Rosalía is the hot new Spanish flamenco pop sensation from Catalonia. She very effectively blends traditional Spanish and youthful pop visuals into something that feels almost religious, but is not. Rosalía certainly has youthful passion. Her videos have become viral social media sensations – until recently without major record label support.
She is so strong visually that iconic Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar has already cast her in Dolor y Gloria (Pain and Glory, 2019) a new movie with Penelope Cruz.
They call Rosalía’s music “Millenial Flamenco” and the kids are flocking to it. She is credited with both revitalizing Flamenco and killing it. Whatever it happening, Rosalía is fun to listen to and to watch.
The singer has that Catalan flair for style. With her flamenco handclaps and the cry which carries in it the winds of south Asia and the Muslim call to prayer, Rosalía sounds different from the pop patterns that have come to dominate the radio. There must be 50 ways to remake Despacito.
Though billed as Spanish, Rosalía’s music carries the influence of Asia and the Americas as well. In colonial times, Spaniards combed the Americas for gold and silver. The main port of the Spanish treasure fleet was Cádiz controlled from Seville.
Both are in southern Spain. The region is Andalusia, the end of the world. It was the last stop of the Romani people, traveling court musicians who brought the flamenco with them from northern India and picked up the sounds of cultures they encountered along the way.
The Spanish galleons of Cádiz brought flamenco to the Americas. They also brought African slaves. In Havana, Cuba, the crown jewel of New Spain, the Spanish guitar and African drum mixed into what we now call Latin music. From there it spread across the Americas.
The African influence also returned to Spain. It’s called Rumba Flamenca. A rumba is an Afro-Cuban party. Rumba Flamenca is one of the cantes de ida y vuelta (a round trip, or songs of going and returning).
Rosalía’s New Flamenco carries moves and rhythms from American hip-hop and reggaeton. So her music is New Rumba Flamenca.
The young star is criticized for being a Catalan singing in the style of Andalusia. She is not Romani either, and flamenco is their music. But Rosalía’s style, like humanity itself, is a great blend of cultures. As long as it’s fun, who cares who made it and who stole it? And Rosalía’s music and persona are fun.
Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album Grammy
Sunday, January 26, 2020 ~ Rosalía performed and “El Mal Querer” won the Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album Grammy at the 62nd Grammy Awards.
Will Rosalía Take a Latin Grammy?
Find out Thursday, November 15, 2018 in live in Las Vegas or on Univision from 8-11pm.
Malamente gets 5 Latin Grammy Nominations
September 20, 2018 ~ Malamente gets five Latin Grammy nominations. It’s the second most nominations of this awards. The name means “badly.”
- Record of the Year
- Song of the Year
- Best Urban Fusion/Performance
- Best Alternative Song
- Best Short Form Music Video
Rosalía El mal querer (Sony Music)
Rosalía developed the album with electronic wizard El Guincho (Pablo Díaz-Reixa).
The video for the first single Malamente went viral. It blends traditional Spanish and youth themes, like a purple-hooded monk riding a skateboard.
The video for the second single Pienso en tu mirá is also popular. It means “I think about your gaze.” The video is a flamenco road trip.
Rosalía released the full album on November 2, 2018, just in time for the Latin Grammys.
The concept album is based on Flamenca. The anonymous 13th-century Occitan story about a toxic relationship is billed as the first modern novel. In it, a woman is imprisoned by her jealous fiancé.
Occitan is a Romance language that is still a second language in southern France, Monaco and small parts of Catalonia and Italy.
Toxic relationships are a prison of choice. Immature women and men are naturally attracted to the alpha bad boy/girl in the room. As in a pack of wolves, the alpha represents the best hope for successful procreation.
The worse he/she behaves, the more they are loved. When he/she leaves, the other complains like hell, but along the way, everyone has a really good time. It’s passion, and if flamenco is only one thing, it is passion.
You should be so lucky to have one of these relationships in your life, and you should be so unlucky as to have one of these relationships in your life.
Such relationships are completely doomed. The human hormone ocytocin is the bonding hormone of love, cuddling, childbirth and nursing. Bad boys/girls don’t bond because they tend to be high testosterone types and testosterone breaks down oxytocin.
Oxytocin makes you open up in a natural ecstasy. In fact doctors use it to help women dilate during childbirth. During childbirth a woman is likely to raise holy hell, and immediately thereafter want to have another child with you.
It’s like these toxic relationships. Passion produces ocytocin (oxy-toxin). That’s why passionate relationships feel so good. They are fun, but futile.
Whatever you may think, there will be no “for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.” There is just the little death, le petite mort, and many of them, as many as possible. Next…
Rosalía Los Ángeles (Universal Spain)
February 10, 2017 ~ Rosalía released Los Ángeles. It doesn’t mean LA. It means “the angels.” She called it a love letter to tradition. The album is about death.
Raül Refree produced the project. Los Ángeles reached number 9 in Spain and earned her a “Best New Artist” Latin Grammy nomination.
Catalonia, Spain
Rosalía Vila Tobella was born in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, Spain in 1993. It’s a small town about 45 minutes outside of Barcelona in Catalonia.
She started dance lessons when she was 13. Rosalía has been performing around the world since 2013. She graduated from the Barcelona College of Music in 2017. It only accepts one flamenco student each year.