Zambra Mora

Fusion between flamenco and bellydance

Zambra mora has it's origins in Southern Spain and Northern Africa (los moros). The name itself "Danza mora" or Moorish dance, reveils it's origins. Especially in Andalusia, gitanos or gypsies adopted elements of Moorish culture. In Granada, gypsies called their music and danced events zambras. The gharnaïta music style has its origins in Granada, as wel as Andalou. Flamenco is the dance of the gypsies and you can hear the different arabic arabic rhymths in the guitar playing. In the "zambra" style, women danced together.
Algerian Ouled Naïl danced also together in pairs. Zambra was danced at gypsy wedding ceremonies. Undulations, shimmies and hip and chest circles distinguish Zambra Mora from pure flamenco. It's a true fusion between belly dance and flamenco.

Flamenco means Flemish in Spanish, before it became known as the famous dance. During the reign of Carlos I (Karel V or Keizer Karel, Emperor Charles V), the king of Spain between 1516 and 1556 and during the reign of his father Philip I, the "Flamencos (Flemish)" played an important role in Spain. Flamenco music at that time, introduced he staccato dance melody popular at the Flemish court. Charles was born in Flanders (Ghent, 24 february 1500) and also grew up in Flanders. After the death of his father Philip the Handsome, Carlos of Flanders became King Charles V in 1516. His most beautiful construction was the King Carlos palace in Granada Andalucia. He summoned also Flemish brewers to Spain to have his supply of his favorite beer. So there is definitely a connection between Andalusia and Flanders, as Charles I of Spain his mothertongue was Flemish. According to the picture of this Flemish carpet ^(*) dated around 1500-1525, gypsies dwelled around the country, doing performances on fairs, weddings as well at the courts of the noblemen. A After the reconquista, many gypsies moved to the Northern borders of the empire of King Carlos. There they earned a living making music, dancing and fortune telling. The dancers were accompagnied by musicians. Here on the carpet of the 16 th century, by a black North African 'tbel of davul player. The music they played must at least had an Arabic beat. The gypsy dancers, danced together in pair a sort of dance that resembles oriental dance. The men of the gypsy tribe had an arabic turban on some of the flemish carpets, so that's another proof of their descendance. Perhaps some of King Carlos favourite entertainers followed the emperor to Granada, Spain where the dance received the name "flamenco" or flemish. As such they would be protected by King Carlos who enjoyed his favourite flemish beer and entertainment. The noblemen at the court of Emperor Carlos where certainly impressed by the gypsies as they ordered many wallcarpets picturing scenes of the lives of the gypsies to decorate their castles. The wandering entertainers were called gypts or gyptians in ancient writings. So it could be possible that the gitanos that settled in Andalusian, Southern Spain were descendants from the Egyptian gypsies and came there making a cresent through Europe.

Real Moorish dance had it's origins in Berber dancing and had nothing in common with the flamenco dance of the gitanos. But as the gypsies were dark skinned and definitely not of European origin, they resembled more the Moors, which was was a term that referred to the people originating of the other side of the Mediterranean. Not only Berber but the darker skinned Mauretanians or Moors as well as the Gnaoua, the descendands of the black slaves in Morrocco. It is clear that the culture of the Moors had not much in common with the art of the gitanos that followed King Carlos from Flanders to Andalusia.

A nice movie on this period of history is "Juana la Loca" or Joanna the Mad, "Giovana la Pazza" in Italian. This a Spanish-Italian co-production of 2001 by Spanish film director Vincente Aranda. "Juana la Loca" (released as Mad Love or Madness of Love in English version). The movie featuring Pilar López de Ayala as Joanna, is telling the story of the life of Joanna of Spain (1479–1555) who married Philip I a.k.a. Philip the Handsome (1478-1506), the father of King Carlos (1500-1558). In the movie Philip falls in love with bellydance Aixa, played by Italian actress Manuela Arcuri. He meets Aixa in a brothel where she does a oriental dance or danza Mora. She persuades "Don Felipe" to take her as Beatriz to his Court in Ghent, Flanders. The movie pictures the intrigues between the "Flamencos" or the Flemish nobles and the Spanish court in a struggle for power of the biggest European empire of that time.
Philip the Handsome got his nickname because of his fair hair and his grey-blue eyes, but the character in the movie pictures a more Southern type, the Italian actor Daniele Liotti.

Aixa was not the first role for Manuela Arcuri to play an Arab woman. In Alla ricerca di Sheherazade (1999) she played Sheherazade.

We could not finish this text without talking about the Flamenco guitar. As the name tells, it's Spanish for Flemish guitar (la Guitarra Flamenca). The guitar was brought to Flanders by the gypsies at the time that the Habsburg kings ruled Europe and the America's. It did not have the form we now are accustomed to. The 16 th century was the golden age of string instrument building in Flanders, due to the impulse of Charles V. Spain remained connected with Flanders until 1730, then the influence of Paris started to dominate the West-European culture. The music ensembles of the 16 th and the 17 th century were sometimes a mix of Western and Eastern instruments as on this picture found on the Bellydance Museum (courtesy http://www.belly-dance.org). Pay attention to the 2 persons on the left in Oriental dress and the one playing a typical Flemish instrument, dressed casual European style. The guitar or lute player, the picture indicates the name pandore^(**) might be a gypsy as he wears a scarf around the waist. Very remarkable is that this musician wears exactly the same type of headgear as the musician far left on the gobelin carpet. The woman on the far left plays psalterion also known as qanoun. We can expect they played real fusion music!

(*) King Carlos V of Spain was also notorious of his support to the Flemish tapestry industry, a typical Flemish art that produced wall carpets as early as the 13 th century.
(**) An ancient musical instrument of the lute kind resembling a guitar, popular in the Renaissance.

workshops on Zambra Mora