Flamenco is the music of the Andalucia region which is the South Part of Spain and the cradle of Flamenco. Andalucia region was a melting pot for many cultures from both East and West for centuries and when we could look into the history as earlier as the beginning of 1st century which was ruled by Roman Empire and at the end of the 15th century when Moors were expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isebella. Andalucia is beautiful and the weather is dry with a lot of warm sunshine and it was culturally very rich with history that attributes to the creation of lively and passionate music.

The word "Flamenco" had been a source of debates and studies among scholars and historians for its origins and meaning. Some authorities said that the word came from the Arabic language "Fellah Mengu" meaning the "peasant without land" while others believed it to be come from the Arabic "felah mem ikum" meaning "songs of the laborers". There were, of course, other beliefs about the source of the word. However, both of the above beliefs implied that the music was come from the poor and uneducated people.

Flamenco, as its present presentation styles and content, is not a particularly old art form. Its origins nevertheless did go back to the time when Southern Spain was occupied by the Moors since AD700. After the Moors were expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isebella in 1492, nomadic Gypsies were forced by a royal edit to settle in Andalusia. Over the next two hundred years these Gypsies developed their own form of music and dance, absorbing cultures of Arab, Christian, Jewish and Spanish folk music into their own traditions.

Below are some of the examples of the recordings:til 1860, the music became lyric and appeared in Cafes Cantantes and some artists devoted themselves exclusively to performance of Flamenco as a profession. It was when Flamenco became a demand and entertainment profession. In late 20th century, the art became a national culture symbol of Spain and sprang worldwide very quickly owing to the advancement in TV broadcasting and recordings. In the modern era of globalization, some people feel that Flamenco should never have left its gypsy home as it would be commercialized and lost its purity. That may be true in some extent but commercialization makes the art of Flamenco more popular with wider audiences, not only in Spain but thought out the world.

For a long period of time of development, numerous musical styles had been developed in this art. A brief counting would identify at about 75 different types of Flamenco song or music, about 25 of them are very common to most performance and 15 of them are really popular and usually recorded by artists. These art forms can be grouped into family according to the history, origins, influences, development, religious etc. The classification would not be homogeneous. A good classification is given in Donn Pohren's book "The Art of Flamenco" and of course there are other classifications as well.