Generation Z, a new way of understanding flamenco

In 1922 the Concurso de Cante Jondo de Granada was held, so this year we are commemorating this importante Concurso with a central idea: to recover the lost essence of flamenco. 100 years later, we are still here, although with the same latent fear: how do the artists of Generation Z gain access to this art form? Will it end with them? We certainly do not think so, as it is in good health and new horizons are opening up. How have the creative processes and the music industry evolved in recent years? What possibilities have these young people who face a world in which tablaos and social networks coexist?, where access to recording studios has been democratised, electronic music has burst onto the scene and the world, in a global way, is facing structural changes in the way it looks and produces? There is a flamenco that points today's conflicts with media. It is full of the past, but it has, in short, a host of peculiarities that seem novel. Who is left out of the game? What are the rules? Where are the masters?

Luis Ybarra (Seville, 1996) is a cultural journalist specialising in flamenco. He writes for the national daily ABC and presents the programme Temple y Pureza on Radiolé. He has recorded two series of podcasts for Cadena Dial, written a book with the publishing house Almuzara, Grandes del flamenco (2018), and in the last couple of years has become a regular presenter at festivals as important as El Potaje Gitano in Utrera, the longest-running of them all. He studied Communication at the Universidad Loyola Andalucía and has also worked in corporate communication. He collaborates with the Flamenco On Fire Festival and has created a blog for the tablao El Corral de la Morería. He also writes poetry, and will soon announce the publication of his first collection of poems, Tal vez felices, as well as the lyrics he is writing for the album of a female flamenco singer. In addition, at the next Flamenco Biennial in Seville, he will be in charge of the artistic direction of a show at the emblematic Hotel Triana: Territorio joven.