Lives and Legends of Flamenco: A Biographical History

North American D. E. Pohren took up the flamenco guitar in 1951, studying with Spanish expatriates in Mexico. At their urging, he continued his flamenco studies in Spain in 1953, and has spent the following thirty-five years doing just that in his adopted country. Along the way, he formed an artistic, and matrimonial, alliance with Madrileñan flamenco dancer Luisa Maravilla, both of which unions are still going strong today. He published his first book on the subject, THE ART OF FLAMENCO, in 1962, the first edition of LIVES AND LEGENDS OF FLAMENCO in 1964, and the third of his flamenco trilogy, A WAY OF LIFE, in 1980. There have been three more editions of THE ART OF FLAMENCO in English, the latest in 1982, as well as editions in Spanish, French and Japanese. With this second English edition of LIVES AND LEGENDS, after being out-of-print for many years, the complete trilogy is available in English at the same time for the first time. This twenty-five-year-update of LIVES AND LEGENDS was a considerable undertaking that led to an eighty-two page supplement, plus many other additions and corrections, making the Pohren trilogy today the most complete and authoritative coverage of flamenco written by any author in any language. The books have won national prizes in Spain, and Pohren was long ago declared «Flamencologist» and admitted into the Catedra de Flamencologia (Professorate of Flamenco Studies), the only non-Spaniard to have been so honored. Mr. Pohren's contact with flamenco has by no means been merely academic. He has performed extensively with his wife around the world, has conducted a private flamenco club in Madrid, has spent a ten-year period directing a flamenco center in Andalusia, has in general immersed himself completely in the world of flamenco for the past three-and-a-half decades. In a word, his commitment has been total.