Flamenco

Flamenco

Stylistic origins Andalusian, Gitano, Mozarabic,

Moorish, Sephardic, Byzantine,
Italian

Cultural origins Andalusia

Typical Spanish Guitar, Flamenco

instruments guitar, palillos, palmas and
cajón

Mainstream Sporadic except among

popularity Andalusians and Gitanos, mostly
popular in Spain

Subgenres

Alegrías - Bulerias - Tangos - Fandangos - Farruca -

Guajiras - Peteneras - Sevillana - Siguiriyas -
Soleares - Tientos - Zambra - and many others, see
the palos list below.

Fusion genres

New Flamenco

Other topics

Music of Spain - Music of Andalusia

Cante Chico - Cante Jondo - Cante Intermedio -
Falseta
 Spanish Dancer by John Singer Sargent 1880 - 1881

Flamenco is a Spanish musical genre with strong, rhythmic undertones and is often
accompanied with a similarly impassioned style of dance characterized by its powerful
yet graceful execution, as well as its intricate hand and footwork. Flamenco embodies a
complex musical and cultural tradition. Although considered part of the culture of Spain
in general, flamenco actually originates from one region: Andalusia. However, other
areas, mainly Extremadura and Murcia, have contributed to the development of several
flamenco musical forms, and a great number of renowned flamenco artists have been
born in other territories of the state. The roots of flamenco are not precisely known, but it
is generally acknowledged that flamenco grew out of the unique interplay of native
Andalusian, Islamic, Sephardic, and Gypsy cultures that existed in Andalusia prior to and
after the Reconquest. Latin American and especially Cuban influences have also been
important in shaping several flamenco musical forms.

Once the seeds of flamenco were planted in Andalusia, it grew as a separate subculture,
first centered in the provinces of Seville, Cádiz and part of Málaga—the area known as
Baja Andalucía (Lower Andalusia)—but soon spreading to the rest of Andalusia,
incorporating and transforming local folk music forms. As the popularity of flamenco
extended to other areas, other local Spanish musical traditions (i.e. the Castilian
traditional music) would also influence, and be influenced by, the traditional flamenco
styles.
Overview

Many of the details of the development of flamenco are lost in Spanish history. There are
several reasons for this lack of historical evidence:

• Flamenco sprang from the lower levels of Andalusian society and thus lacked the
prestige of art forms among the middle and higher levels at this time of
persecution.
• The turbulent times of the people involved in flamenco culture. The Muslim
Moors, the Gitanos and the Jews were all persecuted and the Muslim Moors
(moriscos) and Jews were expelled by the Spanish Inquisition in 1492.

• The Gitanos have been fundamental in maintaining this art form, but they have an
oral culture. Their folk songs were passed on to new generations by repeated
performances in their social community. Non-gypsy Andalusian poorer classes, in
general, were also illiterate.

• Lack of interest from historians and musicologists. "Flamencologists" have

usually been flamenco connoisseurs of no specific academic training in the fields
of history or musicology. They have tended to rely on a limited number of sources
(mainly the writings of 19th century folklorist Demófilo,[1] and notes by foreign
travellers. Bias has also been frequent in flamencology. This started to change in
the 1980s, when flamenco slowly started to be included in music conservatories,
and a growing number of musicologists and historians began to carry out more
rigorous research. Since then, some new data have shed new light on it. (Ríos
Ruiz, 1997:14),

There are questions not only about the origins of the music and dances of flamenco, but
also about the origins of the very word flamenco. George Borrow writes that the word
flemenc [sic] is synonymous with "Gypsy").

Blas Infante, in his book Orígenes de los Flamencos y Secreto del Cante Jondo,
controversially argued that the word flamenco comes from Hispano-Arabic word
fellahmengu, which would mean "expelled peasant"[2] after the end of the Moorish reign.
Infante links the term to the ethnic Andalusians of Muslim faith, the Moriscos, who
would have mixed with the Gypsy newcomers in order to avoid religious persecution.
Other hypotheses concerning the term's etymology include connections with Flanders
(flamenco also means Flemish in Spanish), believed by Spanish people to be the origin of
the Gypsies, or the flameante (arduous) execution by the performers, or the flamingos.
[3].

Background

For a complete picture of the possible influences that gave rise to flamenco, attention
must be paid to the cultural and musical background of the Iberian Peninsula since
Ancient times. Long before the Moorish invasion in 711, Visigothic Spain had adopted
its own liturgic musical forms, the Visigothic or Mozarabic rite, strongly influenced by
Byzantium. The Mozarabic rite survived the Gregorian reform and the Moorish invasion,
and remained alive at least until the 10th or 11th century. Some theories, started by
Spanish classical musician Manuel de Falla, link the melismatic forms and the presence
of Greek Dorian mode (in modern times called “Phrygian mode”) in flamenco to the long
existence of this separate Catholic rite. Unfortunately, owing to the type of musical
notation in which these Mozarabic chants were written, it is not possible to determine
what this music really sounded like, so the theory remains unproven.

