There can be no doubt that the Cante Jondo contest held in Granada during the Corpus celebrations on 13 and 14 June 1922 was an important milestone in the history of flamenco, although some scholars, looking back on it from our current perspective, question the timeliness of its celebration, the organisational model and its restrictive rules. It is true that almost a century later, and having witnessed the course that flamenco has taken over this long journey, some of the premises on which the contest was based could be considered exceedingly alarmist –especially that the purest forms of cante were in imminent danger of disappearing– something that ultimately never materialised, in spite of the surprising ups and downs and changes that all forms of artistic endeavours have undergone over this period. At the same time, the restrictive divisions that the organizers of the contest established between true cante jondo and flamenco singing, as if they were two separate entities instead of interrelated disciplines, has not been sustained by their subsequent evolution. And lastly, to give just three examples, the exclusive participation of amateur singers, who in the opinion of the organisers had held on to the essence of this “art of the people”, as opposed to professional singers, who according to the organisers had been corrupted by the commercialization, popular success and influence of the copla. This prevented many great cante figures from participating in the event, many of whom had drawn upon the roots of this great, leafy tree to create new, interesting branches.

One cannot really argue, as some experts have claimed, that the celebration of this contest was a watershed in the development of flamenco, but it was a kind of barometer and captured the attention of all those, intellectuals or otherwise, who considered cante jondo a marginal form of art, of little cultural interest and very much a product of the seedy world of bars: dark and sinful at the very least. In truth, and seen from our current perspective, the contest was an attempt to revitalise a type of music that was believed to be in danger. And in a way perhaps it was, when seen from within the prevailing mood of regeneration inspired by the Free Teaching Institu- te founded in 1876 –the year of Manuel de Falla’s birth– by Francisco Giner de los Ríos, whose nephew Fernando de los Ríos was one of the great driving forces behind this contest. De los Ríos was a Professor of Political Law at the University of Granada, a great friend of both Lorca and Falla, and a long-established flamenco fan who was often seen at venues where there was dancing and singing, and was even said to have sung himself on occasions.

Although the responsibility for organizing the event fell to the painter and sculptor Miguel Cerón and the Granada Art and Literature Centre directed by Antonio Ortega, Antonio Gallego Burín and Francisco Vergara, the undisputed figure -head was Manuel de Falla– more, even, than Federico García Lorca. In addition to Falla, Lorca and Fernando de los Ríos, others who collaborated closely included Fernando Vílchez, the flamenco guitarist Manuel Jofré, Francisco Vergara, the painter Ramón Carazo, the engraver Hermenegildo León and the guitarist Andrés Segovia. Others who added their names to the project and its wider aims included Oscar Esplá, Joaquín Turina, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Manuel Ángeles Ortíz, Ramón Perez de Ayala, Adolfo Salazar, Bartolomé Pérez-Casas, Tomás Borrás, Enrique Díez Canedo, Hermenegildo Giner de los Ríos, Aga Lahowska and Conrado del Campo, among others.