“The World’s First Flamenco Rock Band”? Anglo-American Progressive Rock, Politics and National Identity in Spain around Carmen’s Fandangos in Space

Abstract

This article studies the reception of the Anglo-American band Carmen in the context of the Spanish Transition to democracy, and analyzes intertextual flamenco strategies found in Fandangos in Space (1973). If during the mid-’70s rock andaluz articulated in Spain an “autochthonous rock” against the prog-rock canon through the use of flamenco, the implication would be that Carmen was apotentially undesirable band for this endeavour. This article examines conflicts regarding appropriation of flamenco, and discourses of ethnicity and authenticity within the context of regional claims in Spain, discussing also how these battles for “Spanish music” entailed exoticism and otherness.