Rhythms of Spain

I suspect every culture and city has it’s rhythms, but the ones I’ve encountered in Sevilla are heart pounding.  It’s not uncommon to encounter groups of men or women, young or old, sauntering down the streets at night, clapping to various and complimentary beats, talking and laughing comfortably, effortlessly.

Street flamenco performers in late night Sevilla, Spain

I’m told that the clapping element of flamenco was actually the first in the evolution of what we think of as primarily a dance form that is accompanied by guitar and clapping and stomping. I like to think I can keep a beat, but this is not for the amateur.  If you’re not born to the complex patterns of flamenco, just sit quietly, hands folded in lap, and smile!

One night while I was chatting with family until 2:00am Sevilla time from a payphone (a common practice), my sister got to hear the bells of the cathedral clamoring out intricate combinations, and the clop of hooves on the cobblestones as horses pulling carriages trotted by.  She accused me of piping canned stereotyped sounds into the phone!

Trotting carriages..this one carrying a newlywed couple, Seville, Spain

Later, my husband was privy to the serious celebratory singing and honking that goes with Sevilla’s home team winning an important futball game (our soccer).  Of course, this being the cradle of flamenco, everything here is to a rhythm, so they don’t just honk, they tap out a tune, something like the beat of the stellar 80’s song:

S-A-T-U-R    D-A-Y  NIGHT!

(Please don’t admit that you know that song; for the preservation of your own dignity. Me? I lost mine long ago!) Such vibrance and vitality, it’s no wonder I have trouble settling in to sleep. But when I concentrate on the gentle rhythms of my breathing, I am lulled into the renewal of slumber…to recharge for another day of Sevillian madness and cadence.

(All photos by G. Stark)