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Types of Cante
There are many variants of cantes or palos (song forms), each expressing a unique emotion (which shares noticeable resemblance to Indian classical music - one of flameco's distant relatives). The flamenco songs of today may be classified into one of three categories: cante grande, cante intermedio or cante chico.
Cante Grande (also known as cante jondo)
Meaning "profound" and "deep," this intensely sad form of cante deals with themes of death, anguish, despair, or religious sentiments and is sung a palo seco (without guitar accompaniment. Major forms of cante grande include forms such as the tona, martinetes, seguiriya, soleá, and carcelera. It is said that cante jondo (deep song) is the heart and soul of flamenco, which survives and is fed by the deepest needs of the heart. The following quote by Angel Alvarez Caballero describes the emotional depths reached by true singers of the cante jondo:
The singer who sings seguiriyas leaves in each line of the copla (verse of cante) a piece of his soul; and, if not, he is deceiving the listener, perhaps even himself. If there is one style to which the singer has to give everything, has to give every bit of himself, it is the siguiriya. I have seen José Menese completely overcome, broken, a literal wreck after doing this song and I believe that if the singer sometimes reaches the kind of state of grace that the Gypsies call duende - and I don't know yet what that is - it is in these unique and unrepeatable moments.
– Ángel Álvaro Caballero, Historia del Cante Flamenco
Sample Seguiria describing anguish in Calo, Spanish and English:
Template:Sample Seguiria in Calo, Spanish and English
Cante Intermedio
Meaning "intermediate," this form is less profound but also moving, sometimes containing an oriental cast to the music. The term (between cante chico and cante grande that is) varies according who is singing and describing the "cante intermedio".
Cante Chico
Literally meaning "little song," this form of cante sings of lighter subjects including love, bawdy humor and happiness to the accompaniment of the flamenco guitar. Festive forms of cante chico include forms such as the alegrías, bulerías and tangos.
Varying forms of cante flamenco
There are two leading pure forms of cante flamenco, including: cante flamenco gitano and cante flamenco andaluz.
Cante Flamenco Gitano
Cante gitano (or the "Gypsy song") consists entirely of the original songs developed by Gypsies who immigrated in the 15th century, and which continuously developed isolated from outside influences. These type of cantes include the tona, soleá, seguiriya, tango and buleria.
Cante Flamenco Andaluz
Cante andaluz began to spread during the middle of the 19th century, and is a combination of other forms of folkloric music from Andalusia which demonstrate a definite influence of Gypsy flamenco music. Cante andaluz genres include the many variations of the fandango and cantinas.
Cantes Folkloricos Aflamencados
The styles of cantes folkloricos aflamencados are forms of cante that are not considered to be true forms of flamenco by the purists. Examples of these styles include the sevillanas, Farruca, Garotin, and the Cuban Rumba. These music forms are the folk song and dances from Andalusia, other Spanish provinces including Galicia and Asturias, as well as South America which have been slightly influenced by traditional flamenco forms.
Famous Singers of Cante
By the dawn of professional flamenco in 1842, numerous cante performers had already gained fame for their unique styles of cante repertoire. One of the oldest records of flamenco performances indicate two master cante performers: El Planeta and his disciple, El Fillo. Their influence within the universe of flamenco cante are immortal, and are passed on through the flamenco generations.
Antonio Fernandez a/k/a El Planeta
Although concrete information about El Planeta is scarce, it is thought that he was born around 1770 in the Andalusian town of Cadiz. It is widely acknowledged that El Planeta is the first within a long line of famous performers of the cante flamenco. Originally working as a Gypsy blacksmith, El Planeta soon became a renowned leader within the Gypsy community, and had been given the honorary title of "Count and Prince of the Fraternity." It is believed that he sometimes accompanied himself on the guitar, yet most often sang with no musical accompaniment at all. The oldest siguiriyas in recorded flamenco history are those of El Planeta. El Planeta died around 1850 (the exact date in unrecorded), most likely in or around the Andalucian city of Seville.
Francisco Ortega Vargas a/k/a El Fillo
Born approximately in the year 1820 in the Spanish town of Villa Real, El Fillo was the chosen disciple of La Planeta. The duo remain in the heart of modern flamenco as the true cataores (singers of flamenco song) of early flamenco. El Fillo was able to perform all forms of cante, and has thus been known as "the father of cante." It is said that eL Fillo sang with a hoarse and harsh voice. These characteristics have remained to this day within the art of cante, and describes a voice of this type called afilla (taken from the singer's nickname). It is believed that El Fillo died in the year 1878 in Seville.
Silverio Franconetti Aguilar a/k/a Silverio Franconetti
Born in 1829, Silverio Franaconnetti was (and still is) known[by whom?] as the legend of flamenco's Golden Age. Franaconnetti was born in the Spanish town of Moron de la Frontera and was groomed to enter into the family business of tailoring from a young age. However, the young boy's heart was with the Gypsy cante,[clarification needed] and at every opportunity he would escape from his home to visit and listen to the songs of the Gypsies at the nearby blacksmith establishment. This is where Franconnetti first met El Fillo and was subsequently encouraged to engage his talents for the Gypsy cante. His latter life was spent in Argentina and Uruguay working as a picador within the bullrings there, and he also served as an officer in the Uruguay Army. Franconnetti was arguably the best non-Gypsy singer of the Nineteenth Century, and left a highly influential legacy of being the only flamenco singer who was capable of singing every cante exceptionally well.[citation needed] Franconnetti died during 1889.
Pastora Maria Pavon Cruz a/k/a La Nina De Los Peines
Born in Seville in 1890, La Nina de Los Peines is considered quite possibly as the most exceptional and innovative female flamenco singer of all time. Affectionately called "La Nina," she was commanded for her capacity and expression of the tangos, and was also often requested to sing siguiriyas at a time when women did not customarily perform in that style of cante. She is often accredited with standing alone and a distinctiveness among the other female singers of her era.
Manuel Ortega Juarez a/k/a Manolo Caracol
Manolo Caracol was the final genius coming from an exalted Gypsy dynasty which to this day remains legendary in the arenas of both flamenco and bullfighting. Born in Seville in 1909, it is commonly believed that his ancetral lineage included both El Planete and El Fillo. At the very young age of 13, Caracol had won the prestigious first prize at the celebrated and honored First Cante Jondo Competition, which took place in Granada in 1922. During the Spanish Civil War he worked in theaters as means of survival, and thus had appeared the first staged version of flamenco. Caracol emphasized his unique cante style, openly expressing that he had copied it from nobody. His style is remembered for having the unyielding capacity and power to evoke overwhelming passions from all of his listeners. Caracol innovated flamenco by performing frequently with full orchestras or pianos (much to the harsh remarks made by the purists). Caracol died at the age of fifty-four in 1973 in the capital, Madrid.
Jose Monje Cruz a/k/a Camaron de la Isla
Camaron de la Isla was born in San Fernando in 1950, and was the second child of eight to a Gypsy blacksmith and basketweaver parents. He had received his nickname early on due to his light complexion and blond hair, and began performing cantes at the age of eight. In 1969 he had made his first album in collaboration with the legendary flamenco guitar player, Paco de Lucia. Camaron de la Isla was known as the "Living legend of cante," and had revitalized the art of cante and flamenco almost single-handedly. The charisma of this social phenomenon attracted new listeners by flocks of thousands. Trained as a traditional flamenco singer, Camaron went on to break this conventional mold and found the Nuevo Flamenco. Camaron incorporated new musical instruments into the music of flamenco, including: the drums, zither, flute, moog, and the keyboards to name a few. In his comparatively short career of 20 years, and with the partnership with Paco de Lucia, this "Prince of the Island" revolutionized the art of cante. He had set flamenco on a new path and attracted vast new audiences who previous to Camaron had not heard of flamenco. Camaron met his untimely death at the age of forty-one, in the Catalonian city of Barcelona.
Sources
ALVAREZ CABALLERO, Angel: Historia del Cante Flamenco, Alianza Editorial, Madrid, 1981.
GARCIA LORCA, Federico: In Search of Duende. Edition by Christopher Maurer. New Direction Books, New York, 1998.
TOTTEN, Robin: Song of the Outcast - An Introduction to Flamenco, Amadeus Press, Oregon, 2003.
Cantes a palo seco
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The andalusian term Cantes a palo seco refers to a category of flamenco palos (musical forms) traditionally sung a cappella or, in some cases, with some sort of percussion. The category comprises the following palos:
In fact, almost any palo can be sung unaccompanied, especially in private juergas (parties), where there is often no guitarist available. Even in professional settings, some palos which are normally accompanied by the guitar, like seguiriya, bulerías, or even soleá, are sometimes heard 'a palo seco'.
Cantes libres
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cantes libres (sing. cante libre) is a Spanish expression that literally means free songs. It is applied any flamenco palos (musical forms) in which there is no recognisable metre (music) or rhythmic pattern. The melody thus flows freely, unconstricted by metre, so singers can shorten or lengthen musical phrases at will, as long as they respect the basic melodic line of the style they are singing.
The meaning of this expression should not be confused with concepts like rubato, or ad libitum which usually refer to a relative freedom of the musician in following the time signature. In this type of singing there is no time signature at all, so freedom is absolute, and the only restrictions are those imposed by the traditional basic melody.
Roles of guitar and dance
When these palos are played in the guitar, either as accompaniment or as solo, they are known as toques libres, meaning free guitar playing. The guitar accompaniment used for most of this palos (when they are accompanied) consists in short musical phrases leading to a chord that the singer has previously reached at the end of a line of verse. So the function of the guitar, more that really accompanying the melody throughout, consists in responding to the singer and underlying the harmonic progression of the song, plus adding a chord occasionally to support the singer. Guitar written scores for toques libres do not include any time signature for the totally free sections. However, falsetas (guitar solo interludes between stanzas) can include sections with a definite time signature.
Owing to their lack or regular rhythm, these palos are not normally danced. However, from the 1960s there was a tendency to create choreographies for them, as they provide an opportunity for the dancer to show other aspects of flamenco dance, like braceo (movement of the arms).
Palos classified as cantes libres
The palos traditionally classified as cantes libres are all derived from earlier rhythmic fandangos.
- Fandangos naturales. They are structurally derived from the fandangos de Huelva and can also be referred to as fandangos libres, or simply fandangos (when the word fandango is not qualified, nowadays by default it refers to the free styles). Although the Fandango de Huelva is always played rhythmically, since the beginning of the 20th century some singers started to create personal free styles. At the beginning of the process, the rhythm of the Fandango the Huelva was simply slowed down and played more rubato, with the guitar even stopping occasionally to conclude a line of verse. This is still visible in the fandango style by El Gloria. Finally, any hints of regular rhythm were dropped and singers started creating personal forms or variations from traditional fandangos with no time signature at all. The fashion of personal fandangos produced dozens (or maybe hundreds) of this personal forms, especially in the years 1920-1950. For this reason, the expression fandangos personales (personal fandangos) has come to be identified with any free fandango. Nevertheless, a few personal fandangos do follow regular metre.
- Eastern Andalusian free styles, all derived from older fandangos abandolaos. These were also rhythmic styles, originally played with a lively tempo. They derive their name from their characteristic guitar strums (quite different from the typical in fandangos de Huelva), which resemble the typical strums of the bandola and bandurria (instruments of the mandolin type), used in the folkloric precedents of these styles. These palos followed the same process as the fandangos derived from Huelva: they were first slowed down, and finally the regular metre disappeared. Singers like Enrique el Mellizo and Antonio Chacón and guitarists like Ramón Montoya played a decisive role in freeing these styles from their melodic constraints. The palos that suffered this process were the malagueñas, granaína and media granaína, and the group of the cantes de las minas, including: tarantas, cartageneras, minera, murciana and levantica.
Other palos with more or less free rhythm
Apart from the styles usually called cantes libres, there are other palos to which this term could be applied, even if traditionally it is not. Such is the case of the group of palos known as Cantes a palo seco (that is, Songs a cappella, also known as the toná group. It comprises tonás, martinetes and carceleras, saetas, debla and trilla. Although percussion can be added to them, its function is not to constrain the melody to a rhythm: it is rather added to create ambience. When these styles are sung as a basis for the dance, they are known as martinetes, even when they include other styles of this group.
There is, therefore, a reversible tendency in flamenco: many styles that originally started as rhythmical and dance-oriented were later slowed-down and eventually lost their link to dance and their metre subjection, while other styles, originated as free songs, were later adapted to a rhythm to make them apt for dancing.
Discography
BLAS VEGA, José (compiler) Magna antología del cante flamenco, CD edition, 1982, Vols. I, , VII, VIII, IX,
Sources
GRANADOS, Manuel: Teoría musical de la guitarra flamenca, , Ventilador, 1998
MARTÍN SALAZAR, Jorge: Los cantes flamencos Diputación Provincial de Granada
ROSSY, Hipólito: Teoría del cante jondo, Second edition, CREDSA, S.A., 1998 (fist edition 1966) ISBN 978-84-7056-354-6
Cantiñas
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The Cantiñas is a group of flamenco palos (musical forms), originated in the area of Cádiz in Andalusia (although some styles of cantiña have developed in the province of Seville). They share the same compás or rhythmic pattern with the soleá and are usually sung in a lively rhythm (between 120 and 160 beats per minute). They are normally sung in a major mode and have a festive mood.
The usual chord positions for the tonic chord in the guitar are those of E major, C major and, occasionally, A major, the latter usually reserved for solo guitar pieces. The chord progression is normally of the simple tonic-dominant type, although modern guitar players introduce other transitional chords.
The palos classified under this group are:
The main verse has four eight-syllable lines. They frequently also include a small refrain with three five-syllable lines.
Their popularity increased at the time of the flamenco cafés cantante that became the centre of professional flamenco performances from the mid 19th century to the 1920s. Originally, this songs were intended as support for dance.
Reference recordings for this palos are those by Chano Lobato, Aurelio Sellé, Manolo Vargas and La Perla de Cádiz for the Cádiz styles; Bernarda de Utrera and Fernanda de Utrera for the Pinini styles; Curro de Utrera for the "alegrías de Córdoba" or Antonio Chacón for the "caracoles". La Niña de los Peines is also an important reference for all these styles. Some modern singers who have recorded excellent versions of this styles are Camarón de la Isla, Carmen Linares or Mayte Martín.
Sources
MARTÍN SALAZAR, Jorge: Los cantes flamencos, Diputación Provincial de Granada
ÁLVAREZ CABALLERO, Ángel: La discoteca ideal del flamenco, Planeta, 1995
Cartageneras
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cartageneras are a flamenco palo belonging to the category of the Cantes de las minas (in English, songs of the mines) or cantes minero-levantinos (eastern miner songs). As the rest of the songs in this category, it derives from older folkloric fandango styles. The origin of this particular style is attributed to traditional fandango from the miner area of Cartagena in the province of Murcia, in southern Spain.
