Flamenco - Introduction

Worth the Effort
Flamenco is not an easy form of music to appreciate, partly because its scales, harmonies and rhythms sometimes seem weird to European ears, partly because the form of singing requires a flexible approach to the notes which untutored listeners can find discordant. In addition, like jazz or lieder, flamenco is often an intimate, introspective music, and those brought up on the artificial communicativeness of pop and rock find this difficult to relate to. No flamenco artiste will say through lying teeth how great it is to be in such-and-such a place that night, nor what a wonderful audience you have been, nor ask if there is anyone there from Denver or Hull. The flamenco performer's task is that, to perform and interpret - it is the audience's job to make the approach, the effort to understand, which will be repaid in appreciation and enjoyment.

Flamenco Singing, Music and Dance
Many people believe that flamenco is essentially a dance form, which is understandable, but wrong. If you look at the SPV flamenco links pages, for example, and compare the three forms of flamenco expression - cante (song), music and baile (dance) - you will see that flamenco singing and singers are not well represented, which could lead you to conclude that it is the least important of the three. But although forms of flamenco exist which are not sung (e.g., the farruca), in general, the opposite is true - flamenco is, first and foremost, a form of song and everything else is subservient to the song, which is accompanied by guitar(s) and rhythmic clapping. The flamenco guitarist accompanies like no-one, and if you observe a typical singer-and-guitarist duo, you will often see the latter watching the singer attentively, ready to respond. Flamenco dance, too, is an illustration of the song, which is why the transition from flamenco dance to flamenco ballet is so natural - this is even true of stylised forms like the Sevillanas, a group courtship dance which many visitors find themselves motivated to try for themselves, often to the great embarassment of everyone else.

Palos and Compases The variety of flamenco styles, rhythms and moods can be bemusing as well. Styles (palos) are often very regional in origin, whether or not this is reflected in their names (the Malagueñas is obviously from Málaga, the Sevillanas from Seville, and so on). And moods range from heart-tearingly tragic to jocular. Serious forms are called cante jondo (pronounced "cantay hhondow" - it means "deep song") while relatively frivolous ones are called cante chico ("little song").

Rhythms or compases are, in fact, relatively simple, 3/4 or 4/4, though heavy use of syncopation can make this less easy to perceive. For example, the Soleares form is 3/4, but successive bars have different accents, like this: 1 2 3 2 2 3 3 2 3 4 2 3 This sequence of 12 beats or 4 bars is called a falseta, and is the natural unit of flamenco, like the phrase is the natural unit of speech and the sentence the natural unit of literature.

Flamenco Today
At this moment in the twenty-first century, it is not really possible to divide the flamenco world into old and classic versus new and radical. Rather, there is a range of positions, from purist to innovative or from classic to pop, and each artiste occupies a distance from either extreme he or she feels comfortable with. There are, it is true, performers who continue to sing, play or dance in whatever way they grew up with, particularly among specialists in what is called la juerga, private parties (often referred to as "flamenco jam sessions") with semi-professional or amateur flamenco entertainers, some of whom acquire near legendary status. But the most important contemporary names are stage performers, and to consider a few: the eternal Paco de Lucia is a classic, but was responsible for the introduction of the cajón and other percussion elements (and still has a very nice sideline collaborating with America's biggest rock stars). Enrique Morente is a "revolutionary" who, even when "committed to his battle to renew flamenco... sometimes recorded absolutely orthodox cante," as Flamenco World puts it. Diego el Cigala is a classic, but won a Grammy for one of the loveliest, most idiosyncratic albums of 2003, Lágrimas Negras, recorded with the Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés. Niña Pastori is an ex-child prodigy of flamenco who sells pop records by the hundreds of thousand - high-quality, flamenco-influenced pop, but pop for all that. José Mercé is a classic, a veteran of the tablaos of Cádiz who has worked with Manolo Sanlúcar and Antonio Gades and who is having considerable commercial success since Vicente Amigo began producing his records. And let's not forget that million-selling teen idol Alejandro Sanz is, deep down, a flamenco artiste. Flamenco is as relevant as ever.

More  Flamenco
     Flamenco Dance and Dancers
     Flamenco Guitar and Guitarists
     Flamenco History
     Flamenco Links
     Flamenco Schools
     Flamenco Singing and Singers
     Tablaos, flamenco shows

Elsewhere on the Net - Selected Flamenco Links

Flamenco Dance Artists - from Andalucia.com
Some of the most important contemporary flamenco dancers and their productions.

The Flamenco Guitar Home Page
From guitar.com, a good links page which urgently needs maintenance.

Flamenco Guitar - from Norman Paul Kliman
For the serious flamenco guitar student, transcriptions, samples, analyses and other resources. There is some splendid stuff here, not very well presented, but the enthusiast will be most rewarded.

Flamenco Information Page, from "Flamenco Chuck" Keyser
In spite of his unlikely sobriquet, "Flamenco Chuck" gives quite a lot of good information on this page. If you are seriously interested in flamenco, read his explanation of the "compas."

Flamenco.org
A breezy style, not much information, but good links.

Flamenco-world Best of the Net
Flamenco World is an unmissable online magazine which will keep music lovers happy for hours (of course, they want you to buy their wares). Check out the Real Audio clips - there are some real gems.

A History of Flamenco - from All About Spain
An acceptable, text-only summary of flamenco history.