November 16: International Flamenco Day

There is a day for everything: International Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish potato omelette) Day, International Infidelity Day (February 13, ironically the day before Valentine’s Day) or World Peculiar People Day. There is even an International Day of Skipping Your Diet, on May 6, for anyone who wants to celebrate it. The music genre we are talking about was never going to be left out: there is also a Flamenco Day.

Flamenco Day, the day of arte jondo (the “deep art” of flamenco), falls on November 16, commemorating the day in 2010 when UNESCO declared flamenco Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, accepting the nomination submitted by the Spanish Government, the Junta de Andalucía (Andalusia’s regional government) and the governments of Murcia and Extremadura. The UN body thus recognized that flamenco embodies the four defining traits of intangible cultural heritage:

  • It is traditional and contemporary at the same time; in other words, it is alive. It is an inherited tradition from the past that is still practiced and renewed today.
  • It is inclusive, and contributes to the social cohesion and identity of a people, helping individuals feel part of a community.
  • It is representative of a people and a place, and depends on those who know the tradition well and pass it on to other communities and to future generations.
  • It is community-based: the community itself recognizes it as its own, something its members maintain and spread.

More than 20 other Spanish traditions are also part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, such as transhumance, the manual tolling of bells, the Festival of the Patios of Córdoba or the castells (human towers) of Catalonia, and the listing is meant to support their safeguarding.

Flamencos, always quick-witted, soon turned the title around: “Humanity is the heritage of flamenco,” people often say, meaning that an art like flamenco did not need such a title to be universal already. The phrase has occasionally been attributed to the Granada-born singer (cantaor) Enrique Morente. On the tenth anniversary of the UN recognition, on November 16, 2020, the National Association of Flamenco Tablaos of Spain (Asociación Nacional de Tablaos Flamencos de España) was founded.

How Is Flamenco Day Celebrated?

One simple way to celebrate November 16 is to go and see flamenco live, and November is always a busy month for the flamenco community. In Andalusia, events run throughout the month in practically every corner of the region, above all in the peñas flamencas (local flamenco clubs).

One of the most original proposals came in 2023 from the cantaor Arcángel, from Huelva, who, together with the Andalusian Institute of Flamenco, invited all Andalusian schools in November 2023 to sing a fandango from Huelva. He even recorded a Flamenco Day video explaining the compás (the rhythmic cycle), the lyrics and the melody of one of the most famous songs of this family, the fandango de Alosno.

In Seville, free concerts are held every year on Flamenco Day at emblematic spots across the city. In that same year, 2023, Esperanza Fernández and her family sang at the Muelle de la Sal; the dancer (bailaor) José Suárez Torombo danced alongside a group of young people from the Tres Mil Viviendas neighborhood in Plaza de San Francisco; and the singers José de la Tomasa, Nano de Jerez and El Chozas closed the day at the Alameda de Hércules.

Flamenco Festivals in November

Here in Catalonia, cultural manager and flamenco dance teacher Noemí Osorio created the festival Flamengi during the week of Flamenco Day. It began in 2019 in the city of Girona, and the program grew to include other towns and cities in the province (Blanes, Figueres and La Bisbal). In Jaén, the Jaén City International Flamenco Festival is also held, with a program that, as in Girona, does not focus only on performances by established names: there are also flashmobs, masterclasses and even a flamenco fashion show.

Celebrations are also expected in Zaragoza in 2026. On November 16 itself there will be a concert at the Teatro Principal with one of the most celebrated young flamenco groups, Los Magníficos (El Yiyo, Sandra Carrasco, David de Arahal and Chico Pérez). The Zaragoza City Flamenco Dance Cycle will also offer three flamenco shows (one of them a tribute to Carmen Amaya by her great-niece Karime Amaya), two masterclasses and a photography exhibition.

Any day is a good day to celebrate flamenco, and at Tablao de Carmen our resident cast of singers, dancers and guitarists celebrates it every day: an art born in a corner of Andalusia that has become universal.