The City Council of Granada initiated the procedures for the Zambra characteristic of Sacromonte to be declared Intangible Heritage of Humanity by Unesco. Last Friday, February 22, all the municipal groups gathered to give their support to this institutional declaration, in the presence of the main representatives of flamenco and the tradition of the Sacromonte from Granada as: Curro Albaicín , Marina Heredia or Salvador Maya, among others and the mayor of Granada Francisco Cuenca (PSOE), who recalled that the zambra is a hallmark of its own identity with its roots in flamenco and the identity of Granada.
The procedures are already underway to count on the collaboration of Junta de Andalucía, the central government and all the institutions that make the dossier possible and that in the next year, it can enter within the applications to the European cultural entity.
From María La Canastera we want to thank the institutional support so that this flamenco dance can be considered Intangible Heritage of Humanity .
We collect some links from the media that have echoed the news:
- The flamencos of Sacromonte endorse the zambra as Intangible Heritage
- Granada will urge Unesco to declare the zambra as Intangible Heritage of Humanity
- Granada begins the procedures for the zambra to be a World Heritage Site.
- The City Council will initiate procedures for the zambra to be considered Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
A little history…
Under the name of zambra is known in two distinct Andalusian music genres:
- The first belongs to the ritual of the gypsies of Granada.
- The second, a theatrical style created by Manolo Caracol for their shows, with which aimed to recreate the Moorish atmosphere of the caves of Sacromonte, thus exploiting the exotic atmosphere that much like the Spanish public in the fifties.
The Granada version is part of the ritual music of the gypsies of Sacromonte and integrates three main dances : “the alboreá” “the cap” and “the fly“. Each of which symbolizes a time of gypsy wedding.
The name zambra derives from the Arabic word zamra (flute) or zamara (musicians). It is usually mentioned in the literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth along with genres such as zapateado, zarabanda and fandango and as a genre of the Moriscos of Granada . Many of these, during the persecutions of the XVII, join the bands of gypsies that inherit the tradition of the zambra and recreate it in a properly gypsy show. The zambra caracolera, very popular in the shows of the 50s and 60s of the twentieth century, is inspired by a type of music that highlights the exoticism so demanded at the time, evoking the gypsy atmosphere of the caves of Sacromonte .
