combines fascinating sights and lively nightlife with the Sierra Nevada on the doorstep.
Andalusia, Spain
Destination guide
Extravagant and sensuous, Spain’s fourth city entices with brilliant monuments, gardens, tapas bars, flamenco shows and full-on nightlife.
