Flamenco (Spanish pronunciation: [flaˈmeŋko]), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain in the autonomous community of Andalusia and Murcia. In a wider sense, the term is used to refer to a variety of Spanish musical styles. The oldest record of flamenco music dates to 1774 in the book Las Cartas Marruecas by José Cadalso (Akombo 2016, 240–241). Flamenco has been influenced by and associated with the Romani people in Spain; however, its origin and style are uniquely Andalusian (Hayes 2009, 31–37). The exact origin of flamenco is unknown and the subject of many hypotheses. The most widespread is that flamenco was developed through the cross-cultural interchange between native Andalusians, Romani, Castilians, Moors and Sephardic Jews in Andalusia during the Moorish occupation. (Machin-Autenrieth 2015). Federico García Lorca wrote that the presence of flamenco in Andalusia significantly predates the arrival of Romani people to the region. However, the Diccionario de la lengua española (Dictionary of the Spanish Language) primarily attributes the creation of the style directly to the Spanish Romani. Flamenco has become popular all over the world, especially the United States and Japan. In Japan, there are more flamenco academies than there are in Spain. On November 16, 2010, UNESCO declared flamenco one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity (Anon. 2010).