Moor is not the same as Muslim. Moor comes from the Latin Mauroi, meaning an
inhabitant of North Africa. The Carthaginians, for instance, came from North Africa.
Moorish influence in the peninsula goes back thousands of years, but it was the Islamic
invasion, by largely Berber armies in 711, that determined the main musical influences
from North Africa. They called the Iberian Peninsula Al-Andalus, from which the name
of Andalusia derives. The Moorish and Arab conquerors brought their musical forms to
the Peninsula, and at the same time, probably gathered some native influence in their
music. The Emirate, and later Caliphate of Córdoba became a center of influence in both
the Muslim and Christian worlds and it attracted musicians from all Islamic countries.
One of those musicians was Zyriab, who imported forms of the Persian music,
revolutionized the shape and playing techniques of the Lute (which centuries later
evolved into the vihuela and the guitar), adding a fifth string to it, and set the foundations
for the Andalusian nuba, the style of music in suite form still performed in North African
countries.

The presence of the Moors was also decisive in shaping the cultural diversity of Spain.
Owing to the extraordinary length of the Reconquest started in the North as early as 722
and completed in 1492 with the conquest of Granada, the degree of Moorish influence on
culture, customs and even language varies enormously between the North and the South.
Music cannot have been alien to that process. While music in the North of the Peninsula
has a clear Celtic influence which dates to pre-Roman times, Southern music is certainly
reminiscent of Eastern influences. To what extent this Eastern flavour is owed to the
Moors, the Jews, the Mozarabic rite (with its Byzantine influence), or the Gypsies has not
been clearly determined.

During the Reconquest, another important cultural influence was present in Al-Andalus:
the Jews. Enjoying a relative religious and ethnic tolerance due to Islamic law in
comparison to Christian countries, they formed an important ethnic group, with their own
traditions, rites, and music, and probably reinforced the middle-Eastern element in the
culture and music forms of Al-Andalus. Certain flamenco palos like the Peteneras have
been attributed a direct Jewish origin.

The influence of the New World

Recent research has revealed that there might have been an influence of Sub-Saharan
African music on flamenco's prehistory. This developed from the music and dance of
African slaves held by the Spanish in the New World. There are 16th and 17th century
manuscripts of classical compositions that are possibly based on African folk forms, such
as negrillas, zarambeques, and chaconas. We also find mention of the fandango indiano
(Indiano meaning from the Americas, but not necessarily Native American). Some critics
support the view that the names of flamenco palos, like the tangos or even the fandango,
are derived from Bantoid languages[4], and most theories state that the rhythm of the
tangos was imported from Cuba.

It might be that during that stay in the New World, the fandango picked up dance steps
deemed too inappropriate for European tastes. Thus, the dance for fandango, for chacon,
and for zarabanda, were all banned in Europe at one time or another. References to
Gypsy dancers can be found in the lyrics of some of these forms, e.g., the chacon. Indeed,
Gypsy dancers are often mentioned in Spanish literary and musical works from the 1500s
on. However, the zarabandas and jácaras are the oldest written musical forms in Spain to
use the 12-beat metre as a combination of terciary and binary rhythms. The basic rhythm
of the zarabanda and the jácara is 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12. The soleá and the Seguiriya,
are variations on this: they just start the metre in a different beat. [5]

The 18th century: the fandango and the Escuela Bolera

During this period of development, the “flamenco fiesta” developed. More than just a
party where flamenco is performed, the fiesta, either unpaid (reunion) or paid, sometimes
lasting for days, has an internal etiquette with a complex set of musical and social rules.
In fact, some might argue that the cultural phenomenon of the flamenco fiesta is the basic
cultural “unit” of flamenco.

A turning point in flamenco appears to have come about with a change of instruments. In
the late 18th Century the favoured guitar became the 6 string single-coursed guitar which
replaced the double-coursed 5 string guitar in popularity. It is the 6 string guitar to which
flamenco music is inextricably tied. Flamenco became married to the 6 string guitar.

The rise of flamenco

During the late-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries, flamenco took on a number of

unique characteristics which separated it from local folk music and prepared the way to a
higher professionalization and technical excellence of flamenco performers, to the
diversification of flamenco styles (by gradually incorporating songs derived from folklore
or even other sources), and to the popularization of the genre outside Andalusia.

