No Such Thing As a Hybrid
Published: March 30, 1997
To the Editor:
Carmen Linares is the latest in a procession of artists who would like to ''modernize'' flamenco through jazz, New York streets sounds and so on to create a ''hybrid'' form $(''Variations on a Spanish Theme Steeped in Tradition,'' March 2$). There is no such thing as a hybrid form of flamenco. Flamenco is rooted in rigid forms and centuries of tradition, and by definition the introduction of non-flamenco elements renders the ensuing form non-flamenco. The same approach to a Beethoven sonata would be no less preposterous, and no less destructive.
Ms. Linares also says flamenco must ''evolve.'' The art of flamenco cannot evolve any more than Latin can evolve, inasmuch as the way of life that gave birth to the art has mostly disappeared.
What remains is a traditional art that cannot admit any tampering, lest it become something entirely different. The few who continue to perform traditional flamenco are the repository of an emotionally powerful and magnificent art.