The Cantaoras provides an in-depth ethnographic investigation into the study of flamenco in the context of the social and political currents that have shaped twentieth century Spain. Drawing on interview material with the Cantaoras women singers themselves, the author shows how flamenco is a complex of cultural practices at once musical, physical, verbal and social. She shows how the performance of the flamenco involves the expression and negotiation of multi-layered identities which include notions of Andalusian, regional, gypsy and gender identity.