Although earlier singers like Rojo el Alpargatero contributed its development, it was Antonio Chacón who determined its definite flamenco form and made it popular in other areas.
The stanza of the Cartagenera is the usual for Fandango. Originally, it was played in the same key and mode as the rest of fandangos. But since Ramón Montoya (the usual Chacón's guitarist), all the Cantes de las minas started to be sung in the key of D major, modulating to F# phrygian at the end of the stanza. The chord used for the F# is in fact a rare chord, formed with the notes (from the 6th to the 1st string) F#,D#,F#,G,B,E. It was also at this time that the cantes de las minas started to lose their abandolao rhythmic pattern to become cantes libres (with no defined rhythmic pattern).
This palo contains a short list of cantes. Only two or three (depending on the authors) are classified under this name.
Sources
ÁLVAREZ CABALLERO, Ángel: La discoteca ideal del flamenco, Planeta, 1995
MARTÍN SALAZAR, Jorge: Los cantes flamencos, Diputación Provincial de Granada
Falseta
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Falseta is part of Flamenco music. They are {[usually}] short melodies played by the guitarist(s) in between sung verses, or to acompany dancers. In a guitar solo, the artists play already created falsetas or improvise new falsetas which are then put together to form the whole piece. A falseta can be roughly comparable to an improvised lick in jazz or blues music.
[] Examples
The Soleares and Alegrias and other palos could be explained as one measure of 3/4-time and one measure of 6/8 time, although the accents are different from in 'normal' (western classical) measures:
[12] 1 [2] 3 [4] 5 [6] 7 8 [9] 10 11
The Siguiriyas is the same pattern as the Solares, but reversed:
[12] 1 2 [3] 4 5 [6] 7 [8] 9 [10] 11
The Farrucas, are 2 measures of 4/4 time, the falsetas each having of 8 beats:
[1] 2 [3] 4 [5] 6 [7] 8
Most other forms follow these two basic rhythms, though there can be considerable variation, such as the Granaína.
Flamenco
Flamenco is a style of music and dance which is considered part of the culture of Spain, although it is actually native to only one region: Andalusia.
Andalusian, Gypsy, Sephardic, Moorish and Byzantine influences have been detected in flamenco, often claimed to have coalesced around the time of the Reconquista in the 15th century. The origins of the term are unclear; the word flamenco itself was not recorded until the 18th century.
Flamenco is the music of the Andalusian gypsies and played in their social community. Andalusian people who grew up around gypsies were also accepted as "flamencos" (Paco de Lucía). Other regions, mainly Extremadura and Murcia, have also contributed to the development of flamenco, and many flamenco artists have been born outside Andalusia. Latin American and especially Cuban influences have also contributed, as evidenced in the dances of "Ida y Vuelta".
Etymology
There are questions not only about the origins of flamenco, but also about the origins of the word itself. George Borrow claims the word flemenc [sic] is synonymous with "gypsy".[citation needed] Blas Infante, in his book Orígenes de los Flamencos y Secreto del Cante Jondo, argued that flamenco comes from the Arabic word fellahmengu, meaning "expelled peasant" after the end of the Moorish reign.chicarada means dance of the young ones.
Other hypotheses include connections with Flanders (flamenco also means Flemish in Spanish), believed by Spanish people to be the origin of the Gypsies, or the flamante (ardent) execution by the performers, or the flamingos. [1].
Origins
Moorish influence in the Iberian Peninsula goes back thousands of years, but it was the Islamic invasion in 711 that brought the main musical influences. The conquerors brought their music, and were in turn influenced by native Spanish forms.
The Emirate, and later Caliphate of Córdoba became a major center of influence in both the Muslim and Christian worlds, attracting musicians from all Islamic countries. One such was Zyriab, who revolutionized the shape and techniques of the oud, adding a fifth string, and set the foundations for Andalusian nuba.
Centuries later, aspects of this "Moorish guitar" combined with the European lute and guitar latina to create the vihuela, which in turn influenced the baroque guitar, the precursor to the classical guitar - the basis of the flamenco guitar, and all other guitars in popular usage today.
The Jews were an important group in al-Andalus, able to maintain their own traditions, rites, and music under a culture of religious tolerance fostered by the Moorish rulers. Certain flamenco palos like the Peteneras and saetas have been attributed to Jewish origins.
Some see a clear middle-eastern influence on southern Spain's music. To what extent this eastern flavour is owed to the Moors, the Jews, the Catholic Mozarabic rite, and the Gypsies is impossible to determine.
Long before the Moorish invasion, Visigothic Spain had its own liturgic music, the Visigothic rite (also known as the Mozarabic rite), which was strongly influenced by Byzantium. Cut off in Moorish-ruled Al-Andalus from the rest of western Christian Europe, it survived the Gregorian reforms of the western Catholic liturgy and the Moorish invasion, persisting until at least the 12th century. Manuel de Falla's theory links the melismatic forms and the Phrygian mode in flamenco to this Catholic rite. Unfortunately, due to the musical notation used to record them, it is not known what the chants sounded like, so the theory remains unproven.
The influence of the New World
It is believed that when Spain colonized the New World, they brought back the influence of Latin American dance steps and music. It would appear the fandango picked up dance steps deemed 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, 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 Seguidilla, are variations on this; they just start the metre in a different beat.[1]
The Rise of Flamenco
Early flamencologists were amateurs and relied for historical data on a limited number of sources. These were mainly the work of 19th century folklorist Demófilo, es:Demófilo and notes by foreign travellers. This started to change in the 1980s, when flamenco began to be studied in conservatoriums, and musicologists and historians such as Rios Ruiz and Álvarez Caballero began to carry out more rigorous research. (Ríos Ruiz, 1997:14).
The first mention of flamenco in literature is in 1774 in the book Cartas Marruecas by José Cadalso. Traditional flamencologists, like Molina and Mairena, called the period 1780-1850 "The Hermetic Period" when flamenco was said to be secretly danced in Gypsy homes in the Seville and Cádiz area. Álvarez Caballero (1998) went further, stating that if there is no record of flamenco before the late 1780s, it is because flamenco simply did not exist.
José Blas Vega has denied the absence of evidence 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. . .the theatre movement of sainetes (one-act plays) and tonadillas, the popular songbooks and song sheets, the narrations and descriptions from travelers 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.[2]
There is disagreement as to whether primitive flamenco was accompanied by instruments. The traditional view is that flamenco was originally unaccompanied singing (cante). Later, the songs were accompanied by flamenco guitar (toque), rhythmic hand clapping (palmas), rhythmic feet stomping (zapateado) and dance (baile). Other scholars maintain that while some cante forms are unaccompanied (a palo seco), it is likely other forms were accompanied if and when instruments were available. 19th century writer Estébanez Calderón described a flamenco fiesta in which the singing was accompanied not only by guitars, but also bandurria and tambourine.
The Golden Age
During the Golden Age of Flamenco, between 1869–1910, flamenco developed rapidly in cafés cantantes, a new type of venue offering ticketed public performances. Dancers became a public attraction. Guitar players supporting the dancers increasingly gained a reputation, and so flamenco guitar as an art form was born. A most important artist in this development was Silverio Franconetti, a non-Gypsy seaman of Italian descent. He is said to be the first "encyclopedic" singer, that is, the first able to sing well in all palos, instead of specializing as was usual at the time. He opened his own café cantante, where he sang and invited other artists to perform, and many other venues of this kind were created in Andalusia and Spain.
Traditional flamenco commentators such as Demófilo see this period as the start of the commercial debasement of flamenco. The traditional flamenco fiesta is small (fewer than 20 people) and organic - there is no telling when it will begin or end, if the artists invited will even turn up, or at what hour they will perform. By contrast, the café cantante offered set performances at set hours and top artists were contracted to perform. For some, this was crass commercialism, while for others it stimulated creativity and technical competence.
In fact, most flamenco forms now considered "traditional" were created or developed during this time or 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.
In the 19th century, the perceived "romance" of flamenco and the Gypsies became popular throughout Europe. Composers wrote music and operas on what they thought were Gypsy-flamenco themes. A flamenco show became an essential part of any trip to Spain, even outside Andalusia.
In 1922, one of Spain's greatest writers, Federico García Lorca, and renowned composer Manuel de Falla, organized the Concurso de Cante Jondo, a festival dedicated to cante jondo ("deep song"), to stimulate interest in "uncommercial" styles of flamenco, which were falling into disuse. The initiative made little difference.
The "Theatrical" period
The period after the Concurso de Cante Jondo in 1922 is known as Etapa teatral (Theatrical period) or Ópera flamenca period, so-called because the impresario Vedrines called his shows opera, to take advantage of lower taxes offered to opera performances. The cafés cantante were gradually replaced by larger venues like theatres or bullrings. Flamenco became immensely popular but, in the view of purists, hopelessly over-commercialised. In the new shows, flamenco was mixed with other 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 songs in bulería style. Personal fandangos were based on Huelva traditional styles with a free rhythm (cante libre) and with an emphasis on virtuoso variations. The (Canción por bulerías) adapted popular songs 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 ballad style mixing zarzuela, Andalusian folk songs and flamenco, usually with orchestral accompaniment.
The leading artist at the time was Pepe Marchena, who sang in a sweet falsetto voice, using spectacular vocal runs reminiscent of bel canto coloratura. A generation of singers was influenced by him and some, like Pepe Pinto, or Juan Valderrama also reached immense celebrity. Many singers from the café cantante fell into obscurity. Others, like Tomás Pavón or Aurelio Sellé, found refuge in private parties. The rest adapted to the new tastes, taking part in the shows, while still preserving some of the old styles, e.g. La Niña de los Peines, Manolo Caracol, Manuel Vallejo, El Carbonerillo.
Traditionalists maintain that the opera flamenca became a "dictatorship" (Álvarez Caballero 1998), which non-authentic dances almost caused traditional flamenco to disappear. Other critics disagree(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.
Singers of the period like Marchena, Valderrama, Pepe Pinto or El Pena, have also been reappraised. Singers like Luis de Córdoba, Enrique Morente or Mayte Martín started to rescue their repertoire, recording the songs they had created or developed. A new generations of singers claim their influence. Critics like Antonio Ortega or Ortiz Nuevo have also vindicated the artists of the ópera flamenca period.
Flamenco Today
Traditional flamenco artists never received any formal training: they learned by listening and watching relatives, friends and neighbours. Some artists are still self-taught, but nowadays, it is more common for dancers and guitarists (and sometimes even singers) to be professionally trained. Some guitarists can even read music and study others styles like classical guitar or jazz, and many dancers take courses in contemporary dance or Classical Spanish ballet as well as flamenco.
Flamenco occurs in three settings. The first and most traditional is the juerga an informal, spontaneous gypsy gathering (rather like a jazz "jam session"). 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 organic and dynamic: it adapts to the local talent, instrumentation, and mood of the audience. This context also allows us to see flamenco in a wider musical context, one which invites comparison with that other creation of a dispossesed class, the blues. This parallel has been made by various sources, and flamenco has been referred to as The Gypsy Blues, or even the European Blues as a means of providing a frame of reference to those new to the genre.
One tradition remains firmly in place: the cantaores(singers) are the heart and soul of the performance. A Peña Flamenca is a meeting place or grouping of Flamenco musicians or artists. There are also "tablaos", establishments that developed during the sixties of the twentieth century throughout Spain replacing the "café cantante" (like a cabaret). The tablaos may have their own companies of musicians and bailaores or artists for each show, many internationally renowned artists have started their careers in "tablaos flamencos", like the famous singer Miguel Poveda which began in El Cordobés, Barcelona.
The professional concert is more formal. A traditional singing performance has only a singer and one guitar, while a dance concert usually includes two or three guitars, one or more singers (singing in turns, as in traditional flamenco singers always sing solo), and one or more dancers. One of the singers may play the cajon, and all performers will play palmas when not required for other duties. Alternatively, there may be a dedicated cajon player and one or more palmeras. The so-called Nuevo Flamenco New flamenco may include 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.
Finally there is the theatrical presentation of flamenco, which uses flamenco technique and music but is closer in presentation to a ballet performance, with musicians in the orchestra pit, scenery, lighting etc.
Palos
Flamenco music styles are called palos. Songs are classified into palos based on criteria such as basic rhythmic pattern, mode, chord progression, form of the stanza, and geographic origin. There are over 50 different palos flamenco, although some are rarely performed. For a complete explanation, see the main Wikipedia entry on Palo (flamenco).
Some of the forms are sung unaccompanied, while others usually have guitar or other accompaniment. Some forms are danced while others traditionally are not. Some are traditionally the reserve of men and others of women, while some may be performed by either. Many of these distinctions are breaking down; for example, the Farruca is now commonly performed by women too.
Palos are traditionally classified into three groups. The most serious forms are known as cante jondo (or cante grande), while lighter, frivolous forms are called cante chico. Other considerations factor into classification, such as whether the palo is considered to be of gypsy origin or not. Forms which do not fit either category are classified as cante intermedio.
Music
Harmony
Whereas, in Western music, it is usually only the major and minor modes which are explicitly named by composers, flamenco has also preserved the Dorian mode and the Phrygian mode. Flamencologists like Hipólito Rossy (Rossy 1998: 19–36) and Manolo Sanlúcar view the flamenco mode as a direct survival of the Greek Dorian mode. That term is preferred because in ancient Greek music, melodies were descending (instead of ascending as in Western music), and this is also seen in flamenco. The rest of the article, however, will use the term "Phrygian", as this is the more familiar terminology.
The Dorian mode is based on the minor scale, with a raised 6th scale degree.
The Phrygian mode is most common in the traditional palos, e.g. soleá, most bulerías, siguiriyas, tangos and tientos (Rossy 1998:82). The flamenco version of this mode contains two frequent alterations in the 7th and more often, the 3rd degree of the scale: if the scale is played in E Phrygian for example, G and D can be sharp. Such augmentation results in the Phrygian Dominant mode of that key.
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 in E Phrygian are Am–G–F–E. According to Manolo Sanlúcar, in this 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.[2]
When playing using the Phrygian mode, guitarists traditionally use only two basic positions for the tonic chord (music): E and A. However, they often transpose these basic tones by using a capo. Modern guitarists such as 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.[3].
There are also palos in major mode, e.g. most cantiñas and alegrías, guajiras, some bulerías and tonás, and the cabales (a major type of siguiriyas). The minor mode 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, relying on their ear to find the chords, 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 'unstopped' string as a kind of pedal tone.
