Does The City Have a Sound?

Rebecca W Morris and Matteo Delred

To me the sound of Jerez is distinct. In twentieth-century poems penned about Andalusia, the sounds are recognisable. Manuel Machado’s Cante Hondo speaks of gloomy nighttime meditations broken by, “wailing… tremolos… the magical music of my land.” You will often hear people singing flamenco in the streets, and it is as Machado writes, a mournful wailing tremolo, like flowing water scraped back by grasping hands. Sometimes joyful. Near dance academies, you will hear gun rattles of steel-tacked flamenco shoes. Many apartments have hot water powered by gas, so when the water runs cold, you listen for the gas men announcing their arrival with the banging of metal canisters.

- Rebecca W Morris, Those Who Were Dancing