"This book is about the extra-musical resonance of flamenco artistry. Rather than focusing on the music and dance for itself, it directs attention to the cultural and political reverberations that accompany flamenco performances. Given this aim, I will avoid offering evaluative interpretations, and I emphasize that this is not a work of art criticism. Such criticism is best left to Andalusian adepts and to the handful of expert outsiders gifted with deep insight and expansive vision, along with the resilience needed to deal with the heated reactions that aesthetic interpretations almost always attract." "Here, for my part, I claim no great artistic insight. However, I am able to explicate the linkages between performances and relevant institutional forces at work in Andalusian social life, showing that, although any particular flamenco performance may seem to be a product of a sublime talent that addresses a hallowed past, it is also significantly associated with institutional constraints that artists and experts interpreters rarely recognize. My contribution, which consists of explicating these associations, is oriented towards a promising future for both musicians and citizens. In this vein I hope that artists and policy-makers will use this project to clarify the ways in which their labors can contribute as much to the betterment of life in the future as to the appreciation of the past and the enjoyment of the present."
No comments:
Post a Comment