Melody
Dionisio Preciado, quoted by Sabas de Hoces [4] established the following characteristics for the melodies of flamenco singing:
- Microtonality: presence of intervals smaller than the semitone.
- Portamento: frequently, the change from one note to another is done in a smooth transition, rather than using discrete intervals.
- Short tessitura or range: Most traditional flamenco songs are 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.
- 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.
- Insistence on a note and its contiguous chromatic notes (also frequent in the guitar), producing a sense of urgency.
- Baroque ornamentation, with an expressive, rather than merely aesthetic function.
- Greek Dorian mode (modern Phrygian mode) in the most traditional songs.
- 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.
- Most styles express sad and bitter feelings.
- Melodic improvisation. Although flamenco singing is not, strictly 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 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 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.
Compás
Compás is the Spanish word for metre and time signature in classical music theory. It also refers to the rhythmic cycle, or layout, of a palo.
The compás is fundamental to flamenco. Without it, there is no flamenco. Compás is more than the division of beats and accentuations it is the backbone of this musical form. 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.
Flamenco uses three basic counts or measures: Binary, Ternary and the (unique to flamenco) twelve-beat cycle. There are also free-form styles including, among others, the tonás, saetas, malagueñas, tarantos, 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[5].
- Rhythms in 3/4. These are typical of fandangos and sevillanas, thereby illustrating their origin as non-Gypsy styles, since the 3/4 and 4/4 measures are 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 12/8. The 12 beat cycle is the most common in flamenco, differentiated by the accentuation of the beats in different palos. The accents do not correspond to the classic concept of the downbeat. The alternating of groups of 2 and 3 beats is also common in Spanish folk dances of the 16th Century such as the zarabanda, jácara and canarios.
There are three types of 12-beat rhythms, which vary in their layouts, or use of accentuations: soleá, seguiriya and bulería.
- peteneras and guajiras: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Both palos start with the strong accent on 12. Hence the meter is 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11...
- The seguiriya, liviana, serrana, toná liviana, cabales: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 The seguiriya is the same as the soleá but starting on the 8th beat
- 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
Forms of flamenco expression
Toque (guitar)
Main article: Flamenco guitar
The flamenco guitar (and the very similar classical guitar) is thought to be a descendent from the lute.[citation needed] 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 protective shield, called a golpeador. This is often plastic, similar to a pick guard, and protects the body of the guitar from the rhythmic finger taps,(golpes). The classical guitar sometimes mimics and utilises the strumming patterns of flamenco, the flamenco players often use a capo,[citation needed] whereas the use of a capo in the classical guitar repertory is generally limited to the playing of baroque music or some contemporary compositions.
Cante (song)
Foreigners often think flamenco is primarily a dance form. However, the origin, and 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) are often beautiful and concise poems, and the style of the flamenco copla was often imitated by Andalusian 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.
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 - solea, seguidilla, tango, fandango.
The solea group includes the cantes: solea; romances, solea por bulerias, alegrias (cantiñas)
Baile (dance)
El baile flamenco is a dance form known for its emotional intensity, proud carriage, expressive use of the arms and rhythmic stomping of the feet. As with any dance form, many different styles of flamenco have developed.
In its most authentic form, flamenco can be seen danced informally at gitano (Gypsy) weddings and celebrations in Spain. There is less virtuoso technique in gitano flamenco, but the music and steps are fundamentally the same. The arms are noticeably different to classical flamenco, curving around the head and body rather than extending, often with a bent elbow.
"Flamenco puro" is considered the form of performance flamenco closest to its gitano origins. In this style, the dance is always performed solo, and is improvised rather than choreographed. Some purists frown on castanets (even though they can be seen in many early 20th century photos of flamenco dancers).
The type of dance most Europeans would call "flamenco" is a commercialized style, developed as a spectacle for tourists. To add variety, group dances are included, and even solos are more likely to be choreographed. The frilly, voluminous spotted dresses are derived from a style of dress worn for the annual Feria in Seville (the original is actually too tight to dance in!).
"Classical flamenco" is the style used in modern Spanish flamenco dance companies. It is characterized by a proud, upright carriage - for the women, the back is often held in a marked back bend. Unlike gitano flamenco, there is little movement of the hips, the body is tightly held and the arms are long, like a ballet dancer. In fact many of the dancers in these companies have trained in contemporary dance or ballet as well as flamenco.
Modern flamenco is a highly technical dance style requiring years of study. The emphasis for both male and female performers is on lightning-fast footwork performed with absolute precision. In addition, the dancer may have to dance while using props such as castanets, shawls and fans.
"Flamenco nuevo" is the new wave in flamenco, characterized by pared-down costumes (the men often dance bare-chested, and the women in plain jersey dresses). Props such as castanets, fans and shawls are rarely, if ever, used. Dances are choreographed and include influences from other dance styles.
In traditional flamenco, young people are not considered to have the emotional maturity to adequately convey the "duende" (soul) of the genre. Therefore unlike other dance forms, where dancers turn professional early to take advantage of youth and strength, many flamenco dancers do not hit their peak in their thirties and will continue to perform into their fifties and beyond.
- ^ Peteneras
- ^ Ríos Ruiz 1997
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
- BANZI, JULIA LYNN (Ph.D.): "Flamenco Guitar Innovation and the Circumscription of Tradition" 2007, 382 pages; AAT 328581, DAI-A 68/10, University of California, Santa Barbara.
- 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)
CABA LANDA, Pedro y Carlos CABA LANDA , Carlos. Andalucía , su comunismo y su cante jondo. 1ª Ed Editorial Atlántico 1933 . 3ª Edición , Editorial Renacimiento 2008. ISBN 978-84-8472-348-6
Martinetes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Martinetes are a flamenco palo belonging to the group of the tonás or cantes a palo seco. As the rest of the songs in this group, it is sung with no accompaniment. In some dance shows for the stage, though, it is accompanied by percussion played with the compás of siguiriya. The percussion instruments chosen for this are frequently a hammer and anvil, to evocate the origins of this palo, attributed to Gypsy smiths. It is not probable, though, that they were real work songs: they demand too much effort and faculties to be sung while carrying out a heavy task like that of a smith. They were more probably sung in family gatherings.
Although martinetes are often classified under the toná group on the grounds that they share its a cappella nature, the melody types differ strongly from the rest of tonás, so it is now generally considered to be a different palo. A characteristic that differentiates them from the tonás, normally in major mode, is their modulating character, constantly going from major to phrygian mode.
The stanza of the martinete is the cuarteta romanceada: four eight-syllable lines, rhyming in assonance abcb. The subject matters often contain allusions to persecution, prison, and the environment of the forges.
Carceleras are usually considered a subclassification of martinetes, with prison as the subject matter of their lyrics. The debla, a rather rare style, is considered by some flamenco fans as a type of martinete, while other consider it as a palo on its own.
Sources
ÁLVAREZ CABALLERO, Ángel: La discoteca ideal del flamenco, Planeta, 1995
MARTÍN SALAZAR, Jorge: Los cantes flamencos, Diputación Provincial de Granada
ROSSY, Hipólito: Teoría del cante jondo, CREDSA, second edition, 1998 (first edition 1966)
Guajira (music)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Guajira is a form of Cuban música campesina (countryside music). As sung, it has some similarity to the criolla[1] and the punto.[2] It contains bucolic countryside lyrics, rhyming, similar to décima poetry. The music is a mixture of 3/4 and 6/8 rhythms. According to Sánchez de Fuentes, its first section is in a minor key, its second section in a major key.[3] Secondly, it is now used mostly to describe slow dance music in 4/4 time, a fusion of the son and the guajira.
The guajira often sung by a single musician accompanying himself on guitar (Orovio 1981:227); see trova. The lyrics of the guajira typically extol the beauty of the Cuban countryside and the lifestyle of the guajiros (countryside peasants). (Alén 1994:64). The combination of the guajira with the rhythm of the son produced an offshoot called the guajira-son.
Popularity
Guajira was refined and popularized by the Cuban singer-songwriter and guitarist Guillermo Portabales, whose elegant style has become known as guajira de salón. From the 1930s until his death in a traffic accident in Puerto Rico in 1970, Portabales recorded and performed salon guajira throughout North and South America to tremendous popular acclaim.
Spanish version
A Spanish variant of the Guajira has evolved into a form of flamenco cante (song-type).[4][5] [1][2].
See also
References
- ^ Orovio, Helio 2004. Cuban music from A to Z. p101
- ^ Linares, María Teresa 1999. El punto cubano. La Habana
- ^ Sánchez de Fuentes, Eduardo 1923. El folklore en la música cubana. La Habana. p56
- ^ Manuel, Peter 2004. The guajira between Cuba and Spain: a study in continuity and change. Latin American Music Review, 22.09.04.
- ^ Maria Teresa Linares and Victoria Eli, with Faustino Nunez and Maria de los Angeles Alfonso Rodriguez. 1998, 1999. La musica entre Cuba y Espana
- Alén, Olavo 1994. De lo afro a la salsa. [From Afrocuban music to salsa] La Habana, Ediciones ARTEX.
- Manuel, Peter 2004. The guajira between Cuba and Spain: a study in continuity and change. Latin American Music Review. 25/2, p137-62.
- Orovio, Helio 1981. Diccionario de la música cubana. La Habana, Editorial Letras Cubanas. ISBN 959-10-0048-0
Gypsy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term Gypsy (also 'gypsy' and less frequently 'gipsy'), is a common word sometimes used to indicate Romani people, Tinkers or Travellers. It may or may not be considered to carry pejorative connotations by those so described.[1][2][3]
Etymology
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) states - a 'gypsy' is a member of a wandering race (by themselves called Romany), of Indian origin, which first appeared in England about the beginning of the 16th c. and was then believed to have come from Egypt.
According to the OED the word was first used in English in 1514, with several more uses in the same century, and that both Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare used this word.[4]
The word Gypsy derives from the word Egyptian, similarly to the Spanish word Gitano and the French word Gitan. It emerged in Europe in the 15th century.[5] They were known by the name "Gypsy" to local people either because they supposedly came from a land named "Little Egypt", or because some of them fit the European preconception of Egyptians. On their arrival at numerous places in Europe some groups claimed to be from Egypt, and that they were required to travel for seven years as penance for apostasy.[6] During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the name was written in various ways: Egipcian, Egypcian, 'gypcian. The word gypsy comes from the spellings which had lost the initial capital E, and this is one reason why it is often spelled with the initial g in lowercase.[7] As time elapsed, the notion of 'the Gypsy' altered to include other associated stereotypes such as nomadism and exoticism.[8] John Matthews in The World Atlas of Divination refer to gypsies as "Wise Women."[9] Colloquially, gypsy may refer to any person perceived as fitting the Gypsy stereotypes .[10]
The term gypsy is intensely disliked by some Romany people, and tolerated by others. Its persistence in English lies in their being no single Romani equivalent which is agreed on by all Romani groups. According to Ian Hancock, "the policy of most Romani organizations is to use their self-ascripted ethonym (Sinti, Rròma, Kààle, etc.) and to avoid the use of all externally created labels ('Gypsy', 'Gitano', 'Titan', etc.)."[11]
History of the Romani people
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Romani people, also referred to as the Roma or Gypsies, are an ethnic group who live primarily in Europe. They are believed to have originated in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. They began their migration to Europe and North Africa via the Iranian plateau about 1,000 years ago. The reason for their diaspora remains an enigma.
Origin
The absence of a written history has meant that the origin and early history of the Romani people was long an enigma. Indian origin was suggested on linguistic grounds as early as 200 years ago.[1]
Linguistic and genetic evidence indicates the Romanies originated from the Indian subcontinent, emigrating from India towards the northwest no earlier than the 11th century. Contemporary populations sometimes suggested as sharing a close relationship to the Romani are the Dom people of Central Asia and the Banjara of India.[2]
The cause of the Romani diaspora is unknown. However, the most probable conclusion is that the Romanies were part of the military in Northern India. When there were repeated raids by Mahmud of Ghazni and these soldiers were defeated, they were moved west with their families into the Byzantine Empire. This occurred between AD 1000 and 1030.[citation needed]
This departure date is assumed because, linguistically speaking, the Romani language is a New Indo-Aryan language (NIA)--it has only two genders (masculine and feminine). Until around the year 1000, the Indo-Aryan languages, named Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA), had three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter). By the turn of the 2nd millennium, they changed into the NIA phase, losing the neuter gender. Most of the neuter nouns became masculine while a few became feminine. For instance, the neuter अग्नि (agni) in the Prakrit became the feminine आग (āg) in Hindi and jag in Romani. The parallels in grammatical gender evolution between Romani and other NIA languages is proposed to prove that the change occurred in the Indian subcontinent.
It is therefore not considered possible that the ancestors of the Romani people left India prior to AD 1000[citation needed]. They then stayed in the Byzantine Empire for several hundred years. However, the Muslim expansion, mainly made by the Seljuk Turks, into the Byzantine Empire recommenced the movement of the Romani people.[3]
Until the mid- to late eighteenth century, theories of the origin of the Romani were mostly speculative. In 1782, Johann Christian Christoph Rüdiger published his research that pointed out the relationship between the Romani language and Hindustani.[4] Subsequent work supported the hypothesis that Romani shared a common origin with the Indo-Aryan languages of Northern India,[5] with Romani grouping most closely with Sinhalese in a recent study.[6]
The majority of historians accepted this as evidence of an Indian origin for the Romanies. Some scholars maintained that the Romanies acquired the language through contact with Indian merchants.[7]
Genetic evidence
Further evidence for the Indian origin of the Romanies came in the late 1990s. Researchers doing DNA analysis discovered that Romani populations carried large frequencies of particular Y chromosomes (inherited paternally) and mitochondrial DNA (inherited maternally) that otherwise exist only in populations from South Asia.
47.3% of Romani men carry Y chromosomes of haplogroup H-M82 which is rare outside the Indian subcontinent.[8] Mitochondrial haplogroup M, most common in Indian subjects and rare outside Southern Asia, accounts for nearly 30% of Romani people.[8] A more detailed study of Polish Roma shows this to be of the M5 lineage, which is specific to India.[9] Moreover, a form of the inherited disorder congenital myasthenia is found in Romani subjects. This form of the disorder, caused by the 1267delG mutation, is otherwise known only in subjects of Indian ancestry. This is considered to be the best evidence of the Indian ancestry of the Romanies.[10]
The Romanies have been described as "a conglomerate of genetically isolated founder populations".[11] The number of common Mendelian disorders found among Romanies from all over Europe indicates "a common origin and founder effect".[11] See also this table: [12]
A study from 2001 by Gresham et al. suggests "a limited number of related founders, compatible with a small group of migrants splitting from a distinct caste or tribal group".[13] Also the study pointed out that "genetic drift and different levels and sources of admixture, appear to have played a role in the subsequent differentiation of populations".[13] The same study found that "a single lineage ... found across Romani populations, accounts for almost one-third of Romani males. A similar preservation of a highly resolved male lineage has been reported elsewhere only for Jewish priests".[13] See also the Cohen Modal Haplotype.