The first time flamenco is mentioned in literature is in 1774 in the book Cartas Marruecas
by José Cadalso. During this period, according to some authors, there is little news about
flamenco except for a few scattered references from travellers. This led traditional
flamencologists, like Molina and Mairena, to call the period of 1780 to 1850 as "The
Hermetic Period" or the "private stage of flamenco". According to these flamencologists,
flamenco, at this time was something like a private ritual, secretly kept in the Gypsy
homes of some towns in the Seville and Cádiz area. This theory started to fall out of
favour in the 1990s. José Blas Vega has denied the absence of evidences for this period:
Nowadays, we know that there are hundreds and hundreds of data which allow us to know in
detail what flamenco was from 1760 until 1860, and there we have the document sources: the
theatre movement of sainetes (one-act plays) and tonadillas, the popular songbooks and song
sheets, the narrations and descriptions from travellers describing customs, the technical studies of
dances and toques, the musical scores, the newspapers, the graphic documents in paintings and
engravings; and all of this with no interruptions, in continuous evolution together with the
rhythm, the poetic stanzas, and the ambience. (Quoted by Ríos Ruiz 1997)

Álvarez Caballero (1998) goes further, stating that if there are no news about flamenco
previous to its late 1780 mentions, it is because flamenco simply did not exist. The whole
theory about a hermetic stage would then be a fantasy, caused by the aura of mystery
surrounding Gypsy culture.

There is disagreement as to whether primitive flamenco was accompanied by any

instrument or not. For traditional flamencology, flamenco consisted of unaccompanied
singing (cante). Later, the songs were accompanied by flamenco guitar (toque), rhythmic
hand clapping (palmas), rhythmic feet stomping (zapateado) and dance (baile). Later
theories claim that this is false. While some cante forms are sung unaccompanied (a palo
seco), it is likely that other forms were accompanied if and when instruments were
available. 19th century writer Estébanez Calderón already described a flamenco fiesta
(party) in which the singing was accompanied not only by guitars, but also bandurria and
tambourine.

The Golden Age

During the so-called Golden Age of Flamenco, between 1869-1910, flamenco music
developed rapidly in music cafés called cafés cantantes, a new type of venue with
ticketed public performances. This was the beginning of the "café cantante" period.
Flamenco was developed here to its definitive form. Flamenco dancers also became the
major public attraction in those cafés. Along with the development of flamenco dance,
guitar players supporting the dancers increasingly gained a reputation, and so flamenco
guitar as an art form by itself was born. A most important artist in this development was
Silverio Franconetti, a non-Gypsy rob seaman of Italian descent. He is reported to be the
first "encyclopedic" singer, that is, the first who was able to sing well in all the palos,
instead of specializing on a few of them, as was usual at the time. He opened his own
café cantante, where he sang himself or invited other artists to perform, and many other
venues of this kind were created in all Andalusia and Spain.

Traditional views on flamenco, starting with Demófilo have often accused this period as
the start of the commercial debasement of flamenco. The traditional flamenco fiesta is
crowded if more than 20 people are present. Moreover, there is no telling when a fiesta
will begin or end, or assurance that the better artists invited will perform well. And, if
they do perform, it may not be until the morning after a fiesta that began the night before.
By contrast, the café cantante offered set performances at set hours and top artists were
contracted to perform. For some, this professionalization led to commercialism, while for
others it stimulated healthy competition and therefore, more creativity and technical
proficiency. In fact, most traditional flamenco forms were created or developed during
this time or, at least, have been attributed to singers of this period like El Loco Mateo, El
Nitri, Rojo el Alpargatero, Enrique el Mellizo, Paquirri El Guanté, or La Serneta, among
many others. Some of them were professionals, while others sang only at private
gatherings but their songs were learned and divulged by professional singers.

In the 19th century, both flamenco and its association with Gypsies started to become
popular throughout Europe, even into Russia. Composers wrote music and operas on
what they thought were Gypsy-flamenco themes. Any traveler through Spain “had” to see
the Gypsies perform flamenco. Spain - often to the chagrin of non-Andalucian Spaniards
- became associated with flamenco and Gypsies. This interest was in keeping with the
European fascination with folklore during those decades.

In 1922, one of Spain's greatest writers, Federico García Lorca, and renowned composer
Manuel de Falla, organised the Concurso de Cante Jondo, a folk music festival dedicated
to cante jondo ("deep song"). They did this to stimulate interest in some styles of
flamenco, which were falling into oblivion as they were regarded uncommercial and,
therefore, not apt the cafés cantante. Two of Lorca's most important poetic works, Poema
del Cante Jondo and Romancero Gitano, show Lorca's fascination with flamenco and
appreciation of Spanish folk culture. However, the initiative was not very influential, and
the derivations of fandango and other styles kept gaining popularity while the more
difficult styles like siguiriyas and, especially, tonás were usually only performed in
private parties.

