1977 - pop flamenco influence origins

...it was fusion and Al Di Meola who brought flamenco into popular culture in '77. The Al Di Meola wiki says "When he was eight years old, he was inspired by Elvis Presley and the Ventures to start playing guitar." Trace the Ventures to Chet Atkins original 'walk dont run' from original song writer Johnny Smith who was rooted in jazz, was inspired to write Walk Dont Run by the song 'Softly, as in a Morning Sun Rise' - written by German and Hungarian Jewish composers with classical and jazz backgrouds:

'Softly, as in a Morning Sun Rise' - Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II from the 1928 operetta The New Moon - 1928

Johnny Smith, Walk dont run - 1954 - wiki says his critically acclaimed album is Moonlight in Vermont (which 

Chet Atkins - Walk dont run - 1956

Ventures - Walk dont run - 1960

Return to Forever - 1975 album No Mystery feat. Di Meola and a strong spanish theme (began playing with them in 1974, age 19, three albums high-charting commercial success)

Al DiMeola - Debut solo album - Land of the Midnight Sun - 1976

Van Halen - Eruption - recorded 1977, stage act 'as early as 1975', was the root for 'Spanish Fly', recoded in '78 

Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall - written 1977, released in 79

Rush - A Farewell to Kings - 1977

The Eagles - Hotel California - 1977

Dire Straights - Sultans of Swing - recorded 1977

Big Log - Robbie Blunt - 1983