Charco La Pava

The turkey hen pool



in the heart of the Flamenco Quarter of Barcelona

Claiming the Flamenco capital of the city of Barcelona and its way of being, we recover one of its emblematic premises.

Barcelona has a close link with Flamenco since it was considered as such, making it an industrial pioneer of the genre, the first purely Urban musical style. Within its neighborhood of dark contrasts, the visitor feels that he has left one city and entered another. Neither the slums of Genoa, nor the port district of Marseille, nor the Parisian Villette, nor London's Whitechapel, have anything to do with the bohemian atmosphere of our: Chinatown, where the heartbreaking complaints of flamenco singing will haunt you.

Its underworld, between gloomy streets distributed in a more or less disorderly way, is a constant focus of attraction for travellers, writers, sailors, artists, bohemians and not a few tourists, where they are chased by the heartrending cry of flamenco singing, in the company of all the hustle and bustle of the factories and their workers, coexisting with any type of specialist in moving emotions.

It was also known as District V, Sebastián Gasch, describes it to us in one of his chronicles:

“It is precisely in this District V where you are persecuted, implacable and obsessive, insistent, by the heartrending wails of the marvelous cante, and where you are constantly touched by the moving and painful echo of the trembling stages, which complain pathetically when being whipped vigorously by the heels ardent and desperate, exasperated, from so many bailaoras, subjugated and hypnotized, by a dry and precise rhythm, amazing. Our people ignore that it is precisely in this district where Flamenco, without a drop of scenery, manifests itself with terrible crudeness and moving pathos. Perhaps more purely than in Andalusia itself.”

Las Ramblas divide the Chinatown, on one side Arc del Teatre street, and on the other Escudellers, tracing the route between Somorrostro and Montjuic. It was the fifties, the fashionable couple was formed by: Manolo Caracol and Lola Flores, with their Zambra. One night after their presentation in some prestigious Barcelona theater, they headed to Escudellers street, the claim was:

“A handsome gypsy with a romantic air who sang and danced like nobody else. Our eyes met, a real crush. Then I understood that one day I could be happy without Caracol. Despite my youth, the money I earned, my success, I was one of the most unfortunate people in the world”, Lola Flores.

That “Catalan” gypsy was: Antonio González, “El Pescadilla”, an outstanding guitarist and forerunner of the Rumba. He performed accompanied by his wife, bailaora Dolores Amaya, forming another of the explosive couples of the Barcelona night, the legacy of Carmen Amaya and La Rumba. What happened that night had a tremendous influence on the history of what, over time, was called Nuevo Flamenco.

The place, a few meters from La Rambla, responded to the name: Charco la Pava. Decorated with bullfighting motifs, with maestro Manolete as the banner, it featured the cream of flamenco, between 1947-1961, being one of the first venues in Europe where La Rumba took the stage, giving it a local flavor, which made it in one of the last ones: Cantes de Ida y Vuelta.

Without memory there is no identity, there is no future.

Barcelona continues to receive the curious visit of people who come from all over the world, eager to get to know that city that cannot be seen, flamenco continues to be an original offer. El Barrio continues to retain that low background that is not seen in other parts of the city, preserving its spicy flavor.

This is the main reason for recovering one of the emblematic venues of the genre, as well as the neighborhood where it is located and Barcelona's ability to be one of the capitals of flamenco, without a doubt. Until the civil war it had more flamenco venues than Madrid and Seville combined.

Let's go to the beginning, to put a date: 1846. At that time Barcelona was still within its walls, the Industrial Revolution was the new phase.

In the novel: “Escenas Andaluzas”, Serafín Estébanez, makes a costumbrist portrait of Andalusia at the time, where for the first time he begins to talk about the gypsy singers: “el Planeta” and “el Fillo”, explicitly citing that this musical style has the name of Flamenco, thus remaining for history.

Dated in the same year is the letter written by Prosper Mérimée, author of the novel: "Carmen", to the Countess of Montijo, during his visit to Barcelona:

“Yesterday they came to invite me to a gathering on the occasion of the birth of a gypsy. We were about thirty people in a room. There were three guitarists, and they sang at the top of their voices, in Caló and Catalan… “

The letter goes on to say that what he saw and felt there had the merit of reminding him of what he had seen on his trip to the south of the peninsula.

As we can see, since there is written evidence that Flamenco exists, Barcelona has been connected to that musical frequency. If we compare the testimonies of Estébanez and Mérimée, we find the same elements: the room, the shout, the guitars, the only thing that differentiates them is the language used, in Barcelona, two languages other than Spanish are used, Calo and Catalan.

Flamenco is a genre that sees the light with industrialization, perhaps the first Urban genre, not from a local, universal sense.

As a consequence of the new working conditions with the arrival of the factories, a new service arises in the neighborhood: the Café Cantante, and Flamenco takes the stage, as it is known today: palos, toques, dances, styles… Barcelona took the initiative, it was the most industrial city on the peninsula.

Entrepreneurs of the Barcelona show bet on this formula, opening businesses, mostly in the area between Plaza Palacio and the Chinatown. The Cafés Cantantes had a foyer, where they alternated, offering coffee and restaurant service, always accompanied by gaming tables, called at the time, pateras. In the private rooms or rooms, the revelry could last until the wee hours of the morning. A clear example for the New Orleans Jazz Clubs a few years later.