The "Theatrical" period: 1892-1956

The stage after the Concurso de Cante Jondo in 1922 is known as Etapa teatral
(Theatrical period) or Ópera flamenca (Flamenco Opera) period. The name Ópera
flamenca was due to the custom, started by impresario Vedrines to call these shows
opera, as opera performances enjoyed lower taxes. The cafés cantante entered a period of
decadence and were gradually replaced by larger venues like theatres or bullrings. This
led to an immense popularity of flamenco but, according to traditionalist critics, also
caused it to fall victim to commercialism and economic interests. New types of flamenco
shown were born, where flamenco was mixed with other music genres and theatre
interludes portraying picturesque scenes by Gitanos and Andalusians.

The dominant palos of this era were the personal fandango, the cantes de ida y vuelta
(songs of Latin American origin) and the song in bulería style. Personal fandangos were
based on Huelva traditional styles with a free rhythm (as a cante libre) and with a high
density of virtuouso variations. The song in bulería style (Canción por bulerías) adapted
any popular or commercial song to the bulería rhythm. This period also saw the birth of a
new genre, sometimes called copla andaluza (Andalusian couplet) or canción española
(Spanish song), a type of ballads with influences from zarzuela, Andalusian folk songs,
and flamenco, usually accompanied with orchestra, which enjoyed great popularity and
was performed both by flamenco and non-flamenco artists. Owing to its links with
flamenco shows, many people consider this genre as "flamenco".
The leading artist at the time was Pepe Marchena, who sang in a sweet falsetto voice,
using spectacular vocal runs reminding of bel canto coloratura. A whole generation of
singers was influenced by him and some of them, like Pepe Pinto, or Juan Valderrama
also reached immense celebrity. Many classical flamenco singers who had grown with
the café cantante fell into oblivion. Others, like Tomás Pavón or Aurelio Sellé, found
refuge in private parties. The rest adapted (though often did not completely surrender) to
the new tastes: they took part in those mass flamenco shows, but kept singing the old
styles, although introducing some of the new ones in their repertoire: it is the case of La
Niña de los Peines, Manolo Caracol, Manuel Vallejo, El Carbonerillo and many others.

This period has been considered by the most traditionalist critics as a time of complete
commercial debasement. According to them, the opera flamenca became a "dictatorship"
(Álvarez Caballero 1998), where bad personal fandangos and copla andaluza practically
caused traditional flamenco to disappear. Other critics consider this view to be
unbalanced (See Ríos Ruiz 1997:40-43): great figures of traditional cante like La Niña de
los Peines or Manolo Caracol enjoyed great success, and palos like siguiriyas or soleá
were never completely abandoned, not even by the most representative singers of the
ópera flamenca style like Marchena or Valderrama.

Typical singers of the period like Marchena, Valderrama, Pepe Pinto or El Pena, have
also been reappraised. Starting with singers like Luis de Córdoba, Enrique Morente or
Mayte Martín, who recorded songs they created or made popular, a high number of
singers started to rescue their repertoire, a CD in homage to Valderrama was recorded,
and new generations of singers claim their influence. Critics like Antonio Ortega or Ortiz
Nuevo have also vindicated the artists of the ópera flamenca period.

Musical characteristics
Harmony

Whereas, in Western music, only the major and minor modes are explicitly named by
composers, (except as an occasional oddity in jazz and classical music)[6] flamenco has
also preserved the Phrygian mode, commonly "Dorian mode" by flamencologists,
referring to the Greek Dorian mode, and sometimes also "flamenco mode". The reason
for preferring the term "Greek Dorian" is that, as in ancient Greek music, flamenco
melodies are descending (instead of ascending as in usual Western melodic patterns).
Some flamencologists, like Hipólito Rossy (Rossy 1998: 19–36) or guitarist Manolo
Sanlúcar, also consider this flamenco mode as a survival of the old Greek Dorian mode.
The rest of the article, however, will use the term "Phrygian" to refer to this mode, as it is
the most common denomination in English speaking countries.

