91Èȱ¬

Flamenco music has been a long-held passion of Robert Elms, 91Èȱ¬ London presenter and author of "Live!: Why We Go Out", a memoir about his lifetime of experience with live music, from his early career as a columnist for The Face and NME to the present day. Robert first fell in love with the powerful Spanish art-form of flamenco through the recordings of legendary singer Camarón de la Isla, and by experiencing it live during his early visits to Spain, which for over twenty years he has counted as his second home. In this programme, between his twin loves of London and Spain, Robert explores flamenco's complex history, and attempts to understand his deep emotional response to the music.

"Flamenco is like the sun". Starting at the annual flamenco festival at Sadler's Wells in London, Robert meets its director, Miguel Marin, and encounters Israel Fernandez, a flamenco singer who speaks in metaphors, setting the tone for an exploration of music which, despite its popularity around the world, retains a deep sense of mystery. To unpack this, Robert travels to his beloved Andalusia, and the sun-drenched white-washed buildings of the hilltop town of Vejer de la Frontera in the province of Cadiz, which overlooks the region's vast plains and orange groves. He visits the local Peña, the town's social club for flamenco performances. In the atmospheric old church which is home to the club, he meets its Polish owner, Renata, and Enrique, one of its members who also runs a flamenco bar in Seville. They consider how the local Andalusian dialect infuses the region's flamenco vocal style, and debate the meaning of "duende": described as "a special state of flamenco grace", this is a crucial ingredient of the best live flamenco performances, but as Robert discovers it's not easy to articulate what it is and why it happens.

In the courtyard of the Andalusian Flamenco Centre in Jerez, in the company of flamenco dancer and teacher Vicky Ramos, Robert is taken through flamenco basics with local musicians. And in the library he meets one of the many researchers who come to the centre each year, Canadian writer and musician Ben Meyerson, whose fascination is with flamenco lyrics and what they reveal about the music's origins: from theories about its roots in the rhythms of India and North Africa, to the influence of Spain's gypsy communities. And from the University of Granada in Andalusia's eastern region, the Dutch-born guitarist Carlos van Tongeren tells Robert about his research into flamenco's connection to place, and how as an outsider he's sought to immerse himself in the music and understand its cultural context.

Finally, on a balmy summer night back in Vejer de la Frontera, at the town's own annual festival with its ancient castle walls, Robert watches one of Spain's young flamenco stars Maria del Tango and meets her backstage. Maria explains why she believes her take on the traditional art form resonates with audiences today and calls over her guitarist Jeronimo Maya for an impromptu performance.

Producer: Andy King