Studio: international art (85.1923)

IMPRESSIONS OF GRANADA

"CONCHITA, THE GIPSY
DANCER.” WATER-COLOUR
BY WYNNE APPERLEY, R.I.

Flamenco singers of Spain have been born
and brought up in the caves of Albaicin. 0
Those who penetrate into the interiors
of these dwellings will probably be agree-
ably surprised to find them, as a general
rule, neat and clean. The walls are care-
fully whitewashed and the floors (paved
with red locetas) scrupulously washed
every day. The mural decorations mostly
in vogue are shining copper cooking
utensils, Fajalausa pottery, and an oleo-
graph of the Virgin or of some especially
esteemed saint. The inner chamber (for
all the caves are divided into two or more
apartments) is entirely occupied by a
full-sized bed and an oak chest which
does duty for a wardrobe. Cooking is done
on little charcoal ovens, the meals con-
sisting mainly of a general stew of
garbanzos, fresh vegetables, and meat (if
funds permit) cooked in an earthenware
pot. A gipsy model of mine once invited
me to Christmas dinner with her family,
86

and, without hesitation, I may affirm that
to be the most interesting dinner-party
I have ever been to. I do not refer so
much to the actual repast, though it was
assuredly not unsavoury; it was what
followed—that crowd of aunts and uncles
and cousins, and compa'res and coma’res
(godfathers and godmothers) that straggled
in, in twos and threes, till the cave, lit
by a single oil-lamp (candil) hung on a
nail, would hold no more, and the late-
comers had to be content to congregate
in the doorway. There were several
guitar players among the relations, and a
space was cleared in the centre of the cave
(how I do not know) for my model to
dance. In the dim, flickering light and
tobacco-laden atmosphere the snake-like
movements of her supple form were of an
enchantment impossible to describe. She
danced wildly, giving herself over, soul
and body, to the barbaric melody of the
guitars ; then, when she was exhausted,

"JUANITA DEL VAL ”
WATER-COLOUR BY
WYNNE APPERLEY, R.I.