The Phrygian mode is in fact the most common in the traditional palos of flamenco
music, and it is used for soleá, most bulerías, siguiriyas, tangos and tientos, among other
palos (Rossy 1998:82). The flamenco version of this mode contains two frequent
alterations in the 7th and, even more often, the 3rd degree of the scale: if the scale is
played in E Phrygian for example, G and D can be sharp.
Descending E Phrygian scale in flamenco music, with common alterations in parentheses

G sharp is compulsory for the tonic chord. Based on the Phrygian scale, a typical cadence
is formed, usually called “Andalusian cadence”. The chords for this cadence in E
Phrygian are Am–G–F–E. According to guitarist Manolo Sanlúcar, in this flamenco
Phrygian mode, E is the tonic, F would take the harmonic function of dominant, while
Am and G assume the functions of subdominant and mediant respectively.[7]

When playing using the Phrygian mode, guitarists traditionally use only two basic
positions for the tonic chord (music): E and A. However, they often transport these basic
tones by using a capo. Modern guitarists, starting with Ramón Montoya, have also
introduced other positions. Montoya himself started to use other chords for the tonic in
the doric sections of several palos: F sharp for tarantas, B for granaína, A flat for the
minera, and he also created a new palo as solo piece for the guitar, the rondeña, in C
sharp with scordatura. Later guitarists have further extended the repertoire of tonalities,
chord positions and scordatura.[8].

There are also palos in major mode, for example, most cantiñas and alegrías, guajiras,
and some bulerías and tonás, and the cabales (a major mode type of siguiriyas). The
minor mode is less frequent and it is restricted to the Farruca, the milongas (among cantes
de ida y vuelta), and some styles of tangos, bulerías, etc. In general, traditional palos in
major and minor mode are limited harmonically to the typical two-chord (tonic–
dominant) or three-chord structure (tonic–subdominant–dominant) (Rossy 1998:92).
However, modern guitarists have increased the traditional harmony by introducing chord
substitution, transition chords, and even modulation.

Fandangos and the palos derived from it (e.g. malagueñas, tarantas, cartageneras) are
bimodal. Guitar introductions are in Phrygian mode, while the singing develops in major
mode, modulating to Phrygian mode at the end of the stanza. (Rossy 1998:92)

Traditionally, flamenco guitarists did not receive any formal training, so they just relied
on their ear to find the chords on the guitar, disregarding the rules of Western classical
music. This led them to interesting harmonic findings, with unusual unresolved
dissonances (Rossy 1998:88). Examples of this are the use of minor 9th chords for the
tonic, the tonic chord of tarantas, or the use of the 1st unpressed string as a kind of pedal
tone.

Melody

Dionisio Preciado, quoted by Sabas de Hoces[9] established the following characteristics

for the melodies of flamenco singing:

1. Microtonality: presence of intervals smaller than the semitone.

2. Portamento: frequently, the change from one note to another is done in a smooth
transition, rather than using discrete intervals.
 3. Short tessitura or range: The most traditional flamenco songs are usually limited
to a range of a sixth (four tones and a half). The impression of vocal effort is the
result of using different timbres, and variety is accomplished by the use of
microtones.
4. Use of enharmonic scale. While in equal temperament scales, enharmonics are
notes with identical name but different spellings (e.g. A flat and G sharp), in
flamenco, as in unequal temperament scales, there is a microtonal intervalic
difference between enharmonic notes.
5. Insistence on a note and its contiguous chromatic notes (also frequent in the
guitar), producing a sense of urgency.
6. Baroque ornamentation, with an expressive, rather than merely aesthetic function.
7. Greek Dorian mode (modern Phrygian mode) in the most traditional songs.
8. Apparent lack of regular rhythm, especially in the siguiriyas: the melodic rhythm
of the sung line is different from the metric rhythm of the accompaniment.
9. Most styles express sad and bitter feelings.
10. Melodic improvisation. Although flamenco singing is not, properly speaking,
improvised, but based on a relatively small number of traditional songs, singers
add variations on the spur of the moment.

Musicologist Hipólito Rossy adds the following characteristics (Rossy 1998: 94):

• Flamenco melodies are also characterized by a descending tendency, as opposed

to, for example, a typical opera aria, they usually go from the higher pitches to the
lower ones, and from forte to piano, as it was usual in ancient Greek scales.
• In many styles, such as soléa or siguiriya, the melody tends to proceed in
contiguous degrees of the scale. Skips of a third or a fourth are rarer. However, in
fandangos and fandango-derived styles, fourths and sixths can often be found,
especially at the beginning of each line of verse. According to Rossy, this would
be a proof of the more recent creation of this type of songs, which would be
influenced by the Castilian jota.

