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The three main instruments in flamenco are
singing, dance and guitar. Everything started with only singing, with some
handclapping known as "palmas" and the guitar came later. The
extensive use of footwork common today is a development of this century. There
are songs that are done without dancing, and even a few dances that are done
without singing. Also, any form that can incorporate dance, can also be done
without dance. Finally there are some songs that are done without any
accompaniment, a cappela.
Flamenco today has many faces: there have been
many developments, and there are many ways flamenco can be performed. In modern
flamenco some more instruments used commonly are bass guitar (usually fretless)
and "cajón", a rich variety of percussive sounds can be produced with
this instrument, it is box made of wod with a loose front panel that is played
while sitting on it, it is not tunable and it hasn´t got a special pitch (the
original instrument is slightly different, it was brought from Perú by Paco de
Lucía and his group ).
In new flamenco, flute, sax and a lot of percussion instruments are being used.
Occasionally strings can be heard (a complete orchestra sometimes) or even
something exotic, like citar (Middle East string intrument) darbuka, djembe
(percussion instruments from India), bongos and congas (from south america).
Extremes in this respect are metal-strings, electric guitars, synthesizers and
drums.
The result of the need of the flamenco guitarists
to demonstrate their ability and creativety is instrumental flamenco. In
flamenco solo guitar, singing and dancing are used in service of the guitar when
in normal circumstances the guitar is restricted to the service of the voice or
the dancing . As time passed guitarists found themselves filling in when the
singer had to take a break, and started to make fast and complex melodical
phrases, called falsetas, each "tocaor" likes having a repertory of
falsetas of his own. The technics in flamenco guitar have been evolving and
improving day after day and the skill and virtuosity developed by most of the
flamenco takes them to one of the highest standards in the world of guitar
Sabicas (1912-1950) |
Something esential in flamenco is the way the rhythm is felt and
done. Western music is often felt from beat to beat, with usually two,
three or four counts and one beat per measure. Flamenco is felt from
measure to measure, with up to twelve counts and several beats in a
measure. In flamenco each measure is a rhythmical phrase with specific
accents and sometimes with a "question-answer" structure, with
surprising and challenging dialogues between the performers, in phrases
that can run over several measures. The feeling of resolution at the end
can be very strong.
In western music the building up and resolving of tension is mostly done
by melody, the rhythm alone is usually not very interesting. In flamenco
the melodies are always linked to the rhythmical phrase. A song such as
a "cante por solea" uses to be played at a 3/4 rhythm, but
there can be phrases divided into different measures, and then
fragmentally subdivided again.. The resulting complexity and the
variations between similar phrases constantly avoids repetition,
contributing to the climactic and structure of each song.
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The different styles or
"palos" of flamenco are grouped in "families"
according to more or less common structures, melodies and themes. The
palos have names like soleares (from the spanish word "soledad"
that means loneliness), tonás, siguiriyas (or seguirillas),
tangos,bulerías and fandangos, but the variations are endless and often
referred to their place of origin for example: malagueñas (from Málaga)
or fandangos de Huelva.
The eldest palos are Romances, Gilianas and Alboreas. The Andaluz
provinces of Cádiz, Sevilla, Málaga and Granada are responsible for
most of the palos, although contributions came from other parts of
Andalucía and from the bordering regions of Extremadura and Murcia. In
all of these palos, the most common beat cycle is twelve - like the
blues. Each piece is played juxtaposing a number of complete lyrical
units called coplas.
Their number varies depending on the atmosphere the cantaor ( singer)
wishes to establish, the emotional tone the group wish to convey
depending on the reaction of the audience.
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Next
: Flamenco People
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