Ketama or Pata Negra have broken new ground by mixing their flamenco base with salsa, blues and rock. Spanish jazz musicians have also joined in, realising that flamenco is not only a source of untapped riches but also Spain's most exportable cultural product. The result of all this is uneven. Rock music, for example, is a rhythmically more limited and less melodic partner. As flamenco evolves, the debate is about where to draw the line.
Some flamenco artists remain hostile to what they see as pure commercialism.
There is also unease over excess technical perfection detracting from essence. Older artists are also cautious about the borrowing. The result is a ballet flamenco where the two dance forms fuse or taunt one another like two street fighters, or blend together to a jazz trumpet. With his fluid movements, Cortes takes some of the strutting out of flamenco. The critics and the public may at times be sceptical, but Cortes has undoubtedly freshened up the rigid as well as macho world of flamenco.