[edit] Compás

Compás is the Spanish word for metre and time signature in classical music theory. In
flamenco, besides having these meanings, it also refers to the rhythmic cycle, or layout,
of a palo or flamenco style. When performing flamenco it is important to feel the rhythm
— the compás — rather than mechanically count the beats. In this way, flamenco is
similar to jazz or blues where performers seem to simply 'feel' the rhythm.

Flamenco uses three basic counts or measures: Binary, Ternary and the (unique to
flamenco) twelve-beat cycle which is difficult to confine within the classical measure.
There are also free-form styles, not subject to any particular metre, including, among
others, the palos in the group of the tonás, the saetas, malagueñas, tarantas, and some
types of fandangos.
 • Rhythms in 2/4 or 4/4. These metres are used in forms like tangos, tientos, gypsy
rumba, zambra and tanguillos[10].
• Rhythms in 3/4. These are typical of fandangos and sevillanas both of these forms
originate in Spanish folk, thereby illustrating their provenance as non-Gypsy
styles, since the 3/4 and 4/4 measures are the most common throughout the
Western world but not within the ethnic Gypsy, nor Hindi musics.
• 12-beat rhythms usually rendered in amalgams of 6/8 + 3/4 and sometimes
measures of 12/8 in attempts to confine it within the classical constraints. The 12
beat cycle is fundamental in the soleá and buerías palos, for example. However,
the various accentuation differentiates these two. These accentuations don't
correspond to the classic concept of the downbeat, whereby the first beat in the
measure is emphasised. In flamenco, the different ways of performing percussion
(including the complex technique of palmas) make it hard to render in traditional
musical notation. The alternating of groups of 2 and 3 beats is also common in the
Spanish folk or traditional dances of the 16th Century such as the zarabanda,
jácara and canarios.

They are also common in Latin American countries.

12-beat amalgams are in fact the most common in flamenco. There are three types of
these, which vary in their layouts, or use of accentuations: The soleá The seguiriya The
bulería

1. peteneras and guajiras: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

2. The seguiriya, liviana, serrana, toná liviana, cabales: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
The seguiriya is measured in the same way as the soleá but starting on the 8th beat
3. soleá, within the cantiñas group of palos which includes the alegrías, cantiñas,
mirabras, romera, caracoles and soleá por bulería (also “ bulería por soleá”): 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. For practical reasons, when transferring flamenco guitar
music to sheet music, this rhythm is written as a regular 3/4. The Bulerías is the
emblematic palo of flamenco, today its 12 beat cycle is most often played with
accents on the 1, 4, 8, and 9th beats. The accompanying palmas are played in
groups of 6 beats, giving rise to a multitude of counter rhythms and percussive
voices within the 12 beat compás

The compás is fundamental to flamenco, it is the basic definition of the music, and
without compás, there is no flamenco. Compás is therefore more than simply the division
of beats and accentuations, it is the backbone of this musical form. In private gatherings,
if there is no guitarist available, the compás is rendered through hand clapping (palmas)
or by hitting a table with the knuckles. This is also sometimes done in recordings
especially for bulerías. The guitar also has an important function, using techniques like
strumming (rasgueado) or tapping the soundboard. Changes of chords also emphasize the
most important downbeats. When a dancers are present, they use their feet as a
percussion instrument.

Forms of flamenco expression

Flamenco is expressed through the toque -- the playing of the flamenco guitar, the cante
(singing), and the baile (dancing)

Toque

Main article: Flamenco guitar

The flamenco guitar (and the very similar classical guitar) is a descendent from the lute.
The first guitars are thought to have originated in Spain in the 15th century. The
traditional flamenco guitar is made of Spanish cypress and spruce, and is lighter in
weight and a bit smaller than a classical guitar, to give the output a 'sharper' sound. The
flamenco guitar, in contrast to the classical, is also equipped with a barrier, called a
golpeador. This is often plastic, similar to a pick guard, and protects the body of the
guitar from the rhythmic finger taps, called golpes. The flamenco guitar is also used in
several different ways from the classical guitar, including different strumming patterns
and styles, as well as the use of a capo in many circumstances.

