Rosalía, the Venus of Flamenco-Trap
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Rosalía sings in Andalusian, the historical language of flamenco. She, Catalan by birth, chooses this language incurring the wrath of the unionists, telling everyone that she doesn't give a damn.

‘Sé quién soy, y a donde voy ya nunca se me olvida’

Rosalía sings in Andalusian, the historical language of flamenco.

She, Catalan by birth, chooses this language incurring the wrath of the unionists, telling everyone that she doesn’t give a damn. Nor does she speak out on the issue of Catalan independence.

Her movements, warm, slightly raspy voice and nude look are reminiscent of an elegant, natural sensuality, which makes her look more like a flamenco dancer than a Trap singer.

Rosalía‘s musical style, in fact, is absolutely born with her. A mixture of harmonic sounds derived from flamenco with the rhythmic sounds of trap: the result is a voluptuous ballad.

She has modernised the idea of flamenco – which is never “old”, but still anchored in classical Spanish folklore – and made it innovative, bringing it closer to the very new generations.

She sings of female independence, gypsy communities, rural Spain and of not being able to manage emotions, negative and positive, when you love.

Her Andalusian soul comes from afar: she started studying flamenco at a young age, even though she is neither from that region, nor gypsy; just like the language issue, the gypsy community has turned against her, pointing at her as a ‘paya’ – someone who appropriates a culture that is not her own in order to distort it.

Perhaps it is also thanks to all this clamour around her character that Rosalía has become a pop icon, to become Steetart’s subject around Europe

The pop icon Cantaora’ began her artistic career in a small town near Barcelona, in Sant Esteve Sesrovires. At the age of 13, she heard a flamenco piece for the first time and fell madly in love with it; this visceral music got into her blood and she began practising the famous Andalusian dance, studying sound metrics and how to modulate her voice. She concentrates her movements on her hands, emulating every single gesture with dedication. In 2017 he graduated from the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya with José Miguel Vizcaya aka El Chiqui, one of the top Flamenco experts in Europe.

Soon after comes the release of the first album ‘Los Ángeles‘ – an intimate and essential work, which comes to few. Success came the following year with the release of El Mar Querer and the single Malamente: a mix and match of flamenco, rap, trap and electronica that totally engaged the audience.

On the 13th of March 2022, the latest, highly anticipated album “Motomami” was released, preceded by the first single “La Fama” in collaboration with The Weekend: a worldwide success that topped the charts for weeks.

This time, the Catalan Venus wanted to make another musical genre linked to the Hispanic and Latin tradition experimental: Bachata.

Her musical journey continues along the thread of mixture, just as it began. She has manipulated traditional Andalusian and Carioca sounds to which she has added urban rhythms, turning them into a powerful weapon of girl power.

She unhinges every possible cliché by tipping the scales on the side of feminism, acting as a counterweight to all the male Hip Hop, Trap, Reggaeton artists who glorify misogyny and their masculinity by singing:

“Eh, yo soy muy mía, yo me transformo.

Una mariposa, yo me transformo”.

The Venus of Flamenco Trap has something to say, and we are listening with pleasure.

WORDS: Manuela Palma

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