The origins of La zambra, the traditional flamenco granadino, can’t not be understood without deeply analyzing its name. Zambra comes from the arabic “zumra”, which means party. It was the traditional ritual of the moroccan weddings which was forbidden by the inquisition in the XVI century. Although it kept being celebrated underground. This tradition of the zambra was absorbed, learnt and transformed by the gypsies of the sacromonte, who at one point just considered it as their own tradition. These gypsies are the only remaining proof of this amazing traditional moroccan dance. The only ones that kept this old moroccan tradition and the ones who made it evolve to the flamenco dance that we know today.

Between the XVII and XIX centuries, when the romantic writers and poets arrived to Granada, the zambra and the flamenco were appreciated as an artistic expression in the whole world. It was this recognition that transformed the flamenco into a discipline and a musical style rather than the traditional gypsi dance. It was for this reason that some members of the “generación literaria del 27” began to worry. The flamenco had been always considered like a people’s dance and to see it become something more commercial really troubled them. They felt that all this recognition and fame was making it lose the essence and people were doing it just as a form of entertainment for tourist and travelers and a way of making money.