Flamenco to educate in values, admirable!

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In this very ours Expoflamenco We were commenting recently another book from the Music professor and doctor in Education Victor Pastor Perez, restless researcher of the values ​​of the jondo in relation to the deepest part of existence, universal human values. In that, Education, social justice and flamenco, also published, like the one we are dealing with, by the University of Seville, in 2023, analyzes the flamenco from the sociopolitical commitment, in line with other researchers such as Juan Pinilla, an artist too, like our author. He showed himself inpeñaI do in bringing education in values ​​to education through the flamenco, as in the current book, entitled Flamenco and education in values, teaching resources and educational experiences in compulsory secondary education -ESO-.

There he brought us closer to pedagogical and historical considerations, active methodologies and education in relation to social justice, as well as the social and educational function of music, flamenco as a testimony to inequality, poverty, freedom, class consciousness, ethnicity and interculturality –Moriscos, blacks and gypsies–, gender issues –sexism in lyrics, female guitarists, sexualization of dance, transvestism and new codes, etc.– and the flamenco and social justice. It brings us closer to absent voices, those of women, compared to present voices, those of men.

En this link You can follow their activity on the blog Music, flamenco and social justice.

En Flamenco and education in values, teaching resources and educational experiences in compulsory secondary education –ESO–, wants to offer a manual for the teaching programs that are used for the teaching oppositions in EPO and ESO, primary and secondary respectively. Since the 2023/24 academic year there is a subject called culture of Flamenco as an elective subject in Music for third year of ESO. For those of us who have been working for decades (and have already gone grey for a long time) more alone than anything else, with publications as well, with conferences, etc., on this eternal subject of teaching music flamenco among children and adolescents, is good news, even though some, like me, defend the interdisciplinary issue more than the implementation of a subject in itself with all its demands. This is what we stated in 2009 in Poetics and didactics of flamenco, from the publishing house Signatura, a book that the author collects and cites, which we appreciate and which will be published in Renacimiento in 2025 in an expanded, revised reissue. We are truly pleased with the progress made in the bibliography, courses and meetings on teaching of the flamenco, which we have included in an updated form in this reissue.

"A book, like a manual for teachers and teaching candidates, truly brave and useful, which points out many interesting points of the relationship between flamenco with values, human rights and their use in music classrooms and other subjects. As Pastor Pérez says, if students know and should know Mozart, why not Paco de Lucía?

Professor Pastor Pérez knows a lot about what he writes, he wrote his doctoral thesis on these topics reflected in his books, combining theory and teaching practice. He uses a format similar to that of teaching units. He turns to more experienced experts such as Miguel Lopez Castro, Catalina Leon o Eulalia Pablo. He believes that the flamenco It is something more than music, as we also believe, always so attentive and loving of the lyrics, of the poetry of flamenco, of what the lyrics and the artists say.

He complains about the shortage of materials, although, as I have indicated, there are more and more of them, another thing is whether they are in schools or, if they are, dust falls on them, and we know what we are talking about after thirty-six years as a secondary school teacher together with fifteen as a university professor.

Instead of flamenco pure prefers to talk about flamenco Classical or traditional, which we think is great, is clearer and less controversial. It uses sexist lyrics from tradition to illustrate, let's say, what should not be, and when it comes to giving an opinion on whether these types of lyrics should be made and/or sung now, it makes it clear, no, they should not be sung to fit the democratic and egalitarian context of the 21st century in Spain.

With judgment and wisdom, he expresses that the content and social concerns of literature must be updated. There are certainly new problems such as forced immigration, school bullying, persistent discrimination, ecological problems, etc. And he cites those who, from their youth and quality, are doing so: Rosario the Tremendita, Rocio Marquez, Laura Vital, Lourdes pastor, Clown Woman, etc.

Let's remember the documentary Minera, A journey to the depths of the workers' struggle, featuring singer Rocío Márquez, from 2012, which already has more than thirteen thousand views.

Justifies the inclusion of the flamenco in the Spanish educational system for its own richness and musical complexity, for the union of poetry, music and dance, for the cultural representation of Andalusian society and for its great expressiveness as a sample and origin of universal emotions.

It lists, as we did in the book cited, the subjects involved, beyond Music, obviously: Language, Literature, History, Visual and Plastic Education, etc. The lyrics will help us to work punctually in each subject on some aspect. And, regarding Music, in the final part of the book there are scores of canteand touches.

In short, a book, as a manual for teachers and teaching candidates, truly brave and useful, which points out many interesting points of the relationship between flamenco with values, human rights and their use in Music classrooms and other subjects. As Pastor Pérez says, if students know and should know Mozart, why not to Paco de Lucía?

→ Victor Pastor Perez, Flamenco and education in values, teaching resources and educational experiences in compulsory secondary education –ESO–, University of Seville, 2023.