A 2004 study by Morar et al. concluded that the Romanies are "a founder population of common origins that has subsequently split into multiple socially divergent and geographically dispersed Gypsy groups".[10] The same study revealed that this population "was founded approximately 32–40 generations ago, with secondary and tertiary founder events occurring approximately 16–25 generations ago".[10]
Possible connection with the Jat people
While the South Asian origin of the Romani people has been long considered a certitude, the exact South Asian group from whom the Romanies have descended has been a matter of debate. The recent discovery of the "Jat mutation" that causes a type of glaucoma in Romani populations suggests that the Romani people are the descendants of the Jat people found in Northern India and Pakistan.[14]
This contradicted an earlier study that compared the most common haplotypes found in Romani groups with those found in Jats from Haryana and Punjab and found no matches.[15] The haplogroup H, which is the most common haplogroup in Romanis, is more prevalent in central India than it is in northern India.
Early records
Early records of itinerant populations from India begin as early as the Sassanid period. Donald Kenrick notes the first recorded presence of Zott in Baghdad in AD 420, Khaneikin in AD 834.[16]
Contemporary scholars have suggested one of the first written references to the Romanies, under the term "Atsingani", (derived from the Greek ατσίγγανοι - atsinganoi), dates from the Byzantine era during a time of famine in the 9th century. In the year AD 800, Saint Athanasia gave food to "foreigners called the Atsingani" near Thrace. Later, in AD 803, Theophanes the Confessor wrote that Emperor Nikephoros I had the help of the "Atsingani" to put down a riot with their "knowledge of magic". However, the Atsingani were a Manichean sect that disappeared from chronicles in the 11th century. "Atsinganoi" was used to refer to itinerant fortune tellers, ventriloquists and wizards who visited the Emperor Constantine IX in the year 1054.[17] The hagiographical text, The Life of St. George the Anchorite, mentions that the "Atsingani" were called on by Constantine to help rid his forests of the wild animals which were killing off his livestock.
Europe
In 1322 a Franciscan monk named Simon Simeonis described people in likeness to the "atsingani" living in Crete and in 1350 Ludolphus of Sudheim mentioned a similar people with a unique language whom he called Mandapolos, a word which some theorize was possibly derived from the Greek word Mantipolos - Μαντιπόλος[18] "frenzied" from mantis - μάντις (meaning "prophet, fortune teller") and poleo - πολέω.
Around 1360, an independent Romani fiefdom (called the Feudum Acinganorum) was established in Corfu and became "a settled community and an important and established part of the economy."[19] The independent fiefdom was short lived. By 1386, Corfu was under the protection of Venice.
By the 14th century, the Romanies had reached the Balkans and Bohemia; by the 15th century, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal; and by the 16th century, Russia, Denmark, Scotland and Sweden.[16](although DNA evidence from mid 11th century skeletons in Norwich suggest that at least a few individuals may have arrived earlier, perhaps due to Viking enslavement of Romani from the eastern Mediterranean or liaisons with the Varangians[20]). Some Romanies migrated from Persia through North Africa, reaching Europe via Spain in the 15th century. The two currents met in France. Romanies began immigrating to the United States in colonial times, with small groups in Virginia and French Louisiana. Larger-scale immigration began in the 1860s, with groups of Romnichal from Britain. The largest number immigrated in the early 1900s, mainly from the Vlax group of Kalderash. Many Romanies also settled in Latin America.
According to historian Norman Davies, a 1378 law passed by the governor of Nauplion in the Greek Peloponnese confirming privileges for the "atstingani" is "the first documented record of Romany Gypsies in Europe." Similar documents, again representing the Romanies as a group that had been exiled from Egypt, record them reaching Braşov, Transylvania in 1416; Hamburg, Holy Roman Empire in 1418; and Paris in 1427. A chronicler for a Parisian journal described them as dressed in a manner that the Parisians considered shabby, and reports that the Church had them leave town because they practiced palm-reading and fortune-telling.[21]
Their early history shows a mixed reception. Although 1385 marks the first recorded transaction for a Romani slave in Wallachia, they were issued safe conduct by Sigismund of the Holy Roman Empire in 1417.[16] Romanies were ordered expelled from the Meissen region of Germany in 1416, Lucerne in 1471, Milan in 1493, France in 1504, Catalonia in 1512, Sweden in 1525, England in 1530 (see Egyptians Act 1530), and Denmark in 1536.[16] In 1510, any Romani found in Switzerland were ordered to be put to death, with similar rules established in England in 1554, and Denmark in 1589, whereas Portugal began deportations of Romanies to its colonies in 1538.[16]
Later, a 1596 English statute, however, gave Romanies special privileges that other wanderers lacked; France passed a similar law in 1683. Catherine the Great of Russia declared the Romanies "crown slaves" (a status superior to serfs), but also kept them out of certain parts of the capital.[22] In 1595, Ştefan Răzvan overcame his birth into slavery, and became the Voivode (Prince) of Moldavia.[16]
In Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldova, Romanies were enslaved for five centuries, until abolition in the mid-1800s.
In the late 1800s, the Romani culture inspired in their neighbors a wealth of artistic works. Among the most notable works are Carmen and La Vie de Bohème.[23]
Settlement
In 1758, Maria Theresa of Austria began a program of assimilation to turn Romanies into ujmagyar (new Hungarians). The government built permanent huts to replace mobile tents, forbade travel, and forcefully removed children from their parents to be fostered by non-Romani.[16] By 1894, the majority of Romanies counted in a Hungarian national census were sedentary. In 1830, Romani children in Nordhausen were taken from their families to be fostered by Germans.[16]
Russia also encouraged settlement of all nomads in 1783, and the Polish introduced a settlement law in 1791. Bulgaria and Serbia banned nomadism in the 1880s.[16]
In 1783, racial legislation against Romanies was repealed in the United Kingdom, and a specific "Turnpike Act" was established in 1822 to prevent nomads from camping on the roadside, strengthened in the Highways Act of 1835.[16]
forced labor and imprisonment in concentration camps. They were often killed on sight, especially by the Einsatzgruppen on the Eastern Front.
America
Romanies began immigrating to the United States in colonial times, with small groups in Virginia and French Louisiana. Larger-scale immigration began in the 1860s, with groups of Romnichal from Britain. The largest number immigrated in the early 1900s, mainly from the Vlax group of Kalderash. Many Romanies also settled in other countries of the Americas.
Czech-Canadian Exodus
In August 1997, TV Nova, a popular television station in the Czech Republic, broadcast a documentary on the situation of Romanies who had emigrated to Canada.[26] The short report portrayed Romanies in Canada living comfortably with support from the state, and sheltered from racial discrimination and violence.[27] At the time, life was particularly difficult for many Romanies living in the Czech Republic. As a result of the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, many Romanies were left without citizenship in either the Czech Republic or Slovakia.[28] Following the large flood in Moravia in July, many Romanies were left homeless yet unwelcome in other parts of the country.[26]
Almost overnight, there were reports of Romanies preparing to emigrate to Canada. According to one report, 5,000 Romani from the city of Ostrava intended to move. Mayors in some Czech towns encouraged the exodus, offering to help pay for flights so that Romanies could leave. The following week, the Canadian Embassy in Prague was receiving hundreds of calls a day from Romanies and flights between the Czech Republic and Canada were sold out until October.[26] In 1997, 1285 people from the Czech Republic arrived in Canada and claimed refugee status, a rather significant jump from the 189 Czechs who did so the previous year.[28]
Lucie Cermakova, a spokesperson at the Canadian Embassy in Prague, criticized the program, claiming it "presented only one side of the matter and picked out only nonsensical ideas." Marie Jurkovicova, a spokesperson for the Czech Embassy in Ottawa suggested that "the program was full of half-truths, which strongly distorted reality and practically invited the exodus of large groups of Czech Romanies. It concealed a number of facts."[26]
President Václav Havel and (after some hesitation) Prime Minister Václav Klaus attempted to convince the Romanies not to leave. With the help of Romani leaders like Emil Scuka, Chairman of the Roma Civic Initiative, they urged Romanies to remain in country and work to solve their problems with the larger Czech population.
The movement of Romanies to Canada had been fairly easy because visa requirements for Czech citizens had been lifted by the Canadian government in April 1996. In response to the influx of Romanies, the Canadian government reinstated the visa requirements for all Czechs as of October 8, 1997.
References
- Turner, Ralph L. (1926) The Position of Romani in Indo-Aryan. In: Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society 3rd Ser. 5/4, pp. 145–188.
- Donald Kenrick (1993) From India to the Mediterranean: the migration of the Gypsies. Paris: Gypsy Research Centre (University René Descartes).
- Marushiakova, Elena and Vesselin Popov. Gypsies in the Ottoman Empire. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press, 2001.
- Will Guy (2001) Between past and future: the Roma of Central and Eastern Europe. Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK: University of Hertfordshire Press.
- Isabel Fonseca (1996) Bury me standing: the Gypsies and their journey New York: Vintage Books.
- Ian Hancock (1987) The pariah syndrome: an account of gypsy slavery and persecution. Ann Arbor: Karoma Publishers.
- Deyan D. Kolev (2004) Shaping modern identities: social and ethnic changes in Gypsy community in Bulgaria during the Communist period. Budapest: CEU Press.
- Michael Burleigh (1996) Confronting the Nazi past: new debates on modern German history. London: Collins & Brown.
- Guenter Lewy (2000) The Nazi persecution of the Gypsies. New York: Oxford University Press
Andalusian History
The geostrategic position of Andalusia in the extreme south of Europe, providing (along with Morocco) a gateway between Europe and Africa, added to its position between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, as well as its rich deposits of minerals and its agricultural wealth, have made Andalusia a tempting prize for civilizations since prehistoric times. Add to this its area of 87,268 square kilometres (33,694 sq mi) (larger than many European countries), and it can be no surprise that Andalusia has figured prominently in the history of Europe and the Mediterranean.
Given that the origin of humanity was almost certainly in Africa, several theories believe that the first hominids in Europe were in Andalusia, having passed across the Strait of Gibraltar. The earliest known cultures in Andalusia (based on artifacts from the archaeological sites at Los Millares, El Argar, and Tartessos), were clearly influenced by cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean who settled on the Andalusian coast and influended the cultures of the interior. Andalusia then went through a period of protohistory, when the region did not have a written language of its own, but its existence was known to and documented by literate cultures, principally the Phoenicians (Cadiz) and Ancient Greeks. During the second millennium BCE, the kingdom of Tartessos developed in Andalusia.[13] It should also be mentioned that according to John Koch [45] Cunliffe, Karl, Wodtko and other highly respected scholars, Celtic culture may well have developed first in far Southern Portugal and Southwestern Spain, approximately 500 years prior to anything recorded in Central Europe.[46][47] The Tartessian language from Andalusia, which John T. Koch has been able to readily translate, is being accepted by a growing number of philologists and other linguists as the first Celtic language.[45][48][49]
Carthaginians and Romans
With the fall of the Phoenician cities, Carthage became the dominant sea power of the western Mediterranean and the most important trading partner for the Phoenician towns along the Andalusian coast. Between the First and Second Punic Wars, Carthage extended its control beyond Andalucia to include all of Iberia except the Basque Country. Andalusia was the major staging ground for the war with Rome led by the Barkid Hannibal. The Romans defeated the Carthaginians and conquered Andalucia, the region being renamed Baetica.[13] It was fully incorporated into the Roman Empire, and from this region came many Roman magistrates and senator, as well as the emperors Trajan and (most likely) Hadrian.
Vandals - Visigoths - Byzantine Empires
The Vandals moved briefly through the region during the 5th century AD before settling in North Africa, after which the region fell into the hands of the Visigothic Kingdom. The Visigoths in this region were practically independent of the Visigothic Catholic Kingdom of Toledo. This is the era of Saints Isidore of Seville and Hermenegild. During this period, around 555 AD, the Eastern Roman Empire conquered Andalusia under Justinian I, the Eastern Roman Emperor. they established Spania a province of the Byzantine Empire from 552 until 624. Though their holdings were quickly reduced, they continued to have interests in the region until they lost it altogether in 624.Roman Empire
Islamic Empire - Al-Andalus
The Visigothic era came to an abrupt end when the Umayyad conquest of Hispania by the Umayyad general Tariq ibn Ziyad, an Islamic Berber, conquered Visigothic Hispania in 711.[13] Tariq is known in Spanish history and legend as Tariq el Tuerto ("Tariq the One-eyed"). The Muslim conquest—by the Umayyad Caliphate—of the Iberian Peninsula in 711–718 marked the collapse of Visigothic rule and the establishment of the Islamic Empire era. Andalusian culture was fundamentally influenced by over half a millennium of rule by many Muslim caliphates and emirates. In this period, the name "Al-Andalus" was applied to a much larger area than the present Andalusia, and in some periods it referred to nearly the entire Iberian peninsula.
Nevertheless, the Guadalquivir River valley in present-day Andalusia was the hub of Muslim power in the peninsula, with the Caliphate of Córdoba making Córdoba its capital. The Umayyad Caliphate produced such leaders as Caliph Abd-ar-Rahman III (ruled 912–961) and his son, Caliph Al-Hakam II (ruled 961–976); and built the magnificent Great Mosque of Córdoba. Under these rulers, Moorish Islam in Spain reached its zenith, and Córdoba was a centre of global economic and cultural significance.[50]
Already in the 10th century, the Christians of northern Spain had begun what would eventually become the Reconquista: the reconquest of Spain for Christendom. Caliph Abd-ar-Rahman suffered some military defeats, but often managed to play off the Christian kingdoms against one another. Caliph Al-Hakam generally maintained peace and retained his status as the dominant figure of Iberia. Almanzor (effective ruler after Al-Hakam's death) achieved military successes, but at the expense of uniting the Christian kings of the north against him.
Internal divisions after the death of Almanzor (1002) led to the first of several decompositions of the Caliphate (1031). New centers of power arose, each ruling a taifa (and often with multiple levels of nominal fealty and relative independence, according to the patterns of feudalism). The taifa of Seville was especially influential, but the Emirate of Granada was the last to survive, lasting from 1228 until 1492.
