Like it happened with the festivals, during the second half of the 20th century, they establish Peñas Flamencas (flamenco clubs), a new social infrastructure that appears around the flamenco world, fulfilling various functions for the development of flamenco. The first ones start in the 60s. In province of Sevilla, the most veteran is Torres Macarena, which was founded in 1974. Its constitution and legal organization usually comes from the influence of cultural associations. In its short history, peñas flamencas have occupied an important position in the organization of the flamenco world, participating in its development. Its existence generally links to the eclosion of the festivals; to the formation of new cantaores and audience; and to help the seasonality of the professional flamenco in the last decades.
Other element, which was more of diffusion than of business, was records. In the 70s, they change the slate support to the more sophisticated microgroove one. Different varieties appear: single, EP, LP, .................. The great anthologies, after the anthology of Hispavox (1954), like following ones are recorded: La Gran Historia del Cante Gitano Andaluz from Columbia (1966), with cantes of Antonio Mairena and the texts of Ricardo Molina; Archivo del Cante Flamenco from Vergara (1968), with Manolo Caracol as a cantaor; Tesoro del Flamenco Antiguo from Hispavox (1970), with cantes of José de La Matrona and the texts of José Blas Vega, etc.
Also, the theatrical shows of contemporary concept turned into important promoters of flamenco from the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s. In Sevilla, these are the cases of Alfonso Jiménez, Teatro Lebrijano and Salvador Távora with la Cuadra, a company that has maintained a high artistic level from its foundation at the beginning of the 70s. The theatrical shows started to cover the stages of Spain and of the entire world. More than 20 years would have to pass before new performers of the stage arts join the flamenco stage, activity which is totally differed from what we would call Comedia Flamenca, that has its root in the 18th century and links in some ways with the theatre of varieties and with the so-called regionalismic theatre.
Since the middle of the 70s, people hear the murmur that the flamenco festivals are in crisis, and they do different analysis of its harms for different celebrities of the flamenco world. Some of them exist, well, a decline happens in the middle of the 80s. Ángel Álvarez Caballero did an inquiry about the problem of the festivals, writing as follows in the newspaper EL PAIS during 1984: "All the opinions agree that one of the causes of the increase of the cost and the causes of the crisis of the festivals is the extension of themselves, they made very long programs and the festivals lasted 6-7 hours".
The 70s meant an important break for the economic-business relationships of the flamenco world. From our point of view, it is the moment of definitive consolidation of this art as economic sector. To the birth of Peñas, the modernization of the dairy shows in specific places, the improvement of the recording technologies and of its processing, the first contributions of public money to this sector, we must link the beginning of the continuous tours to 2 different foreign flamenco markets, like Japan and the United States.
All the previous elements with its light and shadow, and the logic adaptations to the changes that keep happening, permitted the flamenco to face the great politic change that occurred in our country in the 70s, and prepares the bases for the eclosion of the 80s.
The reflexions of a young author, who has joined to the flamenco without any politic remora or remora of flamenco transitions, confirm what has been described before, particularly in one of those elements: "The decline of the festivals coincides with a series of factors, which is worth analyzing, to a good extent. First of all, in no way, the artists feel the need of learning on site any more. Most of the time, they perform and they are not even interested in what his / her group member sings any more [...] the bar counter of the place is usually more successful than any artists [...] a repetition of certain types of flamenco happens, which is normally turns out to be tedious for the audience". 1 There is a great core of the truth, which is commented by many people insistently. But the reality is obstinate and in the year 2006, they restart the festival de Osuna and in 2007, they celebrate the first festival of Marinaleda.
1, Martín, Juan Diego: Jondo. Ediciones Barataria, Barcelona, 2006
