Sonidos Negros: On the Blackness of Flamenco with Author K. Meira Goldberg, “La Meira”

• Books & Literature
• Performing Arts

K. Meira Goldberg, “La Meira”, author of Sonidos Negros: On the Blackness of Flamenco, reclaims the rich history of flamenco dance by discussing the relationships between flamenco, the politics of Blackness and the construction of race in the Atlantic world.

Flamenco dancer, Raquel Heredia, “La Repompilla”, in a rare NYC performance, expresses the deep soulfulness of her Romani ancestry, thus illustrating the central tenants of Goldberg’s recently published book. The Roma were impelled by discrimination to develop, over a long history, the distinctive rhythmic acuity unmistakable in the flamenco world.

A short film, Danse Espagnole de la Feria, shot by Lumière (Louis and Auguste Lumière were innovative cinematographic pioneers) at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900, features the first male flamenco dancer ever recorded, a black man of Cuban descent, Jacinto Padilla, “El Negro Meri.” Scholar Kiko Mora, who identified this dancer, joins Goldberg in a roundtable discussion.

…“Sonidos Negros is a majestic work — readable, revelatory, and bringing to bear all Goldberg’s previous work in research and practice to reach this tome of truth. She speaks in a voice both personal and professional, inviting us in to share the insights of a life lived in Flamenco, insights that may well shake up the ways in which scholars and lay readers, alike, perceive what it means to look at what we think we know, or realize we don’t know, with new eyes.” — From the Foreword by Brenda Dixon Gottschild, award-winning author

A book signing follows the event.