After the conquest of Toledo in 1086 by Alfonso VI, Christian rule dominated the peninsula. The main Taifas therefore had to resort to assistance from various Muslim powers across the Mediterranean. A number of different Muslim dynasties of North African origin—notably Almoravid dynasty and Almohad dynasty—dominated a slowly diminishing Al-Andalus over the next several centuries.[51]
After the Muslim victory at the Battle of Sagrajas (1086) put at temporary stop to Christian expansion, the Almoravid dynasty constructed a unified Al-Andalus with its capital in Granada, ruling until mid-twelfth century. The various Taifa kingdoms were assimilated. the Almohad dynasty expansion in North Africa weakened Al-Andalus, and in 1170 the Almohads transferred their capital from Marrakesh to Seville. The Christian victory at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212) marked the beginning of the end of the Almohad dynasty.
Andalusia - Kingdom of Castile
The weakness caused by the collapse of Almohad power and the subsequent creation of new Taifas, each with its own ruler, and led to the rapid Christian conquest or reconquest of the valley of the Guadalquivir. Córdoba was conquered in 1236 and Seville in 1248. The fall of Granada in 1492 put an end to Muslim rule in the Iberian peninsula.[52]
On August 3, 1492 Columbus left the town of Palos de la Frontera, with the first expedition that resulted in the so-called discovery of America.[53] Many Andalusians participated in the expedition that would end the Middle Ages and signal the beginning of modernity. Contacts between Spain and the Americas, including royal administration and the shipping trade of Spanish colonies for over three hundred years, came almost exclusively through Andalusia.[54] As a result, the region became the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan of Spain and one of the most influential worldwide. Nonetheless, the Habsburg dynasty ambitions elsewhere in Europe diverted much of the colonial wealth to war, and prevented the deeper economic development of Andalusia. Discontent with this situation culminated in 1641, when the Andalusian nobility staged an unsuccessful conspiracy to gain independence in 1641 from the provincial government of the Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, Count-Duke of Olivares.
Following the Second Rebellion of the Alpujarras in 1568-1571, the Moorish population—that is, unconverted Moriscos—were expelled from Kingdom of Castile (and Aragon). However, by order of the Spanish crown, two Moorish families were required to remain in each village in order to demonstrate to the new inhabitants, introduced from northern Spain, the workings of the terracing and irrigation systems on which the district's agriculture depends.[citation needed]
Much as Andalusia profited from the Spanish overseas empire, the region suffered greatly from its loss and from the end of mercantilism. Having never industrialized, the region went from being one of Spain's wealthiest in the early 19th century[citation needed] to one of its poorest a century later.
Andalusian Spanish
Most Spanish dialects in Spain differentiate between the sound of "z" and "c" (before e and i), pronounced /θ/, and that of "s", pronounced /s/. This distinction is lost in many Andalusian-speaking areas. In some mostly southerly areas, shown here in red, all three letters are pronounced /θ/, which is known as Ceceo. In other areas, all three letters are pronounced (/s/), which is known as Seseo. Still other areas retain the distinction found elsewhere in Spain.
Main article: Andalusian Spanish
Andalusian Spanish is one of the most widely spoken forms of Spanish in Spain, and because of emigration patterns was very influential on American Spanish. Rather than a single dialect, it is really a range of dialects sharing some common features; among these is the retention of more Arabic words than elsewhere in Spain,[139][140] as well as some phonological differences compared with Standard Spanish. The isoglosses that mark the borders of Andalusian Spanish overlap to form a network of divergent boundaries, so there is no clear border for the linguistic region.[141]
Mythology and religion
.
The territory now known as Andalusia fell within the sphere of influence of ancient Mediterranean mythological beliefs. Phoenician colonization brought the cults of Baal and Melqart; the latter lasted into Roman times as Hercules, mythical founder of both Cádiz and Seville. The Islote de Sancti Petri held the supposed tomb of Hercules, with representations of his Twelve labors; the region was the traditional site of the tenth labor, obtaining the cattle of the monster Geryon. Traditionally, the Pillars of Hercules flank the Strait of Gibraltar. Clearly, the European pillar is the Rock of Gibraltar; the African pillar was presumably either Monte Hacho in Ceuta or Jebel Musa in Morocco. The Roman road that led from Cádiz to Rome was known by several names, one of them being Via Herculea, Hercules route returning from his tenth labor. The present coat of arms of Andalusia shows Hercules between two lions, with two pillars behind these figures.
The principal characteristic of the local popular form of Catholicism is devotion to the Virgin Mary; Andalusia is sometimes known as la tierra de María Santísima ("the land of Most Holy Mary").[142] Also characteristic are the processions during Holy Week, in which thousands of penitents (known as nazarenos) sing saetas. Andalusia is the site of such pilgrim destinations as the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Cabeza in Andújar and the Hermitage of El Rocío in Almonte.
Romani music
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Romani music (often referred to as Gypsy (or Gipsy) music, which, in other contexts, the Romani consider a derogatory term) is the music of the Romani people, who have their origins in Northern India, but live today mostly in Europe.
Typically nomadic, the Romani people have long acted as wandering entertainers and tradesmen. In all the places Romanies live they have become known as musicians. The wide distances travelled have introduced a multitude of influences, starting with Indian roots and adding Greek, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Czech, Slavic, Romanian, German, French, Spanish and Celtic touches.
Romani music characteristically has vocals that tend to be soulful and declamatory, and the music often incorporates prominent glissandi (slides) between notes. Instrumentation varies widely according to the region the music comes from.
There is a strong tradition of Romani music in Central and Eastern Europe, notably in countries such as Hungary, Romania and the former Yugoslavia. The quintessentially Spanish flamenco is to a very large extent the music (and dance, or indeed the culture) of the Romani people of Andalusia.
Apart from Romani music for local use, in Eastern Europe a separate Romani music originated for entertainment in restaurants and at parties and celebrations. This music drew its themes from Hungarian, Romanian, Russian and other sources of Romani origin, but was more sophisticated and became enormously popular in places like Budapest and Vienna. Later on it gained popularity in Western Europe, where many Romani orchestras were active, playing sophisticated melodies of East European origin.
Original Romani music
Original Romani folksongs - not derived from the countries where the Romani live - are relatively rare. This particular folk music is mainly vocal and consists of slow plaintive songs and fast melodies which may be accompanied by dancing. The fast melodies are accompanied with tongue-clacking, hand-clapping, mouth-basses, clicking of wooden spoons, and other folk techniques.[1]
Country-related music
Most Romani music is based on the folk music of the countries where the Romani went through or settled. Local music is adopted and performed – usually instrumental – and, slowly, it is transformed into Romani styles, which are usually more complex than the original styles. In its turn, Romani music has influenced greatly the local music. Among these the Hungarian version became best known, although examples of Romani music in other countries also endure.
Spain
Spanish Romani music is widely known across the world, having been popularized as flamenco. Flamenco was born in Andalucia and was only linked with Romanis some time after the genre evolved. Flamenco is associated with the Romani people of Spain (Gitanos) and a number of famous flamenco artists are of this ethnicity. Flamenco has been linked with Indian Classical dance, notably Kathak.
Bulgaria
Due to the large Romani population in Bulgaria, this ethnic group's music is very popular. It is also a part of the roots of chalga music, which is widely played at dances and parties in Bulgaria.
Romania
The Lăutari were traditional Romani musicians, playing at various events (Weddings, funerals, etc). The lăutarească music is an important part of the Romanian traditional music.
The manele genre became very popular in Romania and it's promoted mostly by Romani ethnic musicians.
Turkey
A pair of folk musicians in Kalkan, Turkey
Romani people are known throughout Turkey for their musicianship. Their urban music brought echoes of classical Turkish music to the public via the meyhane or taverna. This type of fasıl music (a style, not to be confused with the fasıl form of classical Turkish music) with food and alcoholic beverages is often associated with the underclass of Turkish society, though it also can be found in more respectable establishments in modern times.
Romanis have also influenced the fasıl itself. Played in music halls, the dance music (oyun havası) required at the end of each fasıl has been incorporated with Ottoman rakkas or belly dancing motifs. The rhythmic ostinato accompanying the instrumental improvisation (ritimli taksim) for the belly-dance parallels that of the classical gazel, a vocal improvisation in free rhythm with rhythmic accompaniment. Popular musical instruments in this kind of fasıl are the clarinet, violin, kanun, and darbuka. Clarinetist Mustafa Kandıralı is a well known fasıl musician.
Western Europe
The sophisticated music of the Romani orchestras that visited Western Europe became popular in the second half of the 19th century and had its heydays from the 1920’s onwards to about 1960. But even today this music is popular. The tours of Rajkó-orchestras – featuring young Romani-musicians – added much to its popularity. The Rajkó boys were both endearing and virtuoso, a combination that enchanted the public.
The cimbalom, unknown to the Western music, added its characteristic sound to the violins played in a Romani style. Its music was highly regarded in restaurants, nightclubs, parties and on-stage concert-performances and flourished in elegant towns like Paris, Berlin, Brussels, The Hague, etc. Romani virtuoso like Bela Babai, Lajos Veres, the many members of the Lakatos family and others became famous. Nowadays the names of Roby Lakatos, Buffo Sandor and Sandor Jaroka † still are household names for the Western connoisseurs of this type of music.
The Western public regarded this genre as a counterpart of that other Romani-related music: Gypsy jazz. They regarded it as a typical gypsy style: a fine specimen of Romani culture. In their Western-European languages they valued it as “Gypsy music”, “Musique tsigane”, “Zigeunermusik”, etc., see the article Gypsy style.
References
- Broughton, Simon, "Kings and Queens of the Road". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 146–158. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
- Balint Sarosi, "Zigeunermusik" (Gypsy music), Budapest 1970, in English, German, Hungarian
^ Zigeunermusik, Balint Sarosi, Budapest 1970, in English, German and Hungarian edition, see chapter 3
Palmas (music)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Flamenco, Palmas is not a simple case of clapping along but an essential form of percussion to help punctuate and accentuate the song and dance. Good palmas can be a substitute for music, certainly in the corrillo at the end of a show. Good palmistas can assist the musicians by keeping a strong tempo, or the dancer by accentuating the end or beginning of a phrase. In any case, an understanding of palos is essential.
The hands
It is important to be able to make two distinct types of hand claps. These are hard (fuertes) and soft (sordas). Each has a particular sound and is used at a particular time.
Sordas
Used during guitar intros or during the singing so as not to drown it out. Also during quieter dance phases so as not to distract the dancer. The hands are cupped softly so that the fingers of one hand fit snugly into the gap between the thumb and forefinger of the other. When the hands are brought together a muffled pop can be heard.
Fuertes
Used during furious and loud footwork or during loud musical pieces such as bulerias. The first three fingers of one hand are held firm and clapped into the outstretched palm of the other. The fingers of the striking hand should point roughly in line with the fingers on the other hand and hit in the bowl of the palm. This should result in a very crisp snappy sound.
Accentuation in compás
During accompaniment, different emphasis may be placed on the each of the beats to enhance the rhythm and indicate the start and end of the musical phrases. This is easily accomplished by clapping a little stronger on the requisite beat. As with footwork, one of the most difficult aspects in maintaining a steady pace without speeding up.
Contra-tiempo
Contra-tiempo palmas is a way of clapping between the normal beats in a bar. For instance, filling the space between beats with another beat or clap.
References
- Schreiner, Claus (2003). Flamenco: Gypsy Dance and Music from Andalusia. Amadeus Press. ISBN: 978-1574670134.
Palo (flamenco)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A 'palo' is the name traditionally given in the flamenco environment for the different musical forms that constitute the traditional musical heritage of flamenco. Each palo is characterized by a variety of musical features such as its rhythmic pattern, its mode, its characteristic motifs, or the type of stanza used for the lyrics, and comprises a series of traditional melodies or songs, generally called estilos (styles) in the flamenco jargon. The meaning of estilo here has nothing to do with the general meaning of "style" as a series of characteristics that define a musical period, a trend, a genre, or the particular manner of an artist: it refers to a particular composition or song which was created in the past, either anonymously or attributed to a particular singer, and was developed by generations of singers. Any newly composed, non-traditional songs or compositions following the general form of the palo are also usually called by the name palo.
The word palo, in Spanish, has several meanings, the main one being "stick", "bar", "pole" or "rod", but in this case it has the sense of "suit of cards". Therefore, it has a metaphorical use meaning category or classification.
The concept of palo must not be understood as a rigorous musicological category. It is rather a popular, sometimes inconsistent way of classifying songs according to similar characteristics. For example, to determine that a song belongs to the palo called Bulerías, only the rhythm is taken into consideration, no matter its mode or stanza. Fandangos, on the other hand, include a variety of forms in 3/4 or 6/8, but later it developed "free" forms (that is, with no determined rhythm). Most palos include dozens of traditional songs, while others like the serrana include only one song. Another interesting example is that of the polo and the caña: they are almost identical and should in fact be classified as variations of the same song, but tradition has classified them as different palos.
Classification of palos
Palos have been categorized in different ways, but the most usual one takes into account a variety of characteristics like rhythm, mode, and origin. This choice of characteristics is not necessarily consistent. According to their traditionally attributed origin, they are often classified in the shape of a tree, usually in a rather unscientific way [1].
Cantes a palo seco (a cappella)
Cantes a palo seco (a cappella) are by some theorists like Demófilo or Molina and Mairena as the origin of the rest of flamenco songs, they are certainly among the oldest documented music forms of flamenco. They include palos like the tonás and martinetes. The debla and the carceleras, also classified as palos are in fact varieties of the Martinetes. They are traditionally considered to be of Gypsy origin. The trilla is another form of cante a palo seco, originated in the songs traditionally sung by peasants during their work (trilla means threshing). Another important palo of this type is the saetas, reserved to Holy Week processions. Some modern flamenco artists have also performed these styles with instrumental accompaniment, a practice that is spurned by purist audiences. However, it has been frequently stated that some other palos that are now played with accompaniment were also played a cappella in the past. When martinetes are sung as musical support for dance, they are normally accompanied by a siguiriya type percussion, often using a hammer and anvil to evocate their hypothetical origin as cantes de fragua (songs from the smiths).
Cantes related to soleá
This group comprises all songs played with the soleá rhythm, that is, following this rhythmic pattern:
The group normally includes the following palos: soleá, bulerías por soleá (also called Soleá por bulería), the cantiñas group (including alegrías, romeras, caracoles, mirabrás and other cantiñas), bulerías, caña and polo. Most of them have traditionally been considered of Gypsy origin.
The bulerías is a special case in this group, as it is not constrained to the typical 12-beat scheme of soleá, but can also incorporate 6-beat and 3-beat sections. The palos caña and polo comprehend only one song each, which is in fact very similar. They are classified in this group owing to their accompaniment, but the melody of the songs is not really related to the soleá songs.
