What is Urban Flamenco?

By Marc Isla

For me, Urban Flamenco starts with the Spanish guitar. Spanish guitars tell of life: despair, sadness, joy. It’s something very strong, very powerful — if you’ve never been to a flamenco show, I encourage you to go.

It’s also the blend with urban music. I live in a big city, Paris, and to me the music there is somehow made of concrete. Urban Flamenco is where concrete meets authenticity. It isn’t fully acoustic, even though I’m trying to get there.

To make this genre, I sing my own way — not flamenco at all, closer to R&B — over Spanish guitars. The first to do that may well have been R. Kelly in the 90s.

I picked up the torch by singing in Latin languages: French, but also Spanish and sometimes Italian.