Carmen Amaya I: From Somorrostro to Parallel and from Parallel to Zarzuela
“I don’t think anyone could say that we, the people of Barcelona, don’t know who Carmen Amaya was, or that we don’t know, for example, that she was born in Somorrostro, the shantytown that once stood by the sea in Barcelona until the mid-20th century,” writes Pep Puig about the most important flamenco dancer in Catalan history, on the Barcelona Metròpolis website of the Barcelona City Council. Somorrostro was a settlement with a predominantly Roma population that existed until the 1960s. It was located on the beach, in front of the Hospital del Mar. In 2011, this stretch of beach was renamed and a plaque was installed: “Platja del Somorrostro. Barri de barraques. 1875–1966.” That is where Carmen Amaya grew up, in hut number 48, with her father and six siblings.
The exact date of her birth varies depending on the document, but she always celebrated it on November 2. As for the year, there has always been disagreement. Carmen herself never cleared up the confusion. Researcher Montse Madridejos, one of the leading experts on her life, points to 1918 in her latest study “The Shifting Ages of Carmen Amaya.” What is certain is that she learned to dance on the sand, in poverty, with no electricity or running water. She danced with her father, El Chino, who was a guitarist. Her mother was also a flamenco artist—Micaela, who danced in the family’s private gatherings—just like her aunt, La Faraona. Carmen never attended school or a dance academy. “My first idea of movement and dance came from the rhythm of the waves,” she is said to have claimed. “That little girl is something special,” the Roma people and flamenco experts began telling El Chino Amaya, according to Juan Marsé’s prologue to the biography Carmen Amaya.
Together with her father and her aunt, Carmen began dancing in the tablaos and taverns of Barcelona’s Barrio Chino (now known as El Raval). She made her debut at the Teatro Español on Paral·lel, and in 1929, at just 11 years old, she took her first steps internationally by traveling to Paris to perform in the show of cuplé singer Raquel Meller. It was there that she also made her first foray into cinema: film director Benito Perojo noticed El Trío Amaya (Carmen, her aunt, and her cousin) and featured them in his movie La Bodega, where Carmen appears dancing a zambra. That same year, the Barcelona International Exposition took place, for which the Poble Espanyol was built.
There, in January 1930, Andalusian Week was celebrated, and Carmen and her family danced for King Alfonso XIII. They were featured on the cover of La Vanguardia’s supplement Notas Gráficas. Today, that very site is home to the Tablao de Carmen, founded in 1988 in her honor. By then, still a teenager, Carmen was already dazzling everyone who saw her in the flamenco venues of the time, such as the famous Villa Rosa, run by the Borrull family. Flamenco critic Sebastià Gasch wrote about one such night at La Taurina bar: “Carmencita remains impassive and statuesque, proud and noble, with an indefinable racial nobility—closed off, removed from everything and everyone, alone with her inspiration […]. And the little gypsy girl dances. The indescribable. Soul. Pure soul,” he wrote in Mirador magazine. She was already being called La Capitana.
She began performing with the most prominent flamenco figures of the time: La Niña de los Peines, Manolo Vallejo, Manuel Torres, Niño Ricardo, and Sabicas. Her big break came with the film La hija de Juan Simón. She moved to Madrid with her family and performed on many stages, including one of the most prestigious: the Teatro de la Zarzuela, alongside Concha Piquer and Miguel de Molina.
In 1936, she landed her first leading role in the film María de la O. Then, the Spanish Civil War broke out. She was in Valladolid with her family, and they fled to Portugal. A few months later, they boarded a ship to Buenos Aires. It was there, in Argentina, that the international career of the greatest flamenco dancer of all time truly began.