The consideration of bulerías por soleá is problematic. It can be considered as just a way of playing soleá with a regular rhythm (instead of the usual rubato often heard in soleá). For this reason, it is often called "soleá al golpe" (literally, "soleá to the beat"). At other times, it is used to classify a subset of traditional songs in soleá rhythm.
The so-called fandango por soleá is just a regular fandango in which the traditional fandango guitar accompaniment has been replaced by the one typical of soleá (with the necessary adjustments to the rhythm of the song). It is normally classified under the fandangos group.
Cantes related to seguiriya
The palos under this classification are: seguiriya, cabales, serrana, livianas, and toná liviana. Although martinetes and other tonás are sometimes played with a seguiriya percussion, they are not included in this group. The only palo in this group to have a wide variety of estilos is the seguiriya. The livianas palo comprises only two songs, and the serrana and tona liviana only one song. All these palos follow a 12-beat pattern, with a different distribuition of strong beats. However, we could also argue that it is the same rhythm as soléa, starting in a different beat:
In fact, if you start counting the soléa on the eighth beat, you will obtain a seguiriya rhythm.
Cantes derived from fandangos
The fandangos, with many different regional varieties, were immensely popular folkloric dances in large areas of Spain and Ibero-America during the 18th century. They were adopted by several classical musicians like Antonio Soler or Boccherini as a basis for their own compositions. Although they are nowadays often sung as cantes libres, they were originally sung and played to support the dance of the same name. When played with a regular rhythm, they follow a 3/4 or 6/8 time signature. At the end of the 19th century they transcended the folkloric environment and became a flamenco palo in their own right. The fandangos group is normally subclassified as follows:
- Fandangos from Huelva. The more traditional styles are rhythmic, but since the beginning of the 20th century they have also been interpreted as cantes libres. Most personal creations by singers, called Fandangos personales, are based on these varieties of fandango. The variety of traditional local fandangos in the province of Huelva is enormous, but Huelva city and the town of Alosno have been especially prolific.
- Fandangos orientales (eastern fandangos). Originated in the eastern part of Andalusia and Murcia. This subgroup is further classified as:
- Fandangos abandolaos. They are played in regular 3/4 time signature. They include verdiales, jaberas, rondeñas, fandangos de lucena, old malagueñas and other palos.
- Cantes libres (with no regular rhythmic pattern). This category includes modern malagueñas, tarantas, cartageneras, cantes de madrugá, minera, murciana, levantica, granaína and "media granaína".
- Fandangos personales. Any fandango which is not traditional by a creation of a more recent singer. Fandangos personales were the predominant flamenco song between the 30s and 50s of the 20th century, and were later deprecated by purists.
Cantes related to tangos
The tangos group comprises most of the flamenco forms in a 4/4 beat. It comprises tangos, tientos, farruca, garrotín and rumba and tanguillos, plus other rare palos such as marianas. The tientos are a slower, more syncopated form of the tangos which recall the rhythm of the habaneras. Many traditional melodies can be sung both in tango and tiento rhythm and, quite often, singers start with a suite of tientos and complete it with one or more stanzas in tango rhythm. The farruca and the garrotín were folkloric songs originated probably in Asturias and Catalonia and brought to Andalusia, where they acquired flamenco characteristics.
Cantes de ida y vuelta (related to Ibero-America)
The Spanish expression ida y vuelta is used to refer to a "return trip". The palos classified under this group are supposed to have been exported from Spain to the New World and especially Cuba, where they would have acquired Indian and Negro influences, to be reimported again in Andalusia by returned emigrants. These palos include guajiras, vidalitas, milongas, and colombianas.
Other palos
Flamenco singers often sing several types of folkloric songs, lending them flamenco musical features. Most of these songs are often not considered, properly speaking, as flamenco, although they have long been incorporated to the repertoire of flamenco artists. They include palos such as sevillanas, nanas ("lullabies"), bambera, zambras, zorongo or campanilleros.
Peteneras
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Petenera is a flamenco palo in a 12-beat metre, with strong beats distributed as follows: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. It is therefore identical with the 16th century Spanish dances zarabanda and the jácara.
The lyrics are in 4-line stanzas.
It is believed to be a very old style of song, as it was already mentioned by writer Serafín Estébanez Calderón in the mid 19th century, and the adherence to the rhythm of the old zarabanda seems to confirm its age. Several theories have been suggested as to its origin, although there is not enough evidence to sustain any of them unerringly:
- Theory of Paterna. This popular theory sustains that this palo originated in the town of Paterna de Rivera in the province of Cádiz. According to a legend, the name of the song refers to a cantadora (woman singer) called "La Petenera", who was born there. She was reported to be, owing to her seduction power, the "damnation of men". The name "Petenera" would be a phonetic corruption of "Paternera" (born in Paterna). This theory was sustained by folklorist Demófilo.
- Theory of the Jewish origin. According to this theory, suggested by flamencologist Hipólito Rossy, the petenera originated in the songs of Sephardi Jews. He even assured that Sephardi Jews in the Balkans still sang the lyrics that contain the verse of the Petenera as the "damnation of men"
- Some modern theories situate the origin of the Petenera in Petén, a department (administrative region) of Guatemala[1].
Sources
ÁLVAREZ CABALLERO, Ángel: La discoteca ideal del flamenco, Planeta, 1995
CASTAÑO, José María:"Conferencia sobre la Serranía de Cádiz y sus cantes", Circuito "Caminos del Flamenco" de la Diputación de Cádiz, Peña Flamenca de Grazalema, 26 de mayo de 2001.
MARTÍN SALAZAR, Jorge: Los cantes flamencos, Diputación Provincial de Granada
ROSSY, Hipólito: Teoría del cante jondo, CREDSA, second ion, 1998 (first ion 1966)
Rondeña
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Rondeña is a palo or musical form of flamenco originating in the town of Ronda in the province of Malaga in Spain.
In common with other palos originating in Malaga, the rondeña antedated flamenco proper and became incorporated into it during the 19th century.
History
The rondeña has its origin in the fandango malagueño and it is said that it is "the oldest fandango actually known".
According to the experts, the name does not derive from "nocturnal rounds", as some have suggested, but is based solely on the name of the town Ronda.
The rondeña spread enormously throughout Andalusia in the 19th century, to such an extent that numerous foreign observers, touring the region at the time, referred to it later in their writings.
Cante (Songs)
The rondeña has evolved in recent times, with a decrease in melismatic ornamentation, and generally the tempo is somewhat slower than was previously the case. It is a composition with an ad lib time signature
( compás ), and the lyrics are frequently about rustic life. A verse consists of four octosyllabic lines which sometimes become five through repetition of the second line.
Baile (Dances)
In dance, having had no time signature at one time, the rondeña displays a rhythm of wild abandon. Some dancers have used the rhythm of the taranto, which has many similarities but, being rondeña, more open and evocative.
Exponents
Entre sus máximos representantes se hallan: Miguel Borrull padre, siendo uno de los precursores y Ramón Montoya, siendo éste el primer gran intérprete que engrandeció el estilo.
Ya en el siglo XX destaca Manolo Sanlúcar en el toque y cantaores como Fosforito, Antonio de Canillas, Alfredo Arrebola, Jacinto Almadén, Juan de la Loma, Enrique Orozco, Antonio Ranchal, Rafael Romero, José Menese y Cándido de Málaga.
Popular rondeñas
Rondeñas vienen cantando,
sobre la cama me siento,
porque, en oyendo rondeñas,
se me alegra el pensamiento.
Las rondeñas malagueñas
cántamelas, primo mio,
que al son de las malagueñas
me voy quedando dormío.
Recommended bibliography
- Diccionario Enciclopédico Ilustrado del Flamenco. Ed. Cinterco.
- MANFREDI CANO, Domingo. Geografía del Cante Flamenco. Ed. Serv. Publicaciones de la Universidad de Cádiz. 1988.
- NÚÑEZ, Faustino. Todo el Flamenco. Club Internacional del libro, Madrid. 1988.
- DVD: Paso a Paso. Los palos del flamenco. Rondeña
Saeta (flamenco)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Saeta is a revered Spanish religious song, whose form and style have evolved over many centuries. They evoke strong emotion and are sung most often during public processions.
Performance
The Saeta is a song of Catholic Spain dating back many centuries. The Saeta antigua [old Saeta] probably arose from the recitation of psalms under the influence of liturgical music.[1] "Saetas vary greatly in form and style, ranging from simple syllabic melodies to highly ornamented ones."[2] Since the nineteenth century, however, the most favored Saetas have incorporated distinct elements associated with Flamenco music, particularly the siguiriyas.[3]
The Saeta is best known for its mournful power during Holy Week in Spain,[4] when by Catholic tradition the song is performed during the processions by religious confraternities that move through the streets of cities and towns in southern Spain.[5][6] Possessing a plaintive emotional intensity, and dramatic charge, the Saeta is sung by the saetero, often from a balcony, and may be addressed to the statue of Jesus below, in his agony on the Via Dolorosa, or to that of his suffering mother Mary.[7] These and other crafted statues are mounted on platforms and carried along the streets on the shoulders of penitents passing among the assembled public.[8] The immediate emotional response to the Saeta, often of intense sorrow, may be the reason for its name, as the Spanish word saeta can mean "arrow or dart" (also "bud of a vine" or "hand of a clock" or "magnetic needle").[9]
Saetas are sung at outdoor devotions throughout Lent, and may be sung during the Christmas season as well.[10] A special form of the Saeta (the saeta carcelera) is also sung at prisons during visits there by the confraternities.[5][11] Several of the cities in Andalusia have their own peculiar styles of the Saeta.[12]
The music
The Saeta is frequently sung a cappella. Taken from flamenco music are the melismas, tercios, and other flourishes. Although the saeta is one of the cantes a palo seco, the singer may also be accompanied by beating drums, or by horns.[9] Any accompaniment is most often in 2/4 or 6/8 time.[13] Commonly the saetero sings in a minor key finishing on the dominant; the meter of different verses will often be variable depending on the interpretation.[9] Arabic and Hebraic origins have been proposed.[14][15]
Palos of flamenco adopted by the Saeta include especially the siguiriyas and the martinetes, others include the saeta por soleares, por polos, por cañas, and por fandangos.[16] The cantaor Manuel Torre (1878-1933) was well regarded for his Saeta.[17]
Its passion
Of a diverse heritage, the Saeta has become the emotional artistic fruit of several cultures. The Gypsies "se sienten identificados con los episodios de la Pasión y consideran a Jesús como un hermano en desgracia que sufre persecusión y muerte."[18] Nothing of course substitutes for hearing and bearing witness to the Saeta.
"La saeta, pues, costituye la síntesis antropológica del andaluz (hondura, plástica, señorío, dolor metafísico) coronada en santidad. La saeta exige un máximo de veracidad pasional, por lo mismo que a nadie le es dado encaramarse en la audacia de sus ayes sin la potencia y la certeza que brinda la posesión heroica del dolor."[19]
It is said that Andalusians must talk to God during Holy Week, singing the Saeta during a cofradía procession being a mode of choice.[20]
Reference notes
- ^ Ángel Álvarez Caballero at 126-127.
- ^ Willi Apel, Harvard Dictionary of Music (Cambridge: The Belknap Press 1944, 1969) at 748.
- ^ Ángel Álvarez Caballero at 125-129.
- ^ The week in the Church calendar of the Entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection.
- ^ a b Ángel Álvarez Caballero at 127.
- ^ Domingo Manfredi Cano at 183-184.
- ^ José Carlos de Luna at 51-52.
- ^ Timothy Mitchell at 137-154, 170-180.
- ^ a b c Andrés Batista at 16, 72.
- ^ Willi Apel, Harvard Dictionary of Music (Cambridge: The Belknap Press 1944, 1969) at 748.
- ^ Timothy Mitchell at 76-79.
- ^ Julian Pemartin at 138.
- ^ The saeta por siguiriyas may alternate between 3/4 and 6/8 time. Andrés Batista at 16, 18, 72, 74.
- ^ Ángel Álvarez Caballero at 126, quoting Durán Muñoz, Andalucía y su cante (1968).
- ^ Félix Grande at I: 161-162, referring to the Kol Nidrei.
- ^ Ángel Álvarez Caballero at 129; he quotes Hipólito Rossy: "El martinetes ya no suena a martinetes, sino a saeta." ["The martinetes no longer sound like martinetes, but as saeta."]
- ^ Ángel Álvarez Caballero at 199-200.
- ^ Ángel Álvarez Caballero at 129. The Gitanos "see themselves in the scenes of the Passion and look upon Jesus as a brother of sorrows who suffers persecusion and death."
- ^ Anselmo González Climent at 317. "The saeta, well, it constitutes the anthropological synthesis of the Andalucian (profundity, adaptiveness, aristocracy, metaphysical sadness) crowned with holiness. The saeta demands the maximum of true passion, so that nobody is given to rise above by their bold cries without the potential, the certainty of being offered the heroic possession of suffering."
- ^ Domingo Manfredi Cano at 183.
Bibliography
- Ángel Álvarez Caballero, El cante flamenco (Madrid: Alianza Editorial 1994, 1998).
- Andrés Batista, Maestros y Estilos. Manual Flamenco (Madrid 1985).
- José Carlos de Luna, De cante grande y cante chico (Madrid: Editorial Escelicer [1926] 3d ed. 1942).
- Anselmo González Climent, Flamencologia (Madrid: Editorial Escelicer [1955] 1964).
- Félix Grande, Memoria del Flamenco (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe 1979), 2 volumes.
- Domingo Manfredi Cano, Geografia del cante jondo (Madrid: Editorial Bullón 1963).
- Timothy Mitchell, Passional Culture. Emotion, Religion, and Society in Southern Spain (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania 1990).
- Julian Pemartin, El cante flamenco. Guia alfabetica (Madrid: Afrodisio Aguado 1966).
Sevillanas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sevillanas is a type of folk music, sung and written in Seville (Andalusia) in Spain. Historically, they are a derivative of Castilian folk music (seguirilla). Technically, they are an evolution from Castilian seguidillas, they have a relatively limited musical pattern, but rich lyrics, based on country side life, virgins, towns, neighborhoods, pilgrimage and, of course, love themes. They are sung by a plethora of local groups, like Los Romeros de la Puebla, Los Amigos de Gines, Las Corraleras de Lebrija, Cantores de Hispalis, and Los del Río. Every year, dozens of new sevillanas discs are published.
