Israel Galván

“In La edad de oro, I put on my flamenco dancer’s costume”.

To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of this show, a classic in his repertoire that has been performed hundreds of times all over the world, Israel Galván breathes new life into the programme with the voice of María Marín and the guitar of Rafael Rodríguez.

In flamenco, as in every art form, historians, specialists, and critics alike have gradually defined a number of reference periods which they have called La Edad de Oro (the Golden Age). The Golden Age of flamenco corresponds to the period running from the final three decades of the 19th century to the first three decades of the 20th century. This specific Golden Age refers primarily to singing and dancing, as it would take quite some time before the guitar realised its true potential.

From this point of view, no cantaor or bailaor alive today, save for a few exceptional cases, could equal the quality, purity, and creativity of those who, by elevating flamenco to its peak, defined this Golden Age. Since then, there has been a decline in the formal canons of flamenco art, as laid down during that golden epoch. Impoverishment, simplification, crossovers, and fusions, not to mention the loss of content, meaning, and the spirit that once gave life to this art form.