Cante

Main article: Cante flamenco

Flamenco performance by the La Primavera group

Foreigners often think that the essence of flamenco is the dance. However, the heart of
flamenco is the song (cante). Although to the uninitiated, flamenco seems totally
extemporaneous, these cantes (songs) and bailes (dances) follow strict musical and poetic
rules. The verses (coplas) of these songs often are beautiful and concise poems, and the
style of the flamenco copla was often imitated by Andalucian poets. Garcia Lorca is
perhaps the best known of these poets. In the 1920s he, along with the composer Manuel
de Falla and other intellectuals, crusaded to raise the status of flamenco as an art form
and preserve its purity. But the future of flamenco is uncertain. Flamenco is tied to the
conditions and culture of Andalusia in the past, and as Spain modernizes and integrates
into the European community, it is questionable whether flamenco can survive the social
and economic changes.
Cante flamenco can be categorized in a number of ways. First, a cante may be
categorized according to whether it follows a strict rhythmic pattern ("compas") or
follows a free rhythm ("libre"). The cantes with compas fit one of four compas patterns.
These compas-types are generally known by the name of the most important cante of the
group. Thus

1. Solea
2. Siguiriya
3. Tango
4. Fandango

The solea group includes the cantes: solea; romances, solea por bulerias, alegrias
(cantinas); La Cana; El Polo

Baile

El baile flamenco is a highly-expressive solo dance, known for its emotional sweeping of
the arms and rhythmic stomping of the feet. While flamenco dancers (bailaores and
bailaoras) invest a considerable amount of study and practice into their art form, the
dances are not choreographed, but are improvised along the palo or rhythm. In addition to
the percussion provided by the heels and balls of the feet striking the floor, castanets are
sometimes held in the hands and clicked together rapidly to the rhythm of the music.
Sometimes, folding fans are used for visual effect.

Palos
Main article: Palo (flamenco)

Performers in Seville

Flamenco music styles are called palos in Spanish. There are over 50 different palos
flamenco, although some of them are rarely performed. A palo can be defined as musical
form of flamenco. Flamenco songs are classified into palos based on several musical and
non-musical criteria such as its basic rhythmic pattern, mode, chord progression, form of
the stanza, or geographic origin. The rhythmic patterns of the palos are also often called
compás. A compás (the Spanish normal word for either time signature or bar) is
characterised by a recurring pattern of beats and accents.
To really understand the different palos, it is also important to understand their musical
and cultural context:

• The mood intention of the palo (for example, dancing - Alegrías, consolation -
Soleá, fun - Bulerias, etc.). Although palos are associated with type of feeling or
mood, this is by no means rigid.
• The set of typical melodic phrases, called falsetas, which are often used in
performances of a certain palo.
• The relation to similar palos.
• Cultural traditions associated with a palo (ie: men's dance - Farruca)

Some of the forms are sung unaccompanied, while others usually have a guitar and
sometimes other accompaniment. Some forms are danced while others traditionally are
not. Amongst both the songs and the dances, some are traditionally the reserve of men
and others of women, while still others could be performed by either sex. Many of these
traditional distinctions are now breaking down; for example, the Farruca is traditionally
a man's dance, but is now commonly performed by women too. Many flamenco artists,
including some considered to be amongst the greatest, have specialised in a single
flamenco form.

The classification of flamenco palos is not entirely uncontentious, but a common

traditional classification is into three groups. The deepest, most serious forms are known
as cante jondo (or cante grande), while relatively light, frivolous forms are called cante
chico. Other non-musical considerations often factor into this classification, such as
whether the origin of the palo is considered to be gypsy or not. Forms which do not fit
into either category but lie somewhere between them are classified as cante intermedio.
However, there is no general agreement on how to classify each palo. Whereas there is
general agreement that the soleá, seguiriya and the tonás must be considered cante jondo,
there is wide controversy on where to place cantes like the fandango, malagueña, or
tientos. Many flamenco fans tend to disregard this classification as highly subjective, or
else they considered that, whatever makes a song cante grande is not the song itself but
the depth of the interpreter.

The classification below reflects another traditional classification of cantes more based
on rhythmic pattern, but also taking the origin into account.

Toná Palos (usually known as Cantes a palo seco)

• Debla
• Martinetes
• Carceleras
• Saetas
• Tonás
• Trilla

Palos based on the Soleá rhythm

 • Alboreá
• Bulerías - Bulerias (Luis Maravilla. 31 seconds,133Kb) and Jaleos from
extremadura (a variety of Bulerías)
• The related palos Caña and Polo (flamenco palo)
• The Cantiñas group, including:
o Alegrías
o Caracoles
o Mirabrás
o Romeras
o other Cantiñas
• Peteneras
• Romances
• Soleá - Soleares (Juan Serrano. 30 seconds,118Kb) and Bulerías por Soleá.