Sevillanas can be heard in southern Spain, mainly, in fairs and festivals, including the famous Seville Fair, La Feria de Sevilla. There is an associated dance for the music: "Baile por sevillanas", consisting of four different parts. One can find schools teaching "baile por sevillanas" in nearly every town in Spain.
Generally speaking, sevillanas are very light and happy music.
Sevillana or Baile por Sevillanas
Sevillana is a popular flamenco-style dance from Seville. Its rhythm is 3/4 or better 6/8.
The Sevillana did not originate in Seville[citation needed]. It is an old folk dance, danced by couples of all ages and sexes during celebrations (fiestas or ferias), often by whole families and 'pueblos'. Sevillanas choreography is very stable, and knowing it is very useful, since it is a fiesta dance. This is why learning flamenco usually starts with this particular dance: it is easier to reach a particular level and there are more occasions for practice and training (even for men).
Each sevillana is composed of 4 parts, with each part divided into 3 'coplas', and with each copla made up of 6 movements. It is a very vivid dance, often excluded from flamenco by "purists". Paradoxically, during spectacles and shows it is usually Sevillana dancing that ordinary people (not born in Andalusia) take for 'the real, true flamenco', as it is full of turns.
Siguiriyas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Siguiriyas (also seguiriyas, siguerillas, siguirillas, seguidilla gitana, etc.) is a form of flamenco music belonging to the cante jondo category. Its deep, expressive style is among the most important in flamenco. The siguiriyas are normally played in the key of A Phrygian with each measure (or compás) consisting of 12 counts with emphasis on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 8th and 11th beats as shown here:
[1] 2 [3] 4 [5] 6 7 [8] 9 10 [11] 12
This rhythm can be contrasted to the rhythmic pattern of the soleares, which also has 12 beats, but the accents fall differently. Taking the unusual accenting into account, it can technically be seen as a measure of 3/4 (counted in eight notes) starting on "2", then a measure of 6/8 followed by the "1 and" of the 3/4. Every note is evenly spaced apart. For example:
[2] and [3] and [1] 2 3 [4] 5 6 [1] and
However, this presents difficulties in counting and is counted more simply in 5 beats, with three "short" and two "long" beats:
[1] and [2] and [3] and uh [4] and uh [5] and
In this case, the 1, 2, and 5 are the short beats and the 3 and 4 are long beats.
Soleá
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For the novel by Jean-Claude Izzo, see Solea (novel).
For the former genus, see Viola (plant).
"Soleares" (a simpler version of "soleá") is one of the most basic forms or "palos" of Flamenco music, probably originated around Cádiz or Seville in Andalusia, the most southern region of Spain. It is normally accompanied by one guitar only, in the key of E phrygian, although relatively often it is also heard in A phrygian.
Lyrics
When singers sing soleá, as with most palos, they normally choose different stanzas, with different melody, and combine them according to the inspiration of the moment or to a previous plan. Even if the singer has a previous plan, he often alters it on the spur of the moment. These stanzas are independent in subject matter from one another.
The content of the lyrics is generally serious in nature, as appropriate to the solemn air of the music. They often have a sententious tone and convey a feeling of intimate pain. Sometimes despair, more typical of seguiriya, can also appear. However, it is difficult to generalize: sometimes a less serious stanza can turn up in the middle of other serious ones, and irony is frequent.
The stanza of the soleá has three or four lines. In four-line stanzas, the second and fourth line are in assonant rhyme, while the first and second are free. In three-line stanzas, the assonance is between the first and the third. Some examples:
No se me daba cuidao
me hago cargo que ha sío un ensueño
y a lo pasaíto pasao.
Translation:
I didn't mind
I know it was just a dream
and past things are past.
Fui piedra y perdí mi centro
y me arrojaron al mar
y a fuerza de mucho tiempo
mi centro vine a encontrar
Translation:
I was a stone and lost my centre
and was thrown into the sea
and after a very long time
I came to find my centre again.
This type of stanza is the cuarteta romanceada, one of the oldest and most frequent in Spanish poetry, and is derived from the medieval "Romance" poetic form, a type of traditional epic poetry that has survived in both learned and popular literature to our days.
The melody of a soleá can demand repeating some lines, altering their logical order, or cutting the lines, sometimes even in the middle of words. For example, as stanza like:
En mis cortas oraciones
le pido a dios llorando
que me quite la salud
y a ti te la vaya dando
Translation:
In my short prayers
crying, I ask God
to deprive me of my health
and to give it back to you
Can be rendered in song like:
A Dios llorando yo le pido
le pido a Dios llorando
yo le pido a Dios llorando
que me quite la salud
y a ti te la vaya dando
en mis cortas oraciones
que yo le pido a Dios llorando
Musical analysis
Soleá is one of the flamenco palos with the highest number of traditional songs, and it is particularly appreciated by knowledgeable artists and audiences. It is very demanding for singers, as they have to strive to be creative and, at the same time, respectful of the tradition, and they have to succeed in finding a good balance between melodic and rhythmic sides, both extremely difficult. It demands great vocal faculties, and the singer should achieve a balance between passion and restraint.
The melody of a soleá stanza usually stays within a limited range (usually not more than a 5th). Its difficulty lies in the use of melisma and microtones, which demand great agility in the voice. It is usual to start a series of soleares with a more restrained stanza in the low register, while continuing to more and more demanding styles. The series is quite often finished with a stanza in a much more vivid tempo in Major mode.
Metre (compás)
The metre or "compás" of the soleá of the is one of the most widely used in Flamenco. Other palos have derived their compás from the soleá, including Bulerías por soleá, the palos in the Cantiñas group, like Alegrías, Romeras, Mirabrás, Caracoles or, to a certain extent, Bulerías. It consists of 12 beats. However, the distribution of strong and weak beats totally differs from the 12 beat metres used in classical music. Instead, it could be described as a combination of triple and duple beat bars, so it's a polymetre form. However, strong beats are at the end of each bar, instead of at the beginning (as it would be normal in Western music). The basic "skeleton" of the soleá rhythm, thus, follows this pattern:
(Each number represents a beat. Blue squares mean weak beats, while big brown dots are strong beats.)
Nevertheless, this is just an underlying structure, like a foundation, which is in fact not really heard in the "palmas" (clapping hands), in the guitar, or in a dancer's feet. It is like a kind of grid where flamenco artists creatively draw the rhythm, which can have infinite variations. In real life we could hear lots of patterns, from very simple to really intricate, depending on the mood the artist wants to convey, or the purpose of the song (to be sung on its own or to support a dancer). In a real performance or recording, we could here palmas playing like in the examples below. The first is a very common, simple pattern:
Notice that palmas are often (though by no means always) silent during beats 4 to 6, even if beat number 6 is a "strong one". This is specially true when no dancing takes place: the main interest there is the singing (or playing) and too much percussion can take attention away from the music. Those beats though are often marked when there is dance, or when performing other palos in the same metre like Alegrías or Bulería por soleá. However, these are not to be taken as hard-and-fast rules, but just as general guidelines.
A more complex example.
The small orange squares should be played extremely softly. Notice the wide use of syncopation.
The above are just two examples among the infinite variety of variations The patterns can be alternated and combined in multiple ways. When there are two or more people playing palmas, one of them usually plays a base pattern, emphasizing the regular beats, while another plays more fancy patterns, more syncopated.
Unlike Bulerías por soleá or Cantiñas, which are always played with a regular beat, the soleá is also often played rubato, that is, slowing down and speeding up the tempo to enrich its expressive quality, in which case "palmas" and any other percussion are avoided. Of course regular tempo is also frequent, and it is mandatory when it is played and sung to accompany a dancer.
Harmonic structure
Soléa develops in Phrygian mode. To simplify, we could say it is traditionally played in E Phrygian (often also in A Phrygian). To adapt to the pitch of the singer, guitarists can use a capo, so that they can play in other keys preserving the traditional chord positions. Modern guitarists, though, often play soleá using other chord positions or even changing the tuning of the guitar to experiment with new sounds, especially in solo instrumental pieces.
The typical flamenco progression A minor, G, F, E (called Andalusian progression) is heard several times during the development of the song. A usual progression with a four-line stanza (played in E Phrygian) is the following:
- first line: E7, Am,
- transition to 2nd line: Am, G, (or F, G)
- 2nd line: F, E
- 3rd line: G7, C (or C7)
- 4th line: Am, G, F, E, F, E
And a usual progression with a three-line stanza:
- first line: E7, Am
- 2nd line: G7, C
- 3rd line: Am, G, F, E, F, E
The guitar in the soleá
Soleá guitar style is easily identified by its metre and Phrygian mode, but also by a series of characteristic strummings and phrases which are heard several times, called "llamadas", with multiple variations, along a song or solo piece. A modern guitarist, when playing soleá, will combine longer musical fragments called "falsetas" with these characteristic strummings and phrases, which are used to mark the beginning and end of the falsetas and to show the singer (if there is one) that the falseta is over and he can start singing.
When a guitarist plays in E key, he is said to play "por arriba" ("up"), while, if he plays in A phrygian, he is said to play "por medio" ("in the middle"). The reason for this is that most flamenco singers and guitarists do not usually have any formal musical training: they cannot identify the key, but only the position of the fingers.
Soleá guitar playing is extremely rich in techniques and rhythmic play. This has made it a favourite among solo concert guitarists. Among the guitarists that have excelled in this "palo" for solo concert are Ramón Montoya, Sabicas, Paco de Lucía, Gerardo Núñez and Rafael Riqueni.
History
The origins of this "palo", as it happens in fact with most "palos", is very much in the dark, and has been subject to much unproved speculation. In spite of being one of the most prestigious "palos", the soleá is considered to be relatively new compared to Tonás and Seguiriyas. The earliest known mention of them, referred to as "soledades", is that of Spanish poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, in 1862. The existence of them prior to 1850 is often stated, but has never been proved. Folklorist Demófilo assured, as early as 1879, that they derived from the "coplas de jaleo", a kind festive song style in a very lively rhythm, apparently very popular in the mid 19th century. These facts contradict other views according to which the soleá would be the origin of the rest of flamenco "palos" and was from the beginning a serious and solemn style. In their primitive stages, soléa, as well as jaleo, seem to have been linked to Gypsy environments in several towns of the provinces of Cádiz and Seville.
The golden age of the soleá is considered to be the last quarter of the 19th century, at the time when the "café cantante" (musical café) was the preferential venue for flamenco artists. Most of the soleá melodies we know have been attributed to singers who were active at that time. With the turn of the century, other "palos" like those belonging to the group "cantes libres" like malagueña, tarantas, or Cartageneras took the supremacy. At the times of the "Ópera Flamenca", it was further displace by Fandangos, popular songs fashioned to the Bulerías rhythm and "cantes de ida y vuelta" like the Guajiras.
During the 50s-70s, at the time of the neo-traditionalism of Antonio Mairena and his school, the style went back into favour, becoming, together with Seguiriyas and Tonás one of the most valued by flamenco artists, critics and public. The soleá went again into disfavour after the birth of New Flamenco. Followers of Camarón de la Isla and his school tend to pay less attention to traditional, "hard" styles, and favour other more festive "palos" like Bulerías or tangos, which are easier to mix with pop and commercial music influences.
Main soleá styles
Soleá "styles" (or rather, we should say "melodies") are traditionally classified under their geographical origin and then by the singer they have been attributed to. These facts are not to be taken as absolute truths. Many times, these attributions rely solely on the oral tradition and the beliefs of singers and the flamenco environment, but rarely on evidence. Even when we know for sure that those singers had an important role in any of these melodies, it cannot be assured that he they "created" it. Maybe they just made it popular, or at most developed it.
Soleares from Alcalá
Although the most recent among the traditional styles, some of the Alcalá ones are the most widely sung. The most famous singer of this area, to whom several styles have been attributed, is Joaquín el de La Paula (1875-1933). His four-line style, sung in the low registers and very restrained, is very oten used as an introductory stanza to other more high-pitched ones.
Soleares from Triana
Triana is a quarter in Seville. The styles of this area are usually more melodic and musical. They are very difficult to classify, owing to their large number of styles and variations. Most attributions to a particular singer are also doubtful.
- "La Andonda". Very little is known of this Gypsy singer. Some styles of soleá have been attributed to her, but there is no proof that they actually have anything to do with her.
- Styles of Ramón El Ollero. Several styles are attributed to him.
- Styles of El Zurraque. El Zurraque is an area in Triana, where potters used to have their workshops. For this reason, these styles are often called "soleares alfareras" (potters' soleares).
- Soleares from Córdoba. They are supposed to derive from the styles of Ramón El Ollero. They were carried to Córdoba by a singer called Onofre, and are often known as "Soleares de Onofre".
Soleares from Cádiz
- By Enrique el Mellizo (1848-1906). Several styles have been attributed to this singer, one of the most influential in the evolution of flamenco singing for his contributions to several "palos". Other frequent styles include those of Paquirri.
Soleares from Jerez
They are considered to be mostly variations from other local styles. However, those by Frijones (probably born in 1846) have original quality.
Soleares from Lebrija
The most famous are those by singer Juaniquí, of whom there is little reliable information.
Soleares from Utrera
All styles from Utrera are attributed to La Serneta (1837-1910), a singer born in Jerez, who went to live in Utrera when she was young.
Sources
ÁLVAREZ CABALLERO, Ángel: El cante flamenco, Alianza orial, Madrid, 1998
BLAS VEGA, José & RIOS RUIZ, Manuel: Diccionario Enciclopédico Ilustrado del Flamenco, Cinterco, 1988
ÁLVAREZ CABALLERO, Ángel: La discografía ideal del flamenco, Planeta, Barcelona 1995
MARTÍN SALAZAR, Jorge: Los cantes flamencos, Diputación Provincial de Granada
Tangos
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tangos is a flamenco palo closely related in form and feeling to the Rumba. It is often performed as a finale to a Tientos. Its compass and llamada are the same as that of the Farruca and share the Farruca's lively nature. However, Tangos is normally performed in the A Phrygian mode.
Tangos is distinct from the Rumba primarily through the guitar playing. In Rumba the guitar flows more freely, whereas in Tangos the accents on beats 2, 3 & 4 are marked clearly with heavy strumming.
Tangos flamenco is only vaguely related to Argentine Tango, and objectively they only share compás binario or double stroke rhythm. The fact that Argentine Tango is one of the first couple dances in America has led historians to believe that both could be based in a minuet-style european dance,[1] therefore sharing a common ancestor, while those who compare the present day forms do not see them as related.[2].