Palos derived from Fandango

• Fandangos de Huelva
• Fandangos orientales (from Eastern Andalusia and Murcia)
o Fandangos abandolaos, including:
 Verdiales
 Rondeñas
 Jabera
o Fandangos libres (free of rhythmic pattern):
 Granaínas
 Media Granaína
 Malagueñas
 Cantes de las minas (songs originated in mining areas): Minera,
Tarantos, Tarantas, Cartageneras, Murciana, Levantica, Cantes de
madrugá
• Fandangos personales (personal creations)

Seguiriya Palos

• Cabales
• Livianas
• Siguiriyas - (also seguiriyas) Siguiriyas (Carlos Montoya. 30 seconds,135Kb)
• Serrana

Palos with a Tango rhythm

• Farruca - (Sabicas. 35 seconds,147Kb)

• Garrotín
• Marianas
• Tarantos (when played for dance).
• Tientos
• Tanguillos
 • Tango

Palos de "Ida y vuelta"

Other palos with a tango rhythm are often considered as "Ida y vuelta", that is, originated
in Spanish America.

• Colombianas
• Guajiras - (Sabicas. 35 seconds,158Kb)
• Milonga
• Rumba
• Vidalitas

Other palos of difficult classification

• Campanilleros
• Bambera
• Sevillanas
• Nanas
• Zambras
• Zorongo

Flamenco artists
Flamenco occurs in two types of settings. The first, the juerga is an informal gathering
where people are free to join in creating music. This can include dancing, singing, palmas
(hand clapping), or simply pounding in rhythm on an old orange crate or a table.
Flamenco, in this context, is very dynamic: it adapts to the local talent, instrumentation,
and mood of the audience. One tradition remains firmly in place: singers are the most
important part.

The professional concert is more formal and organized. The traditional singing
performance has only a singer and one guitar, while a dancing performance usually
included two or three guitars, one or more singers (singing in turns, as in traditional
flamenco singers always sing solo), and one or more dancers. A guitar concert used to
include a single guitarist, with no other support, though this is now extremely rare except
for a few guitarists like Dylan Hunt or, occasionally, Gerardo Núñez. The so-called New
flamenco has included other instruments, like the now ubiquitous cajón, flutes or
saxophones, piano or other keyboards, or even the bass guitar and the electric guitar.
Camarón de la Isla was one artist who popularized this style.

A great number of flamenco artists are not capable of performing in both settings at the
same level. There are still many artists, and some of them with a good level, who only
perform in juergas, or at most in private parties with a small audience. As to their training
in the art, traditional flamenco artists never received any formal training: they learnt in
the context of the family, by listening and watching their relations, friends and
neighbours. Since the appearance of recordings, though, they have relied more and more
on audiovisual materials to learn from other famous artists. Nowadays, dancers and
guitarists (and sometimes even singers) take lessons in schools or in short courses
organized by famous performers. Some guitarists can even read music or learn from
teachers in others styles like classical guitar or jazz, and many dancers take courses in
contemporary dance or Classical Spanish ballet.

An overview of the various flamenco artists can be found in the following categories:

• Category: Flamenco singers

• Category: Flamenco guitarists
• Category: Flamenco dancers
• Category: Flamenco bands

Sources
• ÁLVAREZ CABALLERO, Ángel: El cante flamenco, Alianza Editorial, Madrid,
Second edition, 1998. ISBN 84-206-9682-X (First edition: 1994)
• ÁLVAREZ CABALLERO, Ángel: La Discografía ideal del cante flamenco,
Planeta, Barcelona, 1995. ISBN 84-08-01602-4
• COELHO, Víctor Anand (Editor): "Flamenco Guitar: History, Style, and
Context," in The Cambridge Companion to the Guitar, Cambridge University
Press, 2003, pp. 13-32.
• MAIRENA, Antonio & MOLINA, Ricardo: Mundo y formas del cante flamenco,
Librería Al-Ándalus, Third Edition, 1979 (First Edition: Revista de Occidente,
1963)
• MARTÍN SALAZAR, Jorge: Los cantes flamencos, Diputación Provincial de
Granada, Granada, 1991 ISBN 84-7807-041-9
• MANUEL, Peter. “Flamenco in Focus: An Analysis of a Performance of
Soleares.” In Analytical Studies in World Music, edited by Michael Tenzer. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 92-119.
• ORTIZ NUEVO, José Luis: Alegato contra la pureza, Libros PM, Barcelona,
1996. ISBN 84-88944-07-1
• RÍOS RUIZ, Ayer y hoy del cante flamenco, Ediciones ISTMO, Tres Cantos
(Madrid), 1997, ISBN 84-7090-311-X
• ROSSY, Hipólito: Teoría del Cante Jondo, CREDSA, Barcelona, 1998. ISBN 84-
7056-354-8 (First edition: 1966)

See also

Visit the Guitar Portal

• Camarón de la Isla
• Paco de Lucia
• Flamenco guitar
• Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain
• La Convivencia
• Picados
• Palo
• Festival Bienal Flamenco
• Silverio Franconetti