References
- ^ Christine Denniston. Couple Dancing and the Beginning of Tango 2003
- ^ Juan Martin Flamenco Solos book and DVD series
Flamenco Rumba
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Flamenco Rumba (also called Rumba Flamenca, Rumba Gitana, Gypsy Rumba or Spanish Rumba) is a style of Flamenco music from Spain. Its style derives from the influence of Afro-Cuban Rumba brought back from Cuba to Spain in the 19th century but it is played with guitars and hand clapping, some body slaps and castanets, while the Cuban one uses drums and claves. However, modern performers (guitarists and dance groups) such as Paco de Lucia and Tomatito have incorporated congas and cajon to the percussion section as well as handclapping but have not prominently featured the clave.
History
Rumba Flamenca became very popular in Catalonia in the 1950's and 60's with pop stars like Peret, Carmen Amaya and El Pescailla, generating a sub-style called Rumba Catalana. It is also very popular in the Camargue region of France, home of Manitas de Plata, Jose Reyeys & Los Reyes and the Gipsy Kings. In recent years, Rumba flamenca or has become increasingly popular in the United States and other parts of the world. Armik, Ottmar Liebert, Novamenco, Strunz & Farah, Shahin & Sephre, and Willie & Lobo have all gained fame for playing music based loosely on rumba flamenca, although this music is so distantly removed from traditional flamenco that it is often considered a separate form entirely.
Music theory
The tempo of Rumba Flamenca is slower than other, (at approx 100-120bps) more traditional flamenco styles such as Bulerias and Fandango. There are 4 beats per bar. Accent the 2nd and 4th beats.
Tiento
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Tiento is a musical genre and flamenco palo originating in Spain in the mid-15th century. It is formally analogous to the fantasia (fantasy), found in England, Germany, and the Low Countries, and also the ricercare, first found in Italy. The word derives from the Spanish verb tentar (meaning either to touch, to tempt or to attempt), and was originally applied to music for various instruments. By the end of the 16th century the tiento was exclusively a keyboard form, especially of organ music. It continued to be the predominant form in the Spanish organ tradition through the time of Cabanilles, and developed many variants. Additionally, many 20th century composers have written works entitled "tiento."
Formal aspects
The tiento is formally extraordinarily diverse, more a set of guidelines than a rigid structural model such as fugue or rondo. Nearly all tientos are imitative to some degree, though not as complex or developed as the fugue. This has led to their being associated with the other embryonic imitative forms cited above. Similarly, it is difficult to assign a single texture to the form, since it underwent a considerable amount of evolution from its inception to its decline in the late 18th century. The earliest tientos (such as those of Cabezon) were stylistically quite close to the ricercare in their extended use of the strict, motet-style counterpoint. Later (especially in the works of Cabanilles), tientos would frequently alternate between the older style of strict counterpoint, and virtuosic, affective figuration typical of the toccata and some fantasias. The evolution of the form was in part conditioned by the evolution of the Spanish organ, and it eventually came to include several variants or sub-forms, several of which are listed below:
- Tiento de medio registro: A tiento making use of the split keyboard, frequently found on Spanish organs from the mid-16th century on. The split keyboard refers to an organ manual where ranks of pipes may be engaged for half the keyboard, as opposed to the entire compass, which is the norm. This enables the player to utilize different sounds on the same keyboard, generally a solo sound and an accompaniment sound, though occasionally two sounds of equal strength. The tiento de medio registro figures prominently in the oeuvres of Correa de Arauxo , Aguilera de Heredia, and Bruna.
- Tiento de lleno: The opposite of the tiento de medio registro; a tiento played on one sound (full register).
- Tiento de falsas: A tiento making frequent use of dissonance, so as to achieve particularly dramatic effect. "Falsas" refers to "false notes," or dissonant tones not part of the current mode or key. It is similar to the Italian idea of Durezze e ligature (consonance and dissonance).
- Tiento pleno: an irregular tiento consisting of three sections: a prelude, fugue, and postlude. It has more in common with the German praeludium than with other tientos.
Composers
Contemporary composers
References
- Ridler, Ben & Jambou, Louis. "Tiento", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed November 18 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
- Willi Apel. The History of Keyboard Music to 1700. Translated by Hans Tischler. Indiana University Press, 1972. ISBN 0-253-21141-7. Originally published as Geschichte der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700 by Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel.
Tonás
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tonás is the name given to a palo or type of flamenco songs. It belongs to the wider category of Cantes a palo seco, that is, palos which are sung without accompaniment or a cappella. Owing to this feature, they are considered by traditional flamencology to be the oldest surviving musical form of flamenco. The first flamenco singer known in history, Tío Luis el de la Juliana, who lived in Jerez de la Frontera in the last third of the 18th century was said to have excelled in this palo.
Other cantes a palo seco, such as martinetes and debla are sometimes classified under tonás, while at other times they are referred to as palos on their own.
The tonás were almost in disuse by the end of the 19th century. The reason seems to be that they were considered a difficult style by the general public, and therefore were not considered apt for the stage. Although there were always some singers that kept singing them in private gatherings, their practical banning form the stage resulted in the total oblivion of some toná styles.
During the 1950s, with the reappraisal of purism led by singers like Antonio Mairena, the tonás came back into use, and came to be considered as the main flamenco style together with seguiriya and soleá.
Glossary
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A
- aflamencao: flamencoized
- a golpe: sung to the rhythm of only a stick, or knuckles on the table.
- alborea: the Gypsy wedding song sung in the solea compas
- alegrias: compas of the cantinas group
- alzapua: guitar-playing technique that uses the back of the thumbnail
- angel: see duende
a palo seco
without accompaniment
apodo
nicknames that Gypsies receive for life
a seco
playing the guitar rasgueado, with the fingers of the left hand damping the strings
atravesarse
for the guitarist - cutting corners and rhythm during a falseta, making the dancer's job difficult
B
babeo |
repeated meaningless sounds such as bababa in the middle of words |
bailaor, -ora |
flamenco dancer, as opposed to bailarin, which is any other dancer. |
baile |
flamenco dance; other forms are referred to as danza |
baile de manton |
a dance with a shawl |
balanceo y vaiven |
swaying of the body and hips. Balanceo is gentle; vaiven is violent |
bamberas |
song form for swings |
bata de cola |
dress with a train |
bonito |
"pretty"; in other words, not good flamenco |
braceo |
the dancer's use of the arms |
bulerias |
song form. An evolving rhythm that started about the turn of the 20th centuray |
bullanguero |
festive; adjectival form of bulerias |
C
cabal |
final version of the siguiriya; literally, honest, exact, complete. |
cambio |
change of key and lightening of a song to a song |
campanilleras |
songs that are originally of a religious brotherhood who went to prayers to the sound of handbells - hence the name, which means "bellringers" |
cantor, -ora |
flamenco singer; any kind of other singer is called a 'cantante |
cante |
flamenco song; any other song is canto |
cante pa'adelante |
literally, "singing from in front"; singing not done for dancers, with the singer seated |
cante pa'atras |
literally, "singing from behind"; singing for dancers, with the singer standing |
cantes de ida y vuelta |
songs brought back from Latin America |
cantes de levante |
songs from the eastern province of Grandada, Jaen, Almeria, and Murcia |
caracoles |
s song form that started in a zarzula (popular Spanish form of operetta) as a street snail-vendor's song |
cartageneras |
song form derived ffom the taranta, with a florid vocal line, more "artistic" and decorative than forceful and rough |
castanuelas |
castanets |
cejillo |
capodaster or capo, used by guitars |
chufla |
any festive and frivolous song |
cierre |
close of a series of steps or a line of song |
compas |
a measure or bar; flamencos use the word to mean both (a) the twelve-count and (b) the rhythmic skill of a performer |
contratiempo |
cross-rhythms; including syncopation and rubato |
copla |
verse of (flamenco) cante, as against the cuple of (non-flamenco) canto |
corrido |
ballad, nowadays a romance |
corte |
the way the singer ends a musical phrase |
crotalo |
Phoenician and Roman form of castanets |
cuadro |
a flamenco troupe |
D
debla |
a form of tona. It is an old song form, now seldom used |
dejes |
the way the singer ends a phrase |
desgarro |
literally "tear, rip"; wilderness, heartbreak |
desplante |
technically, a point in the dance that marks the end of a section. In fact, a high point, a climax in the dance at which the dancer pauses and the audience applauds |
diapason |
the neck or fingerboard of the guitar |
duende |
literally, "spirit" of "demon"; suggesting possession. Flamencos prefer the word angel |
escobilla |
literally "broom"; the section of the dance in which |
escuela bolera |
a graceful and balletic form of the old bolero; dance in 3/4 time popular in the last century |
falsetas |
solo passages on the guitar at start and between verses of the song |
fandangos |
a family of song forms; thought to be of Moorish in origin |
farruca |
folk song adopted from northern Spain (Galicia); above all a dance only performed by men |
figura |
a star; a performer who has achieved name and fame |
gancho |
literally a "hook"; by extension, anything that gets to you, that "hooks" you. |
garra |
literally "claws"; guts, force |
garrotin |
song adopted from northern Spain (Asturias) |
gesto |
tapping the face of the guitar with the second and/or third finger while playing |
granaina |
form of Fandango in free rhythm that in many ways stands apart |
guajira |
an ida y vuelta song; meaning "girl" in Yucateca, the native language of Cuba |
jaberas |
form of Fandango from Malaga |
jalear |
to encourage with words and/or palmas |
jaleo |
vocal encouragement given to performers when the audience calls out such phrases as ezo!, arsa!, ole!, toma! |
jipio |
a cry (such as ay) used by the singer to find his pitch or to put into the middle of a song |
jondo |
the Gypsy pronunciation on hondo (deep); formerly applied to the song forms but nowadays is used more to describe a manner of singing. |
juerga |
a lively flamenco party, usually with only cante a golpe. |
ligado |
in guitar, sounding the note with the fingers of the left hand only |
llamada |
literally "call"; the opening of a dance |
macho |
usually a three-line verse used as remete to the siguiriya; usually in a major key |
malaguenas |
characterized by its sad, elegiac tone. The city and province of Malaga are virtually the home of the flamenco fandango |
maritinetes |
songs of the smithy - performed to the sound of hammers on anvil beating a siguiriyarhythm |
melisma |
series of notes sung on one syllable. It is the part of the song that, to the ears unaccustomed to it, may sound like unmusical wailing |
milonga |
a type of folk song from the Plate River area in Argentina, where it is still very popular |
mineras |
best described as watered-down tarantas |
mote |
see apodo |
mudanza |
see punteado |
nanas |
lullabyes |
opposicion |
refers to the asymmetry of flamenco; in other words, if the arms are going one way the face will look the other. |
Palillos |
flamenco name for castanets |
palmas |
clapping. It is an art, requiring skill and knowledge of compas. |
palmas altas |
percussive effect performed with the fingers of the right hand on the left palm, resulting in a sharp sound |
palmas sordas |
muted clapping done with cupped hands (usually by the singer) |
palmero |
performer of palmas |
palo |
song form; literally, a suit of cards. They fall into two main categories: those done in free rhythm (sin compas) and those done in rhythm (con compas) |
paso |
step or a series of steps |
payo |
commonly thought to be the Gypsy word for non-Gypsy, but in fact prison slang for an easy mark, a sucker. The Calo word for non-Gypsy is gacho |
pellisco |
literally, "nip, pinch"; that quality (usually in a dancer) that turns you on |
pena |
flamenco club |
pateneras |
Legendary or real, la Patenera was a girl from Cadiz, notorious for her beauty and hardness of heart. A 19th century writer mentions hearing pateneras sung in a voice that conveyed "inexplicable sadness." |
picar |
to pluck on a guitar |
pitos |
finger snapping |
playero |
lamenting |
por arriba |
on guitar - in the hand position for the key of E |
por medio |
on guitar - in the hand of the position for the key of A |
punteando |
steps and movements that are not part of the zapateado |
rasquado |
on guitar, a drumroll effect created by using the backs of the fingers - that is, the nails - one after another |
remate |
way of ending a song, either by raising a pitch, changing to the major, or simply speeding up |
roas |
Sacromente form of the albordea |
romances |
songs (ballads) in a form of tona, nowadays when done with a guitar it is usually played in a solea rhythm |
romeras |
sings of a girl on a pilgrimage |
rumbas |
song form from Cuba |
S
Sacromonte |
a hillside in Granada with cave dwellings, in which Gypsies used to live. It was one of the heartlands of Gypsy flamenco, with a style all of its own |
saeta |
a song of passionate devotion to Christ or the Virgin |
sevillanas |
non-flamenco song that has been flamencoized in various ways due to its popularity, including the dancers' hand and arm movements |
siguiriyas |
heart of deep song. It expresses anguish, lament and despair, and as been described as an outcry against fate and the quintessence of tragic song. |
soleares |
As song, the solea lies at the heart of flamenco, together with siguiria and tona. As dance, it stands alone -at least for women |
son |
all sound accompanying the flamenco song (guitar, clapping, finger snappin, knuckle tapping) |
sonanta |
flamenco slang for guitar |
soniquete |
literally, "droning"; it is applied to performers being what jazz players call "in the groove" |
T
tablao |
the venue for a tourist-oriented flamenco show |
tablas |
literally, "boards"; the stage on which the dance is performed; tiene tablas means "to be [an] experienced [performer] |
tangos |
probably the oldest flamenco song form in a simple rhythm of 2/4 time, as reflected in the time beaten by the palmeros |
tanguillos |
songs of Cadiz; festive, light, sometimes mocking, and always suitable for Carnival |
tapa |
the face of the guitar |
tarantas |
a mining song of free rhythm and by far the hardest to sing, demanding tragic intensity as well as unusual control, both vocal and artistic, in the melismas |
templar |
to tune |
temple |
tuning or temperament |
temporeas |
songs of the farm - harvesting and threshing songs |
tercio |
section; a line of a verse; a musical phrase |
tientos |
similar to the tango |
tocaor |
guitarist |
toque |
guitar playing |
torsion y convlusion |
stages, usually in the solea, wherein the dancer reaches a more or less acstatic stage |
tremolo |
on guitar, playing a bass note with thumb and high notes with fingers in quick succession to make a continuous sound |
Triana |
the traditional Gypsy quarter of Seville, now yuppified |
vibrato |
repeated meaningless sounds uttered during the song, such as jajaja, but unlike babeo, not within a word |
vito |
Andalucian folk song and dance (non-flamenco) |
voz affila |
hoarse voice like that of El Fillo, a 19th century singer; this quality is also known as rajo |
Z
zambra |
(a) a form of Sacromente tango (b) a noisy fiesta originally of the Moors |
zapateo, zapateado |
the form of tap dancing peculiar to flamenco |
zorongo |
an old song anddance in 2/4 time (not flamenco), revived by Federico Garcia Lorca; also called zorongo |
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